Starting to work on a tax return, I was going through a lengthy list of expenses to see which fit into various itemized deductions on Schedule
A. The person never get to take casualty and theft losses.

There's a dog who is always taking towels and anything else that smells
like food. These items are indeed destroyed. This is what the tax code
was getting at, yes?

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On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 3:51:52 PM UTC-7, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Starting to work on a tax return, I was going through a lengthy list of expenses to see which fit into various itemized deductions on Schedule
A. The person never get to take casualty and theft losses.

There's a dog who is always taking towels and anything else that smells
like food. These items are indeed destroyed. This is what the tax code
was getting at, yes?

It doesn't appear that this will qualify as a dog isn't a federally declared disaster.
The rules (Pub 547) say:
"Deductible losses. For tax years 2018 through 2025, if you are an individual, casualty losses of
personal-use property are deductible only if the loss is attributable to a federally declared disaster
(federal casualty loss). "

For a lot more information, see https://www.irs.gov/publications/p547

Even if it did qualify, those would need to be very expensive towels, as one would need to
(a) Deduct $100 from each individual loss.
(b) Deduct 10% of Adjusted Gross Income from the total of all losses.

Finally, the total of all itemized deductions would need to exceed the standard deduction for
it to make sense itemizing.

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<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
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<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
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<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
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Tom Russ <taruss@google.com> wrote:

On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 3:51:52 PM UTC-7, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Starting to work on a tax return, I was going through a lengthy list of >>expenses to see which fit into various itemized deductions on Schedule
A. The person never get to take casualty and theft losses.

There's a dog who is always taking towels and anything else that smells >>like food. These items are indeed destroyed. This is what the tax code
was getting at, yes?

It doesn't appear that this will qualify as a dog isn't a federally declared disaster.

He is a very naughty dog.

The rules (Pub 547) say:
"Deductible losses. For tax years 2018 through 2025, if you are an individual, casualty losses of
personal-use property are deductible only if the loss is attributable to a federally declared disaster
(federal casualty loss). "

For a lot more information, see https://www.irs.gov/publications/p547

What about a theft? The dog clearly intended to deprive someone else of
the towel, and he wants to be chased. I suppose it's not a theft in any
state's criminal code.

Even if it did qualify, those would need to be very expensive towels, as one would need to
(a) Deduct $100 from each individual loss.

Good point. He's never swiped anything that expensive. At some point, he will.

(b) Deduct 10% of Adjusted Gross Income from the total of all losses.

Finally, the total of all itemized deductions would need to exceed the standard deduction for
it to make sense itemizing.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

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