Is it possible the calculation for adoption credit is broken? It says the max amount is 5k but my estimate went up much more.

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
January 13, 2026
2 replies
1 view

My estimated federal refund jumped up roughly 12k, when I was expecting 5k maximum for the adoption credit.

TurboTax Online

AmyC

Level 15

The new $5k rule is to get a refundable portion after your tax liability is wiped out. You may have had a larger tax liability that was reduced so that you refund is higher.

Follow these steps:

Take a look at your form 8839 and verify the numbers.
Take a look at sch 3 line 6c for adoption credit.
Take a look at your 1040. Look at the tax on line 16.
Now, look at line 20 for the credit from sch 3 to pull over.
Any adoption credit left after wiping out your tax liability, moved down the 1040 to line 30 for a maximum of $5,000.

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AmeliesUncle

Level 15

If you look at line 2 of the Adoption Credit form (Form 8839), you'll see that the POTENTIAL maximum adoption credit is much, much higher than $5,000.