KeshaH
Expert Alumni

Deductions & credits

You will need to add the qualifying child to the adoption credit section to generate Form 8839. The credit will then be calculated and added to your return.

 

I noticed that your earliest credit is for 2019, which would expire this year - so it's a good thing you caught it!

 

To add your child to the adoption credit section in TurboTax Online:

 

Once you're logged in to your account, 

- from the Tax Home page, click Deductions & Credits and then Review/Edit or I'll choose what I work on.

- click on the arrow next to You and Your Family, then Revisit next to Adoption Credit

- click the review icon (looks like a piece of paper with a magnifying glass)

- enter the details about the child you adopted, click Continue

- choose The adoption proceedings began in 2023 or earlier, click Continue

- select whether the adoption was finalized or unsuccessful - if finalized, enter the year, click Continue

- answer whether you filed a 8839 for this child in a prior year, click Continue

- enter the information from your prior year 8839, click Continue

- enter any adoption-related expenses you had in 2024, click Continue

- when you get back to the summary screen, click Continue

- you should see your refund/balance update due to the credit. 

 

Note: If you didn't claim the credit in prior years, but believe you should have, you may be able to amend those returns to get a refund. If you plan to do that, I suggest amending those returns first before finalizing 2024 so that you can update the carryforward amount.

 

The furthest you can go back to amend is tax year 2021.

 

@htothemax