When determining the loss from hurricane damage, you're asked the Fair Market Value of your property before the hurricane and the Fair Market Value after the hurricane. The difference is your casualty loss after insurance reimbursement. While you can't accurately see the value of your house fluctuate in one or two days time, you can use the cost of your repairs.
Basically, you're calculating how much it would cost to get your home in the same condition it was the day before the hurricane. If your house was worth $200,000 before the hurricane (never a perfectly accurate figure) and it costs $20,000 in repairs to get it back to the same condition, you'll use $180,000 as the FMV of the property after the incident (hurricane).
You will need to file a Form 4684 Casualties and Thefts to claim a casualty loss from the hurricane.
To enter your casualty loss in TurboTax online program, go to:
1. Sign into your account and select Take me to my return
2. At the upper right corner, in the search box, type in casualty loss, then Enter
3. Select Jump to casualty loss
4. On screen, Stolen or Damaged Items, answer Yes to the question to enter information
Enter your casualty loss information in the program, and it will calculate the deduction you are entitled to. If the damage is entirely covered by the insurance reimbursement, there might not be any deductions allowed.
