Hello Community, 

I have a client that sent a wire for a deposit for a fishing trip in October (the trip was only for a fun getaway, there was no business being attended to on the trip). Later that month, my client received word that the individual running the business had passed away. 

My client now insists that we can take the loss on their 2023 tax return - I've already advised that they cannot do that. 

Short of getting an attorney to file a small claim against the businessess assets - is there anything I am not thinking of to recover the lost funds?