2011 Tax Filing: carryover for expenses exceeding credit 2010 - 2011?

For the federal adoption tax credit for adoptoins finalized in 2010, you were able to claim the SMALLER of these two choices: 1 - The amount of qualified adoption expenses you paid -OR- 2- The total amount of the adoption tax credit ($13,170). Because your adoption cost $26,000, you claimed #2, as it was the smaller of the two choices. Because it was 2010, you got that complete amount of money back all at once, and now you are finished claiming the federal adoption tax credit for that child. Back in 2003 you would have claimed the amount that was allowable back then - around $10,000. And that first year of claiming it you would have only received a portion of it back at a time - the amount that equaled your tax liability for that year. So probably between $1,000 and $6,000 dollars at a guess. Then the following year you would have claimed the remainder, and received another portion back (Probably again between $1,000 and $6,000). If you still hadn't received back all of the credit to which you were entitled (that original ~$10,000), you would keep claiming the ever-smaller remainder of that amount until it was either gone or until a total of six years had passed. But in 2010 they eliminated all that carry over and remainder junk and just gave you the total amount in a single check. Much easier. Much simpler. No remembering from year to year. Just claim it once and you're finished. Unfortunately, the tax law has never allowed you to claim the total amount of qualified adoption expenses for an adoptoin if that amount exceeded the amount of the adoption tax credit. You are limited to an absolute maximum amount for each adoption, which in 2010 was $13,170. Hope that explains it!