Federal Tax Research 10th Edition by Steven Gill, Gerald Whittenburg, Roby Sawyers, Debra Sanders, William Raabe

تمرين 47

John is a shady real estate broker. In 1980, he sells Roy homestead rights to 500 acres in Nevada. In the current year, the land has become moderately valuable, and Roy sells his rights to Velma. When Velma tries to exercise the rights, she discovers that Roy never had the rights. She sues Roy for return of the money and legal fees. Roy would like to sue John, but he has long since skipped town, never to be found. Roy wants to know if he can claim a theft-loss deduction for the damages paid to Velma and all his court costs as result of this breach of title warranty. Roy thinks that he was the victim of a swindle when he bought the nonexistent rights from John.