Hurricane Sandy Tax Relief

Dear Friends,

I hope you and your families are safe in the aftermath of this week's Megastorm, Superstorm, or Frankenstorm, or whatever you want to call it. I know alot of you are still without electricity, cable, or internet service right now, but you are not totally without power. You still have the power to tax plan!

The storm might have left you with some new tax deductions, albeit many of these are in the form of expenses you would simply rather not have at all. Well, I can't cut up your fallen trees, I can't fix your roof, and I can't reconnect your power lines, so let me offer you some Hurricane Sandy relief the best way I know how! Here is some tax relief you might be able to benefit from in the wake of this week's storm:

• CT Property Tax Declaration due dates delayed from November 1 to November 15. Governor Malloy's CT State Executive Order #24 provides some relief in the form of additional time for you to fill out those pesky Property Tax Declarations.

• CT Unemployment Tax Filing due dates delayed from November 1 to November 15. Governor Malloy's CT State Executive Order #23 provides the same relief to employers who need to file their quarterly unemployment insurance forms.

• CT Sales Tax Return due dates have also been delayed from October 31 to November 7.

• CT Income Tax Withholdings due dates have also been delayed from October 31 to November 7.

• The IRS has mandated that any Federal payroll filings that were originally due on October 31, can now be remitted on November 7.

• Uninsured Losses - Casualty Loss Rules. You can deduct your uninsured disaster losses as a miscellaneous itemized deduction on your tax return, but that deduction is limited in several ways. You can claim the amount of your uninsured loss only, and on top of that only the amount that was in excess of 10% of your adjusted gross income, less $100. I really really hope you didn't suffer losses that large, but if you did let's discuss how to utilize the casualty loss rules for a deduction on your 2012 tax return.

• Home Office Repairs - If your home office took a direct hit, and you have to make repairs directly to that space, those costs are 100% deductible for your business. If your home suffered general damage, you can deduct a % of your total repairs expense, based on the % of total square footage in your home that your home office occupies.

• New Business Equipment - I hope you did not experience any loss of business equipment during the storm, but in the event that you did, you can claim a First-Year Special Depreciation Allowance on new or used business equipment purchases up to $125,000. That limitation is for tax year 2012 only, and next year that limit drops to $25,000, so be sure to place your new assets into service before December 31, 2012 if you want to qualify for the increased limit on your 2012 tax return.

• Vehicle Mileage to Perform Charitable Work - If you use your personal vehicle to perform charitable services for post-storm cleanup, or for any charity for that matter, you can deduct 14 cents per mile on your Schedule A itemized deductions on your 2012 tax return.

• Federal Emergency Status - Because President Obama has signed off many of our states as Federal Emergency areas, it means that Federal dollars will be available to help us rebuild. There may also be specific tax credits available to us, similar to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita victims a few years ago. So I'll keep an eye out for those and keep you all posted.

If you have any questions or need my help with anything, please give me a call or send me an email. My office is up and running, and ready to help you any way we can.

You are in my thoughts, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Best,

Robert Gambardella, CPA CTC

203-767-7197

www.ConciergeTax.com