Had a Car Accident While Using my Truck for my Rental Property. Is it deductible?

[Louis801]

Hello and thanks in advance for the help. 

I'm a W-2 employee in NY and I live and have a rental property that I manage actively in NJ.  I had an fender bender accident while making material purchases with truck for my rental.  Repair is estimated at $3k.   Didn't resource to the insurance due to my high deductible and likely an increase in my insurance premiums. 

Can I write some of this cost off? I'm in the section of Federal Taxes>Deductions & Credits > Casualty Loss or Theft.  The "federally declared disaster" is throwing my off.  In order to qualify for an car accident casualty, it must had happened during a federally declared disaster? If I'm understanding correctly, I wouldn't qualify.

If I can't use it in this section for  deductions, can i write-off maybe in rental/qbi expenses? Which section would be ideal to annotate that as business expense in rentals

[Vanessa A]

Is this truck solely used for the rental or is it a multi use truck?

No, this is not deductible under casualty or loss.  Those losses are only available under current tax law if it occurred due to a federally declared disaster area.

If it is a multi use truck, that you use mostly for personal purposes such as your W-2 work, or pleasure, then no, this is not at all deductible.

If this is a 100% rental truck that you claim on your taxes every year, then you would be able to include the amount AFTER you pay to get it fixed on that years tax return, as a vehicle expense in the rental section if you are taking the actual expenses  and not mileage.  Since you only have an estimate and have not actually made the repairs, it would not be deductible on your 2024 return. 

If this is a mixed use truck, you would need to prorate it based on how much it is used as a truck for the rental property versus anything else. 

[Louis801]

@Vanessa A    Thank you so much for the prompt reply.  Much appreciated.