topic adoption carry forward credit when filing married filing separately in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

adoption carry forward credit when filing married filing separately

slj1650 — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 05:24:24 GMT

The adoption carry forward credit is supposed allowed per the IRS for carry forward years when married filing separately. Why won’t it let me add it?

Re: adoption carry forward credit when filing married filing separately

SabrinaD2 — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 15:51:36 GMT

The IRS does generally let the adoption credit to be carried forward, even if you are filing as "Married Filing Separately" (MFS). However, there are specific conditions that must be met for it to be added.

Original Year of Credit: If you were married in the year the qualified adoption expenses were first allowable for the credit, you must have filed a joint return for that year.
Carryforward: You can carry forward any unused adoption credit for up to five years.

Once you have checked eligibility - TurboTax can add it for MFS.

To verify and check your adoption credit carryforward entries in TurboTax Online, follow these steps:

Sign in to your TurboTax Online account and open your tax return.
Click on the search icon (magnifying glass) in the upper-right corner
Type "adoption credit" into the search bar and hit enter.
Select the "Jump to adoption credit" link that appears in the search results.
On the "Did you pay any adoption expenses in 2024 or earlier?" screen, answer "Yes."
When you arrive at "Did you file Form 8839 in a prior year for Barbara?" click yes
Go through the remainder of the interview questions. Make sure you enter all information about your adoption costs and any amounts that you carry forward from last year correctly.
There should only be an entry in the box corresponding to the year the adoption expenses were incurred. For example, if you had an unused adoption credit from 2021, ensure that the amount is entered in the 2021 box.

Re: adoption carry forward credit when filing married filing separately

slj1650 — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 16:17:17 GMT

Thank you. We did not live apart for the last six months of 2024 so this is our issue.

Re: adoption carry forward credit when filing married filing separately

AmyC — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 19:58:08 GMT

If you filed separately last year and joint this year, you should be able to add it using the steps above. What message are you getting that is preventing you from the credit? I was able to add it following those steps so you must have more to the story or missed an input answer. Review your steps and let us know the error message.