Question

Steve Colburn's portable sawmill used 100% for business, was completely destroyed by fire. The sawmill had an adjusted basis of $35,000 and a fair market value of $50,000 before the fire. The sawmill was uninsured. Steve's casualty loss is:________.1) $49,900.
2) $50,000.
3) $35,000.
4) $34,900.

Answer 1

Answer: $35,000

Explanation:

A casualty loss is simply a loss that an individual or business incurs when a property is damaged, or destroyed due to an unexpected or sudden event like fire, volcanic eruption, flood etc.

Here, Steve's casualty loss will be gotten when we compare both his adjusted basis and the fair market value and then we choose the lesser one. Since $35000 is lesser than $50000, therefore the answer will be $35000.