Property valuation aids offered

• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Dec 4, 2008 - Page: 4A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Taxpayers may have a difficult time reconstructing the records of their personal property because of the number and types involved, according to the IRS.

One method the agency recommends is to draw a floor plan of each room, showing each piece of furniture.

The pictures should include drawers, dressers, shelves and their contents, as well as items stored in garages, attics and basements.

In order to establish the value of these items without hiring an appraiser, the IRS recommends using old catalogs as a way to establish cost basis and fair market value.

The agency also recommends:

• Checking the prices on similar items in thrift stores.
• Using the local “advertiser” or newspaper want ads as a source for fair market value.

Keep copies of the issues handy and copy pages used for specific items to put with your tax records file on the disaster.

• If a credit card was used to purchase the item, contact the credit card company.
• Check with your local library for back issues of newspapers. Most libraries keep old issues on microfilm.

The sale sections of these back issues may help establish original costs on items such as appliances.

• Go to a used bookstore with a tape measure and the diagram of the destroyed property. Measure several rows of used books and count the number of books per shelf.

Add up the prices of those books and determine an average cost per shelf. Then count the number of shelves you had in your home and multiply by the average cost per shelf.

This will help determine the value of your books before the loss.