My 1993 Honda Was Stolen 19 November 2015 And Never Was Recovered. Would I Be Able To Claim This As A Loss On My Income Taxes?

[2016newlife2016]

My 1993 Honda Accord was stolen 19 November 2015 and never has been recovered. I had only Liability Insurance on it. Would I be able to claim this as a loss on my Income Taxes?

[Mamyalynne]

Car insurance and Income tax are not related as far as I know.



Are you in the UK?

[Ellipsis]

No.

[jno]

no, it's not the government's job to compensate you for theft; you have to take out insurance yourself.

[Peter Pedant]

This is in the law section and so deserves at least a nod to the relevant legislation
I agree with others that this is not a UK based tax question
but anyway here is the answer

Income tax if you are employed is paid by PAYE
deductions allowed under PAYE are phrased under the relevant legislation as
deductions can be a) .... or b) .... or c) .... and no other deductions are allowed
and ..... as you can imagine a stolen car isnt one of the categories which is allowed....
So that is the how and why

If you are self employed and paying UK tax - it would be accounted for in a different way - the car necessary for you work would be depreciated in the accounts anyway. Your new car would be depreciated in the same way. Some people do their accounts without an accountant and I think they are crazy to be honest

Now you have clearly lost the capital and so that will come out on capital accounts BUT you are trying to offset a capital loss on a revenue account and the tax man wont wear that I am afraid ..... - this answer is very likely to be the same for the IRS in USA - but since I have no idea of revenue law in the US I will have to pass on that ....

longs answer for - no ... sorry .

[Dogsbody2]

If you are registered with HMRC as self-employed AND this vehicle is a business asset which has a tangible value in your business accounts, you MAY be able to write the loss off. It would then show as an additional item on the expense side of the balance sheet, which could be written off against SE income.

Otherwise, no.

[Dogsbody2]

PP and I are talking about the same process, but coming to a different conclusion. Asset write-down (either depreciation or write down on disposal) is a revenue expense, Peter?

[Peter Pedant]

dogz nice to see you contributing
didja have a good NY ?

I know you have MUCH more accounting exp than me ( zero )
and I find the mixing of capital and revenue bits confusing
( I use the services of an accountant )

I am pretty sure in my own mind this is IRS and not HMRC

[Ellipsis]

The question was:

Would I Be Able To Claim This As A Loss On My Income Taxes?

The answer is no.

Also, it's a 22 year old Honda Accord. Worthless apart from scrap value.

[Skyline D]

Indeed. If the OP is an employee in the UK then the answer is pretty much "No".

If the OP is self employed and uses the car in their business then a portion of it might well be allowable but you'd need to factor in any private usage and as Ellipsis says it can't possibly have been worth much in the first place.