Tax relief is available for some homeowners with crumbling foundations, according to U.S. Representatives Joe Courtney and John Larson.
After 19 months of negotiating, Congressmen John Larson and Joe Courtney secured federal tax relief from the IRS. Then lawmakers reached out to the Internal Revenue Service about the impact tax reform legislation would have on the potential tax write-offs for residents who are affected and Courtney (CT-District 2) and Larson (CT-District 1) released the letter from the Internal Revenue Service.
The acting commissioner said there is a safe harbor “allowing certain taxpayers to deduct amounts paid to repair damage (subject to certain limitations) to their personal residences resulting from deteriorating concrete foundations caused by the presence of pyrrhotite,” in the letter.
See the full letter here.
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“As the IRS confirmed in its letter, qualified taxpayers who paid to repair damage to their homes in 2017 or in prior open tax years will still able to deduct the cost of those repairs as a casualty loss on their 2017 returns. This is welcome confirmation for those homeowners who have already completed repair work on their homes and will soon begin to prepare their taxes,” Courtney and Larson said in a statement.
They said that, given that the revenue procedure was released at the end of November, many homeowners did not have time to make the necessary repairs by the time the new tax law was signed and 2017 ended and are only now discovering the extent to which their home foundations have been damaged or have yet to make plans to repair their homes.
“As noted in the IRS letter and in follow-up conversations that our offices have had with IRS and Treasury officials, there may be additional ‘transitional relief’ that could help other homeowners in 2018 and beyond,” the lawmakers said in a statement . “We will continue to work closely with the IRS and the Treasury to explore options to assist homeowners in the weeks ahead, and do all we can to ensure that as many homeowners as possible can seek tax relief in light of the new tax law.”
