Question

Non business bad debt? for losses from contractor that abandoned home renovation project and left it incomplete.

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 30, 2022
1 reply
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We paid a contractor for work that he never finished on a renovation project on our primary home.

We brought him to court and won and received his entire contractors surety bond but it didn't make us whole.

He filed for bankruptcy so couldn't pay. So now it seems like this is a non business bad debt that became totally worthless last year once we won our lawsuit and received his surety bond money. We had to hire a new contractor to finish the work.

Can I deduct the construction losses and non business bad debt from my taxes?

Since this was for our personal home, is this a deductible loss?

ColeenD3

No, personal losses are not deductible. You can't deduct construction losses.

If someone owes you money that you cannot collect, you have a bad debt. You may be able to deduct the amount owed to you when you figure your tax for the year the debt becomes worthless.

Genuine debt required. A debt must be genuine for you to deduct a loss. A debt is genuine if it arises from a debtor-creditor relationship based on a valid and enforceable obligation to repay a fixed or determinable sum of money.

When deductible. You can take a bad debt deduction only in the year the debt becomes worthless. You do not have to wait until a debt is due to determine whether it is worthless. A debt becomes worthless when there is no longer any chance that the amount owed will be paid. It is not necessary to go to court if you can show that a judgment from the court would be uncollectible. You must only show that you have taken reasonable steps to collect the debt. Bankruptcy of your debtor is generally good evidence of the worthlessness of at least a part of an unsecured and unpreferred debt.

The actual task of reporting a bad debt is relatively simple. The steps are:

Complete Form 8949 Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets
Enter the amount of the debt on line 1 in part 1, and write the name of the debtor in column (a)
Enter your basis in column (e)—the amount of money that has not been paid back
In column (d), write 0—the amount the borrower did not repay

The IRS also requires that you attach a bad-debt statement to your tax return, explaining the details of the loan you made. You must deduct a bad debt in the year it becomes worthless. If you realize you could have reported and taken a deduction for an unpaid debt years ago but didn't, you generally have only three years to amend your return in order to claim it on your tax return.