Hurricane Harvey relief

[Possi]

My client in TX sent information on Hurricane relief. He doesn't itemize, so I was not even going to look because I knew it was not as much as the standard deduction, but something told me to exhaust all this knowledge he laid upon me.

And look what I found:

"Casualty and theft losses are generally deducted on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, but, you may choose instead to increase your standard deduction by your qualified net hurricane disaster loss if you don’t itemize other deductions on Schedule A. See the instructions for more detail." I don't know what instructions they are talking about, but here is more... What do you think? It looks like I can boot the loss into the standard deduction and indicate "hurricane tax relief" at the top of the return. That tells me it will probably be a paper return. I hate messing with this right now with all these returns waiting, so I might file an extension.

I found it here:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-law-provisions-for-disaster-areas

2017 Act Casualty and Theft Loss Calculation and Instructions

The casualty and theft loss deduction helps taxpayers who have unreimbursed losses. Ordinarily, taxpayers figure their deduction by starting with the amount their insurance doesn’t cover. Taxpayers must reduce each personal casualty or theft loss by $100 and then reduce their total personal casualty and theft losses by 10 percent of their adjusted gross income. Then, they may only deduct the part of the loss that exceeds these limits. However, if a taxpayer sustained losses due to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma or Maria, the 2017 Act provides a different calculation for many victims that allows a deduction for the entire portion of the disaster loss not covered by insurance that exceeds $500.

Under the 2017 Act, losses qualifying for this relief include personal losses from flooding or other casualty, and losses from theft, that arose in the federally declared hurricane disaster areas announced before September 21, 2017, and that were caused by the hurricane. If your loss arose in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, your loss is subject to the $500 reduction and is not reduced based on your adjusted gross income. You must use $500 as the reduction when determining your qualified net hurricane disaster loss and indicate “hurricane tax relief” at the top of your tax return as outlined in the Form 4684 instructions.

Casualty and theft losses are generally deducted on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, but, you may choose instead to increase your standard deduction by your qualified net hurricane disaster loss if you don’t itemize other deductions on Schedule A. See the instructions for more detail. 

Note: This special calculation cannot be used to figure disaster losses in Louisiana and South Carolina. These losses must be deducted using the usual casualty and theft loss limits.