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Message
Flood victim tax deductions
Posted on 2/4/17 at 2:59 pm
Posted on 2/4/17 at 2:59 pm
My home was flooded in August. Zone X, no flood insurance.
FEMA provided $14K in emergency assistance.
I did not use any contractors, and spent around $25K to make the home whole again. This figure includes:
- Building materials (drywall/insulation, floors, paint, molding, counters, etc.)
- furniture (sofas, beds, desks, tables/chairs, cabinets)
- Oven, Washer and Dryer, Fridge
- Household items like rugs, pots/pans, etc.
- various tools and supplies that were necessary for the job (saws, paintbrushes/rollers, nail gun, etc.)
The $25K does not include personal losses that I have not yet replaced (audio equipment, spare room TV, tablet, books, a few toys, etc.)
Questions:
- Can I deduct all of the above expenses?
- Or, do I need to stick with deducting losses? Or some combination of both? The losses would likely be greater than the expenses, but I don't know how to assign a value to certain things that were part of the house when I bought it.
- Do I subtract the amount of FEMA assistance given? According to the FEMA website, the money wouldn't be taxable, but unclear of how else it should be treated.
Do I just need to take this to a tax professional? My taxes have always been simple enough to use the H&R block website, but I don't even see an option for disaster losses or anything like that.
FEMA provided $14K in emergency assistance.
I did not use any contractors, and spent around $25K to make the home whole again. This figure includes:
- Building materials (drywall/insulation, floors, paint, molding, counters, etc.)
- furniture (sofas, beds, desks, tables/chairs, cabinets)
- Oven, Washer and Dryer, Fridge
- Household items like rugs, pots/pans, etc.
- various tools and supplies that were necessary for the job (saws, paintbrushes/rollers, nail gun, etc.)
The $25K does not include personal losses that I have not yet replaced (audio equipment, spare room TV, tablet, books, a few toys, etc.)
Questions:
- Can I deduct all of the above expenses?
- Or, do I need to stick with deducting losses? Or some combination of both? The losses would likely be greater than the expenses, but I don't know how to assign a value to certain things that were part of the house when I bought it.
- Do I subtract the amount of FEMA assistance given? According to the FEMA website, the money wouldn't be taxable, but unclear of how else it should be treated.
Do I just need to take this to a tax professional? My taxes have always been simple enough to use the H&R block website, but I don't even see an option for disaster losses or anything like that.
Posted on 2/4/17 at 6:41 pm to ILikeLSUToo
Go find IRS publication 584 and form 4684. You basically figure your value before flood, value after flood, and what you were paid. You have to do this for every item. As a general example if you had a total loss and your home was worth 75k prior to flood and 20k after flood you would have a 50k loss. If you received and money from insurance or FEMA you would deduct it from your 50k. At least that's the way I understand it.
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