The Tax Resources Blog

Archive for July, 2001

Loss Tax Deduction

Question: Subleased a vehicle, they defaulted, sold at a loss. Any Tax Deductions?

I bought a truck and rented it to a startup real estate developer. He went bankrupt and I was stuck with the truck. Ended up selling it at a steep loss. Is there any way I can deduct this loss on my taxes? Perhaps account for it in my small business? Though I never claimed it as an asset in my business when I purchased it a couple years ago. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Answer: No, you probably claimed mileage for your business driving. If you didn’t have it you couldn’t have been using it in your business. Almost all vehicles are sold at a loss they are just an expense. I bought a new truck in 1997 and now it has 135K miles on it and it isn’t worth 15% of what I paid for it. I don’t get to deduct it and if I had used it in a business I would have depreciated it or used mileage for the part that wasn’t personal use.

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