Gerson Preston Considers the Tax Implications of Hurricane Harvey

Gerson Preston Considers the Tax Implications of Hurricane Harvey | Gerson Preston 

Damaged by Harvey? Get a Tax Break While You Can

Thousands of Tropical Storm Harvey’s victims will soon turn to tax deductions for help with losses not covered by insurance. If so, they could be getting in under the wire.

Floods such as the ones caused by Harvey illuminate an important gap in disaster coverage. While insurance policies typically provide better compensation to disaster victims than tax deductions, most coverage for homeowners excludes flood damage. In addition, potential victims often don’t buy flood-insurance policies through a program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  

As a result, many victims of Harvey will need to take “casualty-loss” write-offs to recoup what they can.

These victims may be the last to benefit from this tax-code provision, however. Separate tax-reform plans proposed by President Trump and Republican leaders in the House of Representatives would eliminate the casualty-loss write-off in an effort to simplify the tax code. Congressional leaders and the White House haven’t yet agreed on a final tax-reform plan.

Full Article:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/damaged-by-harvey-get-a-tax-break-while-you-can-1504263600