Due to our pipes freezing during the 2021 winter storm in Texas (President Biden declared a national disaster), we had flooding downstairs.
I'm so confused trying to fill out the 'casualty or theft' section in the tax form.
When it asked me to list the individual pieces of property that were damaged, I started with pipes and floors....but am confused what to put down for the next page for "cost or basis" of each individual piece of property??
Am I supposed to put down what I believe the pipes orginially cost? The floors?
What about the section of wall and the baseboards we had to replace?
How am I supposed to know what the "cost or basis" is for 12 feet of baseboard from when the home was built?
Should I just change the individual piece of property that was damaged to the entire house instead and then use the flooding table under the IRS safe-harbor-method which assigns a decrease in value according to how many square feet were damaged by water?
If so, when it asks for "costs or basis" for the property, do I put down what I orginally paid for the house, or for what it's appraised at now?
Agh!
Thanks for any help you could offer.
