Personal Taxes

The AMT Exemption amounts for 2014 is $53,900 for single and head of household taxpayers and $83,800 for joint filers and qualifying widow(er) taxpayers

Large assets that are lost due to a storm may generate unreimbursed losses that exceed income in the year that the loss is being claimed.
Regardless of whether the casualty loss relates to business, income-producing activity or personal-use assets, the loss can generate a Net Operating Loss (NOL), which can be carried to other tax years either backwards or forwards.
The tax code provides that losses that meet the casualty requirements are not considered passive activity losses and are fully allowable.

You figure the amount of your loss using the following steps.
1.Determine your cost or other basis in the property before the casualty or theft.
2.Determine the decrease in fair market value (FMV) of the property as a result of the casualty or theft. (The decrease in FMV is the difference between the property's value immediately before and immediately after the casualty or theft.)
3.From the smaller of the amounts you determined in (1) and (2), subtract any insurance or other reimbursement you received or expect to receive

A deductible loss can result from a number of events. Here are some examples:
•Storm (including hurricanes and tornadoes). •Flood and wind, •Fire, •Earthquake,
•Other “sudden and unexpected events,” such as an automobile accident, also qualify as a casualty for tax purposes.

The taxpayer Has the Burden of Proof. To deduct a casualty loss, the taxpayer must meet all of the following tests and requirements to take a casualty loss:
•Be able to show that there actually was a casualty loss including showing all of the following:
The type of casualty, Its date of occurrence, That the loss was a direct result of the casualty , That the taxpayer owned the property or was liable for the damage to the owner of the property, and whether there is a claim for insurance reimbursement with a reasonable expectation of recovery. and Justify the amount taken as a deduction.

You can generally deduct a casualty or disaster area loss only in the tax year in which the casualty or disaster occurred. You can generally deduct a theft loss only in the year you discovered your property was stolen. However, you can choose to deduct disaster area losses on your return for the year immediately before the year of the disaster if the President has declared your area a federal disaster area.
For details, see Disaster Area Losses in Publication 547.

After you have figured the amount of your loss, as discussed earlier, you must figure how much of the loss you can deduct. You do this on Form 4684, section A. If the loss was to property for your personal use or your family's, there are two limits on the amount you can deduct for your casualty or theft loss.
1.You must reduce each casualty or theft loss by $100 ($100 rule).
2.You must further reduce the total of all your losses by 10% of your adjusted gross income (10% rule).

Cost or other basis usually means original cost plus improvements. If you did not acquire the property by purchasing it, your basis is determined as discussed in Publication 551, Basis of Assets.
If you inherited the property from someone who died in 2012, and the executor of the decedent's estate made the election to file Form 8939, refer to the information provided by the executor or see Publication 4895, Tax Treatment of Property Acquired From a Decedent Dying in 2012

FMV is the price for which you could sell your property to a willing buyer, when neither of you has to sell or buy and both of you know all the relevant facts. When filling out detailed schedules , you need to know the FMV of the property immediately before and immediately after the disaster, casualty, or theft.
Generally, if a single casualty or theft involves more than one item of property, you must figure the loss on each item separately. Then combine the losses to determine the total loss from that casualty or theft.