can I deduct travel costs incurred by mandatory hurricane evacuation orders?

[bustedartist]

hurricane helene required temporary travel and housing costs. Can I deduct these expenses?

[RobertB4444]

No, not unless you also lost property in the Hurricane.  However, you may qualify for a reimbursement by your insurance company or FEMA.  

@bustedartist 

[bustedartist]

Thank you Robert..   My question related to evacuation from our FL home for hurricane Milton.  Unfortunately, we were hit with both Helene in NC and Milton at home.

That leads to my next question.   We were in a NC river side campground when Helene hit.  I have a receipt for over $10k flood damage repairs to our travel trailer.  That does not include loss of personal belongs.  Clothes, bedding, kitchen ware, gas grill, tools, and other personal items.   Insurance only covers liability.  

River flooded so fast we could not get it out of the campground, and TT could not be extracted until river receded 3 days later.   We had 5 nights motel cost plus restaurant meals and other personal expenses.  before we could depart Franklin. 

What is IRS saying about our Helene situation?  Thank you.

[DaveF1006]

Yes, there is FEMA relief for Hurricane Helene victims. More information may be found here. You may either apply for relief in accordance with the assistance the website offers or report as a casualty loss on your tax return, which will cover  temporary housing or other disaster-caused expenses. 

[bustedartist]

Thanks Dave.....

I'll have to work my way through the  IRS deduction route.       I have not used Turbotax Full Service before, as my tax filings are normally simple.  That likely not the case this year.  

I applied to FEMA  posting original question. Their response....While Helene was declared a disaster in FL, where I reside, and NC where we were vacationing,  FEMA automatically denied my claim for NC damages,  since I am not a resident of NC.  

FEMA has been totally useless in both my NC Helene and my FL Milton claim.  Go figure.  Something wrong with that picture.  Then and now, "fema" is about the strongest cuss word in the western NC mountains.

Thanks again.....Jim