Theft tax deduction??? Any accountants or people that have done this before??

[uspcommuter]

Hi y'all...

My place was broken into last year (2008) and I lost of iMac G5 and Nintendo Wii in the process.

My boss said that there is a tax deduction for theft and suggested I look into it. Has anyone had any experience with this?

It is easy to give the fair market value of my Wii since its new and the price is generally accepted. b/c one particular problem is how do I establish the value of my iMac G5.

Can anyone shed some experience on this matter with me? like documents I should have (i.e. police report)? or anythings I should be aware of by filing this claim on my taxes? any help would be appreciated.

thanks much.

 

[Sun Baked]

Tax Prophet Theft Loss Deduction

However for 2009, they may have changed things a bit due to the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Don't know if the 95% immediate deduction applies to only ponzi schemes or not, probably does.

Depending on when you lost the stuff, all depends on when the exhausted reasonable means to recover from insurance and a police investigation would allow you to make the deduction.

 

[uspcommuter]

Well, I didnt have insurance at the time b/c I was just moving in. As for police investigation, I spoke with the inspector they usually just house theft cases until some miracle. Seeing how its been almost of year. I think its safe to say my iMac is long gone.

But once again...what do I use as the value of my iMac? is it the price of initial purchase plus the add on components (i.e. hd and ram) or do the IRS accept a guesstimation?

 

[CorvusCamenarum]

Well, I didnt have insurance at the time b/c I was just moving in. As for police investigation, I spoke with the inspector they usually just house theft cases until some miracle. Seeing how its been almost of year. I think its safe to say my iMac is long gone.

But once again...what do I use as the value of my iMac? is it the price of initial purchase plus the add on components (i.e. hd and ram) or do the IRS accept a guesstimation?

I'm guessing the odds of you getting audited over one item are low, especially since it's not like you'll be claiming it was a $10k loss or something like that.

I'd either go with historical cost, cost to replace, or whatever a similarly spec'd machine is going for these days, whichever makes you feel better.

 

[Macky-Mac]

........what do I use as the value of my iMac? is it the price of initial purchase plus the add on components (i.e. hd and ram) or do the IRS accept a guesstimation?

what it was worth when it was stolen... which sadly is going to be a lot less than you paid for it. You could try mac2sell.net/ to get an estimate and make adjustments as necesary