I legally got my foster daughter 10/2023 and adopted 3/2025 and had her in my custody since 10/2023. I never got an ATIN for her she never had a social security number until adoption as she was “baby girl” legally. I filed my 2024 taxes in 2025 after adoption and I got her social security number and was denied ability to claim her since her social was issued after 2024. This does not seem correct should I have gotten an ATIN or how can I claim her for 2024
@Cstark77 , from your post I am not sure if the child "baby girl" could have qualified as a dependent prior to having a Tax ID ( TIN -- SSN, ITIN, ATIN ). From only the fac t that she was your "foster child" , she should have been a qualified child---> See here Dependents | Internal Revenue Service --- see the paragraph qualifying child. Also see more details on "eligible" Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information | Internal Revenue Service under adopted or foster children.
However , even after you meet all the tests for qualifying the child still needs to have a TIN and so if the TIN was issued only in 2025, then we have a problem here. TIN works ONLY after assignment date of the ID, not retroactively.
Is there more I can do for you ?