I lost the deposit of 22k on a new construction home. Can I write it off as a loss? What documentation should I have for IRS?

[Phillip1 · Accepted solution]

It depends on whether the home was going to be your personal residence or an investment or rental property. 

If the property was intended to be your personal residence, unfortunately, this is considered a nondeductible personal loss.

Conversely, if this was to be an investment property or a rental home, the loss would qualify as a nonbusiness bad debt - deductible as a capital loss at 3,000 dollars a year against your ordinary income (wages and other income) and dollar for dollar against capital gain income.

If this qualifies as a nonbusiness bad debt, you would want to keep any documentation that shows you were seeking a non-owner occupied mortgage, cancelled checks for the payments, and documentation that shows the deposit was forfeited.