How to Claim Storm Damage to a Roof

If your roof is damaged from a storm, you may be eligible to claim a tax deduction. The IRS permits two ways to claim this deduction. If you live in a presidentially declared disaster area, you can claim the deduction without having to itemize your deductions, or subtract 10 percent of your adjusted gross income from your deduction amount. If you are not in a disaster area but itemize your deductions, you still can claim the loss but you will have to forgo the standard deduction. If you have insurance, you must file a timely claim and reduce your loss by the amount of reimbursement you receive from your insurer. If you have a policy but do not file a claim, you cannot claim the deduction.

Determine whether you live in a presidentially declared disaster area. If so, you can claim the deduction using Schedule L and not itemize your deductions. See resources for a list of federal disaster declarations.

Complete section A of Form 4684. Stop at line 18 if you are in a presidentially declared disaster area. Complete the entire form and skip to step 4 if you are not. Lines 20 and 21 will adjust your deduction value, taking into consideration the subtraction of 10 percent of your adjusted gross income from the amount you can deduct.

Copy the amount of your deduction from line 18 of Form 4684 to line 6 of Schedule L if you are in a disaster area. Transfer the total to either line 40a if you file your taxes with Form 1040 or line 24a if using Form 1040A once you have added the amounts for other deductions allowed on Schedule L.

Transfer the amount from line 22 of Form 4684 to line 20 of your Schedule A, which lists itemized deductions. Be aware that if you claim this, or any other itemized deductions, you cannot claim the standard deduction.