After you have figured the amount of your casualty loss, you must figure how much of the loss you can deduct.
However, if you have a casualty loss from a federally declared disaster, you can choose to treat the loss as having occurred in the year immediately preceding the tax year in which the disaster happened, and you can deduct the loss on your return or amended return for that preceding tax year.
When you have a loss you need to take a next step and move on.
But if you want to make sure your losses do some good for you this year, you need to pay attention to something called the "wash sale rule, " which disallows a realized loss if you purchase the same, or "substantially identical securities, " 30 days before or 30 days after the day you booked the loss.
For example, if you have a bank stock with a loss, you can move the money from the loss into a bank index ETF, he explains, so that you'll have similar sector exposure.
For example, if you book a loss in Hovnanian, you may still want to have upside exposure to homebuilders and could jump into Toll Brothers or Lennar and make your loss stick.
It will not necessarily expand, so much as defend you from loss of brand awareness.
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The lure of some tax savings can act as a prod to help you overcome loss aversion.
Someday you may be very glad you have loss carryforwards on hand.
"As you see forest loss continue, as you see the depletion of rivers, you are undercutting the foundation for economic development in those countries, " he said.
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Before you harvest a loss, make sure you or your adviser have thought through whether it will be treated as long-term or short-term and what kind of income you can offset with it.
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If your spouse dies and you happen to be not very popular with your in-laws, then better get resigned to the fact that while you mourn the loss of your partner, you will be accused of having killed him or her.
The theory behind stop-loss orders is that they enable you to avoid a meltdown in the stock, and thus they protect you from a loss or preserve your profit.
This rule is called the "wash sale" rule, and it says that when you sell something for a tax loss and then buy it right back you can't claim the loss.
Specifically, the law says you have to suspend the loss on stock you sell if you buy the same stock within 30 days before or after the sale.
If dropping pounds is a goal for you and your doctor recommends that you join a weight-loss program, you can use your FSA to pay the enrollment and other fees.
Even if you have a net loss at the table, you're still taxed on your winnings.
If you see a loss in terms that suggest ways of being better prepared for problems in the future, you feel more efficacious.
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If you want the tax loss, most brokers will tell you, you have to take a risk.
This is really great because you now have a pool of potential ordinary loss that you can use as needed.
At that rate you can spend decades burning through a large loss unless you have other capital gains to offset them more robustly.
When you sell the property, the past losses can be used to offset any gains, and, if you have more passive loss write-offs afterward, you can claim them against regular income.
Even when you think you've accepted a loss, know that you will likely feel vulnerable for some time.
When you switch a premium-recommended car over to regular, you may experience a little loss in acceleration if you have a lead foot.
If you were counting on that loss to offset gains you made this year, however, you need to make sure to play by the rules.
So if you die with depreciated assets, the potential capital loss that you could have claimed goes to waste.
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Enter losses as a "miscellaneous deduction" on Schedule A. You can deduct a loss only up to the amount of the win you report in the same year.
But when analyzed, the purchase price is a loss you can never recover from.
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If the stock turns south, that 7% yield won't compare to the 10% loss you could take.
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