- 13 - Petitioner inventoried and estimated the value of her damaged personal property shortly after the earthquake. Petitioner’s accountant, Robert Kern, gave her an Internal Revenue Service worksheet to complete before he prepared her amended 1988 return. On the worksheet, petitioner estimated the cost and fair market value of her damaged personal property items. She spent 50 to 100 hours researching the cost and fair market value of the damaged items. She called stores to get the cost of items for which she did not have receipts. The earthquake destroyed some of petitioner’s personal property, such as mirrors, statues, vases, and figurines. It damaged other items such as bookcases, tables, chairs, a grandfather clock, rugs, and appliances. Petitioner had to have some of the damaged items repaired. For example, petitioner had the buffet server, table, and chairs repaired. Petitioner asked an appraiser, Mervyn Cohn (Cohn), to verify the cost and fair market value of the damaged items. He checked price guides, called retailers, and concluded that petitioner’s estimates were reasonable. He discounted the pre-earthquake cost or fair market value by 40 percent. He estimated that the value of petitioner's personal property was $86,398 before the earthquake. He assumed that the personal property listed by petitioner as damaged by the earthquake had no salvage value. He did not separately estimate the salvage value of each item.Page: Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011