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From Topic No. 453, Bad Debt Deduction:
If someone owes you money that you can't collect, you may have a bad debt. For a discussion of what constitutes a valid debt, refer to Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses and Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (For Individuals Who Use Schedule C). Generally, to deduct a bad debt, you must have previously included the amount in your income or loaned out your cash. If you're a cash method taxpayer (most individuals are), you generally can't take a bad debt deduction for unpaid salaries, wages, rents, fees, interests, dividends, and similar items of taxable income. For a bad debt, you must show that at the time of the transaction you intended to make a loan and not a gift.
Paying someone to install a fence is not a loan. Here are some helpful tips of what to do when a contractor doesn't finish the job.
Where do I claim loss for unpaid consulting fees?
My customer did not pay me in full on my 1099 NEC. I have no expectation of payment and would like to claim the loss.
I am using Home and Business desktop version and wish to claim loss on uncollectable consulting fees which were not paid on my 1099 NEC. Thanks!
Per IRS Topic no. 453 regarding Bad debt deduction, if you're a cash method taxpayer (most individuals are), you generally can't take a bad debt deduction for unpaid fees. If you received a Form 1099-NEC showing a larger amount than what you were paid, you could contact the company or individual that issued it and have them correct it.
made personal loan to business an now is a write off where to enter in turbo tax??
If you made a personal loan that is now completely worthless and you made all attempts to collect, then you would write it off as a non business bad debt.
To do so select the following:
How to Report Non-Business Bad Debt on a Tax Return
I have exactly this situation (loan given to organization that went bust). But TurboTax seems to insist that I must have a 1099-B, which I do not. If I try to finesse that by saying I have a 1099-B from "None", I'm subsequently asked for a Type of sale, which is limited to choices that don't apply. I can finesse this again by saying the type is a Bond, but at this point I fear that my tax return will be out of sync with the reality of my situation. Am I missing some technique for reporting this situation? Thx
Based on your description, it sounds like you have a Bond from an organization that went bankrupt. If their bankruptcy filing has been completed and you received nothing for your investment with them, you would report this as a worthless security using a sale date of 12/31/2025. If bankruptcy proceedings are still ongoing, there exists a possibility that you could receive payments from them for the worthless bond, in which case you should not file this as a worthless security. Be sure to keep records of bankruptcy filings, news articles, etc. related to the company as proof that you will not receive anything.
In TurboTax Premier Online, follow these steps.
Hello,
I was hired to repair a truck and the customer refuses to pay the debt owed. I have paid for all parts and labor out of my own pocket for theses repairs and these monies already have been accounted for on my taxes. Customer has never paid a dime on the bill. I have gone thru the NCDMV License and Theft Bureau as well as gone to my local Magistrate. NCDMV has tried to notify them several times and no response. Also my local Magistrate has tried as well. All rule in my favor . Debt owed to pay for all parts and labor is $12263.00. The rulings were all in my favor after making several attempts to recover debt from one individual for FY2025. I need to figure out a way I can write this off of my taxes. I am using Turbo tax Deluxe. I do my own taxes. Please give me any advice possible to help correct my issue. Thank you
Travis [removed]
[email address removed]
From the sounds of it, you are doing work as a sole proprietor, reporting your income on a schedule C. How this non-payment is handled depends on how your business is structured for its accounting.
Most sole proprietors use the cash method of accounting. If this is the method used for your business, then bad debts cannot be written off. So even though you already have your own time plus all the investment in the parts for the repair, you would have claimed the parts that you used for the repair as expenses on your tax return in the year you made the repair, but you would not have claimed the income because you never received it.
If you instead use the accrual method of accounting, you would have reported the income in the year that you earned it, whether or not you had been paid on that account receivable. In that instance, you would report the bad debt as an "other expense" on your Schedule C. In TurboTax desktop, this would be under Business Income and Expenses in the category "Other Miscellaneous Expenses". In that category you will enter a description such as Bad Debt expense and the amount of the bad debt. For TurboTax online, you would go to Self-employment income under the Income category, and then enter the expense under "Other Miscellaneous Expenses" category.
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