INSURANCE CLAIMS ARE DEDUCTIBLE: If you suffered a insurance loss to your property and have not been fully reimbursed by your insurance company, you can file Tax Form 4684 and deduct the loss from your taxes. And, yes, parts of your loss that is not covered by insurance is still deductible… whether you had insurance or not.
Under the law, a personal casualty loss is determined by taking the smaller of:
The cost or other basis of the property (reduced by any insurance reimbursement), or
The decline in fair market value of the property as measured immediately before and after the casualty (reduced by any insurance reimbursement) (This is the one most should use.)
The cost of repairs may, in certain cases, be used to measure the decline in fair market value, but it cannot be used by itself to determine the amount of the loss. When the cost of repairs is determined to be a fair measure of the decline in fair market value, then all you have to do is take the fair market value before the casualty and reduce it by the cost of repairs to arrive at the fair market value after the casualty.
Losses You Can Deduct: You can deduct losses of property from fire, storm, shipwreck, or other casualty, or theft (for example, larceny, embezzlement, and robbery). If your property is covered by insurance, you must file a timely insurance claim for reimbursement of your loss. Otherwise, you cannot deduct the loss as a casualty or theft loss. However, the part of the loss that is not covered by insurance is still deductible.
Related expenses: The related expenses you have due to a casualty or theft, such as expenses for the treatment of personal
injuries or for the rental of a car, are not deductible as casualty or theft losses.
Here is a link to the form. Speak with your accountant – And, if you already filed and missed this deduction, you can still amend your return. Good Luck – http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i4684.pdf
For Hurricane Sandy victims, NY State has directions on how to claim the loss on your state taxes as well (http://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/sandydeduction.htm). It’s not too late to file your property damage loss either – even if you have already completed your tax return. It can be amended, sometimes years after the loss took place.
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
Many hail damage claims events have engulfed the United States this past year. This has caused an increase in the amount of hail damage claims that have been reported to insurance companies. However, the increase in hail damage claims reported is not just from the claim events themselves, but rather unethical contractors as well. Read the rest of this entry »
[ Cast A Vote for Useful Information Page ]
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
A Parks Police helicopter inspects for earthquake damage to the Washington Monument shortly after an earthquake struck Washington, DC August 23, 2011. One of the strongest earthquakes to strike the US east coast in decades rattled offices Tuesday in downtown Washington and caused panicked evacuations from skyscrapers as far away as New York. The Pentagon, the US Capitol and Union Station in the nation’s capital were all evacuated after the 5.9-magnitude quake, which was shallow with its epicenter only 0.6 miles (one kilometer) underground.
The big question on most peoples minds from VA here in the next few days when earthquake damages begin to show will be,
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
Many of my articles, posts, webpages, etc. start off with “Most people believe…”. I’ve tried to think of other ways to explain to people that things are not always as they seem – or appear as they should. Well, with insurance policies, insurance claims, and the insurance industry – many people find themselves scratching their heads with disbelief when they finally suffer damage to their property.
So, here I go again… Most people believe that when they buy insurance, they will be taken care of when, and if, a tragedy occurs. It’s really quite simple.
We purchase insurance.
We have been paying for coverage for over X-amount of years.
When we have a claim the insurance company will be eager to help us and fulfill there part of the bargain.
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
Insurance Appraisal: It seems lately as more and more claims enter into appraisal, the clause is being invoke without merit. To actually qualify an insurance claim for the appraisal process there first must be a dispute over the “amount of loss”. However, only after the parties have exhausted negotiations. Read the rest of this entry »
[ Cast A Vote for Useful Information Page ]
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
Insurance Appraisal: As an independent insurance appraiser resolving insurance disputes as an impartial party, I often see that insurance companies are missing items in their estimates to return damaged properties to pre-loss conditions. Most of the time it’s because insurance adjusters are overloaded with claims, getting pressure from upper management, or most often the adjuster is just simply not qualified to review the damages in the first place. Now, there are some very experienced adjusters with backgrounds that qualify them as experts in the type of losses they adjust. You’d be fortunate to actually get one to visit your property in your time of need. Read the rest of this entry »
[ Cast A Vote for Useful Information Page ]
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
An insurance dispute held up the demolition of a house destroyed by fire for over a year. Unfortunately, this type of situation can happen. In fact, some disputes can last even two to three years or longer. Even more unfortunate than the loss of the home was the loss of two family members who died in the fire.
The following story was broadcast by WRAL News on May 7, 2008 – one year to the day they covered the original story about the fire itself. This story has personal affects on me as I was the independent appraiser for the insured in this case.
WRAL News – The May 7, 2007, fire at 1884 Memorial Church Road, in Fremont, claimed the lives of Shannon Minshew and her 77-year-old, bed-ridden grandmother, Mayola Waddell. Read the rest of this entry »
[ Cast A Vote for Useful Information Page ]
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
Property Damage Claim – The insurance sector declared record gains since 2004. According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), property insurers net income had grown $24 billion dollars from 2005 to 2006. In 2005, the industry earned profits of $49 billion; across 2006, the number accelerated to $73 billion! Keep in mind that such profits were obtained within two of the most costly hurricane damage years in history – 2004 and 2005. These particular statistics are leading several to wonder, “Why are insurance company revenues so substantial?” Read the rest of this entry »
[ Cast A Vote for Useful Information Page ]
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
Insurance Claim Help for Homeowners – Money Magazine published a good article relating to how insurance carriers suppress related information from property owners when they suffer from insurance damages. The particular article reports — “An insurance company that wants to hold down payout costs has several ways to do that. One involves the software designed to help assess financial damages.” Read the rest of this entry »
[ Cast A Vote for Useful Information Page ]
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.
In a previous post, “Home Insurance Claim And Hurricane Damage Myths” we discussed how expert storm forecasters are calling for a high-grade 2010 Atlantic basin hurricane season. The article disclosed how the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) advises insureds on the the best ways to protect their belongings and property from hurricane claims. In light of the fact that NC has dodged the hurricane bullet for exactly 10 years (Floyd 1999), policyholders of the state should be hurricane ready in 2010. We can’t remain lucky forever. Read the rest of this entry »
[ Cast A Vote for Useful Information Page ]
(C) Joe Brennan is President and owner/operator of Insurance Claims Group, Inc., a national independent adjusting, appraisal, and umpiring firm. We will answer your claim questions FREE as part of our FREE Insurance Advice and Insurance Claim Consulting Services.