My daughter and her husband are adopting a newborn. They have qualifying expenses from 2013 and 2014. The child was born in 2015, they have temporary custody of the baby. I am working on their 2014 tax return (using turbo tax) and form 8839 won't let me put in 2015 for a birth year . I read IRS Publication 607, but it doesn't say that the qualifying child has to be born in 2014 in order to qualify for the credit.

ANSWER

The BIDaWIZ Team's Answer:

When was the actual adoption finalized though? It would have to be 2015, correct? That is possibly why you're running into an issue with TurboTax.

Please also note that the child must be considered eligible for the credit. If you reference Internal Revenue Code Section (IRC) 23(d)(2), you'll note that the child must be born to qualify for the credit.

However, since the child was born in 2015, your daughter and her husband should be able to claim those expenses from 2014 on their 2015 tax return as per IRC Section 23(2)(A).

References: IRC 23(d)(2); IRC Section 23(2)(A); IRS Publication 17
State: Washington