To figure your deduction, total your expenses each year.

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Taxpayers must figure the percentage of business versus personal use and apply the business percentage to total expenses to arrive at the deduction.

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If the total of those deductions exceed the standard deduction for your filing status, you will (in most cases) want to claim itemized deductions instead of claiming the standard deduction.

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However, with disasters comes property damage or loss, both partial and total, which may provide for a tax deduction.

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Conversely, if the total of those deductions is less than the standard deduction for your filing status, you will want to claim the standard deduction.

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Yes, you can list your losses as a miscellaneous itemized deduction--but you can't deduct more than the total amount of your winnings.

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