Hurricane Ian Vacation Rental

[Smoado]

I own a 2nd property that I was using as an Airbnb short term vacation rental. I sustained substantial damage and didn't not have insurance on the property. I am not eligible to get help from FEMA so it's up to me to restore the property. My questions are:

1. Can I claim the cost to restore the property on my taxes?

2. I saw on another post that you are able to claim loses on 2021 and 2022 taxes. Is there any way to spread out the claims over more years? I have way more to claim than just those 2 years will cover.

3. Can I claim loss of use for the income that I lost from the bookings I had scheduled? 

4. I had 7ft of water in the home so everything was lost. Is there anything that would not be covered inside the home that I need to replace to get it back up and running as a short term rental?

[cbright1]

Yes, you can claim the costs to restore the rental property as a casualty loss on your tax return as long as your loss exceeds 10% of your adjusted gross income. Since Hurricane Ian is a federally declared disaster, you can elect to amend your 2021 return and claim the loss in the preceding year. Additionally, if the casualty loss exceeds your income, you will have a net operating loss and will be able to carry the loss forward up to 20 years. Unfortunately, the lost rental income is not deductible. Any expense related to getting the property back to the state that it was in prior to the hurricane can be included in your loss calculation. This includes property inside the home.

A complete guide to claiming casualty losses can be found HERE.