The Form 4684, Casualties and Thefts is automatically prepared by the TurboTax software if you have filled out the information for it.
How to enter it into TurboTax: While
inside the software and working on your return, type casualty loss in
the Search at the top of the screen (you may see a magnifying glass there). There
will be a popup that says Jump to casualty loss. Select
that to get to the general area.
When you lose an item due to an accident, theft, or act of nature, you may
have a tax deduction for the value of the property that is not
covered by your insurance.
The software will walk you through it, but here is how it
works: Individuals are required to claim
their casualty and theft losses as an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule
A Itemized Deductions.
- For property held by you for personal use, Subtracted any
salvage value (zero for theft) and any insurance or other
reimbursement from the loss amount.
- Then, subtract $100 from each casualty or theft
event that occurred during the year.
- Then, take that amount and subtract 10% of
your adjusted gross income from that total to calculate your allowable
casualty and theft losses for the year.
- That's the amount that goes on your Schedule A Itemized
Deductions.
If your property is personal-use property or is not completely destroyed,
the amount of your casualty loss is the lesser of:
- The
adjusted basis of your property, or
- The
decrease in fair market value of your property as a result of the casualty
More details can be found at this link http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc515.html
That said, the amount would have to be pretty large for you to be able
benefit. Also, you must file Schedule A as I stated above. But, if
you want to give it a shot in the Casualty and Theft section of the software,
it wouldn't hurt.
