Casualties and Thefts question-I had storm damage which insurance partially paid for. I need to know what values to use for cost basis and FMV before/after loss.

[Anita01 · Accepted solution]

Cost basis would be the amount you originally paid for the property plus any improvements made over time.  Fair Market Before could come from an appraisal you had made during the 12 months before the casualty or an estimate you could request from a local realtor or appraiser.  If you live in a Federally declared disaster zone, you could use the cost of repairs to determine the fair Market After by subtracting the repair amount from the "Before" value.  You can only do this, though, if you already had the repairs done and paid for.  Otherwise, you would have to obtain the estimate of Fair Market Value after from a realtor or appraiser.

[kevin-eppinger]

So, since I'm talking about my roof, would the "property plus any improvements" only apply to the roof, or do you mean the house?  For instance, if I paid $250k for the house & property and my insurance company said the damage to the roof was $15k, or which they paid $14k after deductible, and then I paid $16.5k to have the roof replaced, what would the cost basis and other numbers be?

[Anita01]

You always have to use the full home value, not just the damaged part.  So your cost and fair market values before and after are for the full house. so your cost would be the $250,000.  I can't give you any Fair Market Value before the casualty, but you could deduct $16,500 from that to arrive at the after value.  You'll be asked to enter any reimbursements, and that would be the $14 k