We were involved in a flood in August 2016. We had flood insurance but no content insurance. Do I need to itemize this and I spent some money in 2016 and some in 2017.

[chatelac]

Should I just file  everything in 2017??

[chatelac]

Also does it need to be 10% or more of our income? What we spent on our contents?

[MargaretL · Accepted solution]

No, you should file casualty and theft loss in the year that the casualty occurred - so in 2016. And yes, the casualty is part of your itemized deductions.  And yes, you must figure the loss on each item separately, but you can do it by category... for example, sofa and table would be treated as one item - furniture. 

1. Federal Taxes
2. Deductions & Credits
3. Scroll down to Other Deductions and Credits and select Casualties and Thefts