Question

California Wildfire Tax Deduction

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 25, 2025
1 reply
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Hello,

My wife and I lost our home and all of our belongings in the Palisades wildfire on 1/7/2025.

I would like to take the deduction available to us (which I understand can be taken in 2024 or 2025).

However, Turbotax only has the option of selecting a major disaster that was federally declared between 12/28/2019 and 12/12/2024. The other options available do not fit the situation.

How do I reconcile this?

If I put the disaster date as any date after 12/12/2024, the system does not let me proceed. And obviously, if I put the 12/12/2024 date, it is not accurate, and there doesn't seem to be a place to put the correct date.

Also, assuming this issue is addressed, do I need to itemize my personal property losses or because this is a federal disaster, can I just put "Clothes- $10,000", "Jewelry-$5,000", etc.?

Thank you

TurboTax Home & Biz Windows

AmyC

Employee

The program requires the 2024 date but it will not affect your tax return and the casualty loss since you are inputting the correct disaster codes.

You can sum your personal property loss total. See Publication 584, Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Loss Workbook (Personal-Use Property).

I am sorry for your loss.

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S

sp1085Author

Thank you, Amy.

Quick follow up question. I understand aggregating the personal property loss is possible.

However, Turbotax asks for a date of purchase of the item. If I'm putting various items aggregated, what date do I put?

AmyC

Employee

Dates only signify long term vs short term and help with calculating depreciable amounts. I am certain you have determined values and can substantiate all claims. Any date older than a year is reasonable for most items. If they average 10 years old, pick a date around then.

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