I live in Florida and sustained damage from Hurricane Ian. Can I write off what my insurance ...

[JanetF2]

Hi, I saw an answer that stated "You can deduct your total loss (minus $500 and any amount covered by insurance) along with your usual Standard Deduction, whether you amend 2021 (see below) or file as usual for tax year 2022. This means you’ll be able to claim everything you lost over $500 without having to itemize deductions on your taxes"  However, this does not tell you where to enter a total.  To have to itemize the $29,194 of contents items that were not covered by our insurance coverage of $75,000 would get complicated. We also have pool equipment, dock repair, irrigation system, well repair, screen repair, yard clearance, soffit, insurance deductibles for, house, car and boat.  So help with where to enter a total would be great.

Thank you

[Anonymous_ · Accepted solution]

See https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i4684#en_US_2022_publink12998zd0e489

Section A—Personal-Use Property

Use a separate column for lines 2 through 9 to show each item lost or damaged from a single casualty or theft described on line 1. If more than four items were lost or damaged, use additional sheets following the format of lines 1 through 9.

[Cynthiad66]

Here are steps to enter you loss information.  TurboTax will walk you through the interview questions.

In TurboTax, jump to the entry area for casualty loss:

1. Open your return. ...
2. Search for "casualty loss" and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
3. On the Casualties and Thefts (or Stolen or Damaged Items) screen, select Yes.
4. Answer the interview questions describing your event.

Individuals may claim their casualty and theft losses as an itemized deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions (or Schedule A 

According to the IRS, unrecovered losses will be deductible, as an addition to the standard deduction, without itemizing deductions if Hurricane Ian is designated as a qualified disaster.

The legislation designates Hurricane Ian as a qualified disaster for the purposes of determining tax treatment of certain disaster-related personal casualty losses. “Through no fault of their own, Floridians and many other Americans in the Southeast U.S. are now on an expensive road to recovery following Hurricane Ian.

Tax Relief for Hurricane IAN Victims

Answers to common Questions about Disaster Losses

[JanetF2]

Hi Thank you for your response to my query. However it still seems that Turbo tax is expecting itemized losses.  We have contents losses and repairs to outside equipment that is not covered as I said.  We received $75000 payout from insurance company for contents which was our coverage limit, but the total contents loss was 0ver $104,000 (these items were itemized to insurance company but not possible to pull out the items that were technically not covered to list on tax return). It also want market value before and then after the flood - this would at best be a guess.  We are repairing so not a total loss.  We have received insurance for internal repairs but everything outside not covered. It just seems to be very complicated

[Cynthiad66]

Yes it is complicated and seems overwhelming, but you can do it!!  Nike says, Just do it!   Just start from the tips I will give below.  It is complicated, however, not as complicated as it seems.  First, you do not have to reproduce your records.  Whatever your total contents loss was presented to the insurance company, just subtract the reimbursed amount and claim the unreimbursed content.  That is cheating but will result in the same results.  

So content loss:

Total loss submitted to insurance:  $104,000

Max Reimbursement:                           - 75,000

Net loss to claim for contents           $  29,000

if the reimbursement for the inside did not cover everything just list them.  Upgrades should not be claimed.  Only the expenses to restore.

Outside, the difference between reimbursement and claim or them amount spent to repair/replace.

Keep very good records on how you came up with your calculations just in case you need to provide information to the IRS.

The goal is to get a fair number that you can substantiate as not reimbursed.  

OR you can use this method.

You can actually turn your return over to TurboTax Full Service.

OR

How to Determine the Amount of Loss

To determine the amount of casualty loss to claim, you must first perform two calculations: the adjusted basis and the decline in fair market value.

1. Adjusted basis: First, you need to calculate the adjusted basis of your property before the damage. This means the amount you originally paid for the property, along with any associated commissions, taxes, or other expenses connected to the purchase. This basis will decrease through natural deterioration or can increase if you have improved the property. If you didn’t pay for the property but received it as a gift or inheritance, you may need to calculate the adjusted basis differently.
2. Decline in fair market value: According to the IRS, fair market value means the price at which a willing buyer would purchase your property on the market. The decline in fair market value is the difference between what a buyer would pay before and after the damage from the hurricane.

Once you have both the adjusted basis and the decline in fair market value, choose the smaller amount as your hurricane loss. Once you subtract any reimbursement or insurance payments from this number, you will have the total loss to use on your tax return.