Lost home in California Eaton fire

[joshua1390]

We lost our home and belongings in January in the California Eaton fire. I'm told we can make a casualty loss claim for 2024 even though it happened this year. What I'm not sure about is if it's considered a Qualified event. If so, form 4684 wouldn't need to deduct 10% AGI. Do you have any insight into this?

[DianeW777]

Yes, that is correct. Check the FEMA listing to see if your fire is on the disaster list.

• FEMA Disaster List
• About Casualty Losses for Federal Returns
• What if I have a loss or damage of property?

[joshua1390]

It is listed on the FEMA website as California Wildfires and Straight-line Winds, DR-4856-CA

Turbotax gives the options of "Qualifies as major disaster" or "Qualifies as federally declared disaster, but not major qualified disaster". How do I know which one it is and how does that impact form 4684?

Edit: On the FEMA website it appears to be considered a "ongoing major disaster", but the Turbotax checkbox options limit major disasters to "federally declared between December 28, 2019 and December 12, 2024". Can I choose that option anyway if it was declared on January 8, 2025?

[AmyC]

Your California Wildfires and Straight-line Winds (DR-4856-CA) qualifies as a federally declared disaster. A qualified disaster uses form 4684 to claim the losses.

Since you lost everything, this workbook may help,  Publication 584, Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Loss Workbook (Personal-Use Property)

Yes, you will have to work with the program and choose the 2024 date.

Reference: Publication 547 (2024), Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts

I am very sorry for your loss.

[joshua1390]

It's not allowing me because of the date.

[DianeW777]

As indicated by @AmyC, you should use a date of 2024, even if you need to print and mail your tax return to change it. You can use 12/31/2024 to complete the tax return.

@joshua1390 

[joshua1390]

Thank you, I missed that part of her message. However it seems like it would be a red flag to the IRS if inputted the wrong disaster date, and I'd much prefer to file electronically. Can a request be made for Turbotax to update the software to allow for dates up to those indicated in the help text copied below (Jan 12th or Feb 10th, 2025)? I imagine this constraint will affect many other Turbotax customers given the extensive impact of the Eaton and Palisades fires.

[MonikaK1]

TurboTax can't change the software to cover individual disasters because it isn't a tax law change that applies to all taxpayers. You can enter the correct disaster name and date in the Description field and then a 2024 date in the Date field. 

See this TurboTax article for information about filing and payment date extensions for the fires. If you needed additional time to file and pay, you can enter the information in the Penalty section of TurboTax and indicate that you qualify for a waiver of the penalty due to disaster relief.

I am sorry you suffered this loss.

[markthethomas]

In the exact same scenario, and the workaround I used was to put in the 12/12 date, go through and put in your loss amounts, then continue & save. After that, went back and changed the date to be correct and it doesn't seem to change the calculation part. Hope that helps!