With the wild fires and draught in the West and flooding on the East Coast, we have had a number of presidentially declared disaster areas this year. If you were an unlucky victim and suffered a loss as a result of a casualty, you may be able to recoup a portion of that loss through a tax deduction. If the casualty occurred within a federally declared disaster area, you can elect to claim the loss in one of two years: the tax year in which the loss occurred or the immediately preceding year.
By taking the deduction for a 2015 disaster area loss on the prior year (2014) return, you may be able to get a refund from the IRS before you even file your tax return for 2015, the loss year. You have until the unextended due date of the 2015 return to file an amended 2014 return to claim the disaster loss. Before making the decision to claim the loss in 2014, you should consider which year’s return would produce the greater tax Read More