Introduction
This workbook is designed to help you figure your loss on business
and income-producing property in the event of a disaster, casualty, or
theft. It contains schedules to help you figure the loss to your
office furniture and fixtures, information systems, motor vehicles,
office supplies, buildings, and equipment. These schedules, however,
are for your information only. You must complete Form 4684,
Casualties and Thefts, to report your loss.
How To Use This Workbook
You can use this workbook by following these five steps.
- Read Publication 547 to learn about the tax rules for
casualties, disasters, and thefts.
- Know the definitions of adjusted basis and
fair market value, discussed below.
- Fill out Schedules 1 through 6.
- Read the instructions for Form 4684.
- Fill out Form 4684 using the information you entered in
Schedules 1 through 6.
Use the following chart to find out how you use these schedules to
fill out Form 4684.
Take what's in... |
And enter it on Form 4684... |
Column 1 |
Line 19 |
Column 2 |
Line 19 |
Column 3 |
Line 19 |
Column 4 |
Line 20 |
Column 5 |
Line 21 |
Column 6 |
Line 23 |
Column 7 |
Line 24 |
Column 8 |
Line 25 |
Column 9 |
Line 26 |
Column 10 |
Line 27 |
Adjusted basis.
Adjusted basis usually means original cost plus improvements, minus
depreciation allowed or allowable (including any section 179 expense
deduction), amortization, depletion, etc. If you did not acquire the
property by purchasing it, your basis is determined as discussed in
Publication 551, Basis of Assets.
Fair market value.
Fair market value 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
Schedules 1 through 6, you need to know the fair market value of the
property immediately before and immediately after the disaster or
casualty.
Deduction limits.
If your casualty or theft loss involved a home you used for
business or rented out, your deductible loss may be limited. See the
instructions for Section B of Form 4684. If the casualty or theft loss
involved property used in a passive activity, see Form 8582,
Passive Activity Loss Limitations, and its instructions.
The casualty and theft loss deduction for employee property, when
added to your job expenses and most other miscellaneous itemized
deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040), must be reduced by 2% of your
adjusted gross income. Employee property is property used in
performing services as an employee.
How To Get Tax Help
You can get help with unresolved tax issues, order free
publications and forms, ask tax questions, and get more information
from the IRS in several ways. By selecting the method that is best for
you, you will have quick and easy access to tax help.
Contacting your Taxpayer Advocate.
If you have attempted to deal with an IRS problem unsuccessfully,
you should contact your Taxpayer Advocate.
The Taxpayer Advocate represents your interests and concerns within
the IRS by protecting your rights and resolving problems that have not
been fixed through normal channels. While Taxpayer Advocates cannot
change the tax law or make a technical tax decision, they can clear up
problems that resulted from previous contacts and ensure that your
case is given a complete and impartial review.
To contact your Taxpayer Advocate:
- Call the Taxpayer Advocate at
1-877-777-4778.
- Call the IRS at
1-800-829-1040.
- Call, write, or fax the Taxpayer Advocate office in your
area.
- Call 1-800-829-4059 if you are
a TTY/TDD user.
For more information, see Publication 1546, The Taxpayer
Advocate Service of the IRS.
Free tax services.
To find out what services are available, get Publication 910,
Guide to Free Tax Services. It contains a list of free tax
publications and an index of tax topics. It also describes other free
tax information services, including tax education and assistance
programs and a list of TeleTax topics.
Personal computer. With your personal computer and
modem, you can access the IRS on the Internet at
www.irs.gov. While visiting our web site, you can select:
- Frequently Asked Tax Questions (located under
Taxpayer Help & Ed) to find answers to questions you
may have.
- Forms & Pubs to download forms and
publications or search for forms and publications by topic or
keyword.
- Fill-in Forms (located under Forms &
Pubs) to enter information while the form is displayed and then
print the completed form.
- Tax Info For You to view Internal Revenue
Bulletins published in the last few years.
- Tax Regs in English to search regulations and the
Internal Revenue Code (under United States Code
(USC)).
- Digital Dispatch and IRS Local News Net
(both located under Tax Info For Business) to receive
our electronic newsletters on hot tax issues and news.
- Small Business Corner (located under Tax
Info For Business) to get information on starting and operating
a small business.
You can also reach us with your computer using File Transfer
Protocol at ftp.irs.gov.
TaxFax Service. Using the phone attached to your fax
machine, you can receive forms and instructions by calling
703-368-9694. Follow the directions from the
prompts. When you order forms, enter the catalog number for the form
you need. The items you request will be faxed to you.
Phone. Many services are available by phone.
- Ordering forms, instructions, and publications.
Call 1-800-829-3676 to order
current and prior year forms, instructions, and publications.
- Asking tax questions. Call the IRS with your tax
questions at 1-800-829-1040.
- TTY/TDD equipment. If you have access to TTY/TDD
equipment, call 1-800-829- 4059 to ask
tax questions or to order forms and publications.
- TeleTax topics. Call
1-800-829-4477 to listen to pre-recorded
messages covering various tax topics.
Evaluating the quality of our telephone services. To
ensure that IRS representatives give accurate, courteous, and
professional answers, we evaluate the quality of our telephone
services in several ways.
- A second IRS representative sometimes monitors live
telephone calls. That person only evaluates the IRS assistor and does
not keep a record of any taxpayer's name or tax identification
number.
- We sometimes record telephone calls to evaluate IRS
assistors objectively. We hold these recordings no longer than one
week and use them only to measure the quality of assistance.
- We value our customers' opinions. Throughout this year, we
will be surveying our customers for their opinions on our
service.
Walk-in. You can walk in to many post offices,
libraries, and IRS offices to pick up certain forms, instructions, and
publications. Also, some libraries and IRS offices have:
- An extensive collection of products available to print from
a CD-ROM or photocopy from reproducible proofs.
- The Internal Revenue Code, regulations, Internal Revenue
Bulletins, and Cumulative Bulletins available for research
purposes.
Mail. You can send your order for forms, instructions,
and publications to the Distribution Center nearest to you and receive
a response within 10 workdays after your request is received. Find the
address that applies to your part of the country.
- Western part of U.S.:
Western Area Distribution Center
Rancho Cordova, CA 95743-0001
- Central part of U.S.:
Central Area Distribution Center
P.O. Box 8903
Bloomington, IL 61702-8903
- Eastern part of U.S. and foreign addresses:
Eastern Area Distribution Center
P.O. Box 85074
Richmond, VA 23261-5074
CD-ROM. You can order IRS Publication 1796, Federal
Tax Products on CD-ROM, and obtain:
- Current tax forms, instructions, and publications.
- Prior-year tax forms, instructions, and publications.
- Popular tax forms which may be filled in electronically,
printed out for submission, and saved for recordkeeping.
- Internal Revenue Bulletins.
The CD-ROM can be purchased from National Technical Information
Service (NTIS) by calling 1-877-233-6767
or on the Internet at www.irs.gov/cdorders. The first
release is available in mid-December and the final release is
available in late January.
IRS Publication 3207, Small Business Resource Guide, is
an interactive CD-ROM that contains information important to small
businesses. It is available in mid-February. You can get one free copy
by calling 1-800-829-3676 or visiting the
IRS web site at www.irs.gov/prod/bus_info/sm_bus/sm
bus-cd.html.
Office Furniture and
Fixtures
Information
Systems
Motor Vehicles
Office Supplies
Building, Components,
and Land
Equipment
First
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