Helene damage could affect your tax returns this year

AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- Every year, taxpayers can look forward to new laws regarding tax returns.
This year there are a few changes in the two state, and property damages because of hurricane Helene could affect your taxes.

2024 was expected to be an uneventful tax season with very few federal tax law changes.
In Georgia, the tax rate lowered by 0.1% and the standard deduction increased.

“A lower rate is going to result in lower Georgia tax. Of course, the federal government raised the standard deduction for most filers back in 2018, I believe. And Georgia did not follow suit at that time. But they now have pretty, pretty well matched the the higher federal standard deduction. So that will, again, reduce taxpayer’s taxable income,” explained Paul Wade, the managing partner at SME CPA.

In South Carolina there aren’t any significant changes for tax payers. However, the incredible damage caused by the hurricane could change things for many people filing taxes in both states, but particularly in Georgia thanks to a law change in December.

“There were not going to be probably that many taxpayers in this area that would have benefited from casualty losses because the loss had to exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. You had to be able to itemize. You couldn’t take the standard deduction,” Wade said. “When they changed the law, they basically got rid of those two requirements. So now almost anybody that incurred an of out-of-pocket loss, you know, above and beyond what they were reimbursed by insurance proceeds, potentially got a deduction for that on their taxes.”

Those requirements do stand in South Carolina and a tax preparer we spoke to told us that unless the property sustained significant damage, it isn’t worth filing casualty loss in the Palmetto State.

So what does casualty loss include?

“Removing trees from your property is something that we’ve seen a lot. But you can claim that as a casualty loss to essentially restore your landscaping to its original condition before the storm. You know, it could be food spoilage. It could be any number of things, just any damage to your property that insurance did not reimburse you for,” said Wade.

Something NOT covered under loss? Scams. If you were scammed out of money by people claiming to be with debris removal or construction, you can’t file that as a loss unless it was on a property you profit from. This includes businesses or rental properties.

The filing deadline for taxpayers affected by hurricane Helene has been extended to May 1st.