Adoption Tax Credit

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
February 21, 2026
2 replies
7 views

Form 8839 is not calculating the refundable adoption credit correctly for a 2024 adoption. It is showing $5000, but should be $0.

My client adopted a child in 2024 and this is correctly marked on the Qualified Adoptive Child Worksheet, with the correct adoption credit carryover from 2024. The software is calculating $5000 as a refundable adoption credit in error. This refundable portion is only allowed for 2025 adoptions per the OBBBA. I wonder if line 13 is linked to line 1 (g) which reads "Check if adoption became final in 2025 or earlier."

I cannot complete this tax return until ProSeries corrects this error. The nonrefundable adoption credit is calculated correctly.

ProSeries Basic

T

TaxGuyBill

Level 15

@korndog1984 wrote:

\adoption credit carryover from 2024. ... This refundable portion is only allowed for 2025 adoptions per the OBBBA.

Just to be clear, you are preparing a 2025 tax return with a carryover from 2024, right?

While I have NOT researched it in-depth, where are you seeing it only applies to 2025 adoptions?

As far as I can see, the carryover is added to subjection (a), and at first glance, I don't see where the refundable portion in (a)(4) would exclude the carryover credit that is being added to (a).

As I said, I have NOT researched it or looked into it in-depth (plus I am rather tired at the moment), but at first glance, I'm not seeing why it is not allowed.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/23

K

korndog1984Author

Level 3

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I am preparing the 2025 return with a 2024 adoption tax carryover.

This is from the IRS website: One, Big, Beautiful Bill provisions | Internal Revenue Service

Adoption credit enhancement (Section 70402)

Any credit amount carried forward from prior years cannot be used to calculate the refundable portion

I understand this to mean the $5000 refundable adoption tax credit applies to 2025 adoptions.

T

TaxGuyBill

Level 15

Ah, I missed that part. You are right.

Unfortunately, it looks like the program isn't taking that into account. That probably means you'll either need to wait for it to be fixed or override the software to correct it. There are definitely a lot of extra errors in the software this year.

K

korndog1984Author

Level 3

Michelle with Technical Support did some troubleshooting and helped me discover I had incorrectly checked box 6c on the Form 8839 Qualified Adoptive Child Worksheet. The correct answer was Yes to 6c. The $5000 refundable credit is now correctly not applied for adoptions prior to 2025.

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