Advertisements
Advertisements
My wife and I got some bad tax advice last year and were told we needed to wait until our adoption was final to claim any expenses on our tax return. I now know that is incorrect and am hoping we can use our 2009, 2010 and 2011 expenses this year (Charlie was born 1/25/11).
Our expenses are split between 2009 and 2010 so we really need to use the 2009 expenses. Do we need to ammend our 2010 returns, or can we use those expenses along with the rest of our expenses on our 2011 return?
We filed seperate last year so going back will probably be a real pain.
TIA
Chris
You will need to amend the affected past year returns. The IRS does not have an option to allow people to claim a credit later than it was earned.
I am glad you learned that you can claim the federal adoption tax credit for an unfinalized domestic adoption in the year AFTER you spent the money. So those 2009 expenses can be claimed on your 2010 taxes, and your 2010 expenses can be claimed on your 2011 taxes.
I'm assuming you did NOT finalize in 2011? Then you will want to join the people writing their congresspersons encouraging them to extend or even improve the federal adoption tax credit. You don't want to lose any potential return from the scheduled lessening of the credit in 2012.
Advertisements
Thanks for the bad news. :) The paperwork reads this way but I was hoping there might be another option.
Chris
charliesdad
Thanks for the bad news. :) The paperwork reads this way but I was hoping there might be another option.
Chris
Does your misery want some company? You can be glad you're not in the dozens/hundreds of people who adopted back in 2005, who in 2010 ended up redoing FIVE YEARS of tax returns due to changes in the credit. THAT was a monstrous pain. At least you only have two years to redo. ;)
Sign the petition to extend the tax credit and make it refundable.
[url=http://www.change.org/petitions/make-adoption-costs-fully-refundable-in-the-2012-2013-tax-years]Economic Justice Petition: Make adoption costs fully refundable in the 2012 & 2013 Tax Years | Change.org[/url]