I am in south Florida and was impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. Form 4684 allows for deduction of causualty losses due to damages from these storms. I have a few questions. (1) I have substantial roof tile damages, but unfortunately came under the insurance deductable so I have to pay for the repair. Meanwhile five months after the storm and I am still unable to get a roofer to come and repair it. Reason being no roofer is available for repair (they are too busy doing a brand new roofs) and since I have roof tiles they are back ordered for one year anyways. So I don't know the exact amount to deduct. (2) It says I can deduct losses from landscape. I lost a large tree and a few small ones. But what are their values? Is their value the fee I paid for someone to come cut them down and haul them away? I paid over a thousand dollars for the tree removal but that is not what I "lost" right? (3) How would I even begin to itemize things like lost of all food in the refrigerator because I had no power for weeks, or the tree limbs came down and dented the side door of my car? (4) On the form it asked what is the fair market value before and after the loss. Now if I had a working rain gutter before the storm, and after the storm it is laying on the ground all torned up, how do I determine the after loss value? Is it zero? I would think it is zero? or do they assume building materials have resale value? How would I determine these values if I made estimates? I don't have any receipts of a tree I bought ten years ago from the nusery. For example, one of them was a crape myrtle that cost $500 back then...how much would it be now had it not been chewed up by Wilma? I am scratching my head here with this form, any help or advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
MC