Hello, I adopted my last child in 2020. Turbotax keeps generating an Adoptive Child Worksheet for me for 2021 and I don't understand why.

Were you able to claim the full credit in 2020? Please be aware any credit in excess of your tax liability may be carried forward for up to five years. Please see How do I claim the Adoption Credit in 2021? for additional information. 

We have adopted 4 times so we have a perpetual carryover since 2016. Would I still fill out another form for our latest adoption (2020) again though? 

Yes, you will still need Form 8839 for the Adoption Credit in 2021 if you have a credit remaining from prior years. The adoption credit carries forward for five years if it is not used in its entirety. 

You may need to verify the information that has carried forward if you filed with TurboTax in prior years, but if the adoption was finalized in 2020 and you did not have any new adoption expenses in 2021, then there should be nothing new to add. 

Hello,

   It’s making me re-enter her name on the adoption worksheet (it’s also changing my refund amount) and I want to be sure that is right before submitting. I feel like it isn’t- I have never had to re-enter any other child’s name before. 

You can look on schedule 3, part I, line 6(c) to see if your adoption credit amount looks correct on your tax return. It is a non-refundable credit, so it may be limited in the current year if your tax on line 24 of your form 1040 is reduced to zero.

You can view your form 1040 and schedules 1 to 3 while working in the online version of TurboTax by following these steps:

While working on your return in the Federal section of TurboTax:

   1.  Choose the Tax Tools icon on your left menu bar

   2.  Tools

   3.  View Tax Summary

   4.  Choose the Preview my 1040 on your left menu bar

Hello,

   I will check that out. In what scenario would they have me entering her name into that worksheet again? I guess that is where my confusion lies. 

It depends. If you reported her in your 2020 return as an adoptive child, her name should still be listed on the worksheet.

It’s very bizarre as it’s now making me enter her SSN and everything again. It’s also saying the form hasn’t been update by the IRS and released for This year- maybe there is a glitch in there somewhere that will clear up when the form is approved. Hoping that is soon! 

This will clear up when the form has been added for 2021 return.  We do not have a date of a fix yet so we recommend you checking back oftern to see if the issue has been resolved.

it has not asked me for this form or mentioned it in the previous years, is this something new? 

@Nadiadovgun It depends. As DanaB27 mentions in this thread, this form will only appear in your return if you had adoption expenses in the past that you could not use that are being carried forward for 5 years. In your case, it sounds like you adopted your child several years ago and had no excess credit to carry forward.  As a result, you were able to use the full credit in the first year of adoption.

please help with this thank you

8839 form is out everywhere but TurboTax what's going on?  when will this be available? I know many who did it going to other tax services and leaving TurboTax for this reason. not happy 

@auntmaryshere

In this public forum, we are provided with form availability information, but not an explanation as to why the form is not available until that date.  For additional information, it would be necessary to contact customer support.  To do this, please see this Help Article to get in touch with us.

We are leaving. We even tried to remove the credit but TT keeps putting it back. Rep couldn’t help. So, I’ll be finding a new software. 

It depends. Perhaps you weren't able to use the full adoption credit in prior years and the excess credit was carried over this year when you are able to claim the excess credit.

All I can say is do not use TurboTax if you adopted kids.  This is the second row we have had this problem.  We have a carryover from some years ago but TurboTax keeps creating 8839 forms.   This problem does not come up until they have your money.  Last year we bought the highest level support so we could actually talk to someone and in the end the lady was really frustrated too and said just create the form fill it out for one of your kids and get past the form.  Essentially asking us to do tax fraud.    TurboTax fix this problem.  

Just to clarify, we would like to take a deeper look at this Form 8839 Qualified Adoption Expenses Adoptive Worksheet behavior. It would help to have a diagnostic file, which is a sanitized copy of your tax return that has all of your personal information removed but has all of the forms and numbers entered. You can send one to us by following the directions below and posting the token number here so we can access the sanitized return.

 TurboTax Online:

1. Sign in to your online account
2. Click on Tax Tools on the left toolbar
3. Select Tools
4. In the pop-up screen, click on "Share my file with agent"
5. Click OK on the message that a diagnostic file will be sanitized and transmitted to us
6. Please post the Token Number

TurboTax Desktop/Download Versions:

1. Open your return
2. Click the Online tab in the top menu bar
3. Select "Send Tax File to Agent"
4. Click Send on the message, and the tax file will be sanitized and transmitted to us
5. Please post the Token Number

947735 token number.

Thank you for sharing this information. Just to clarify, you had a Carryover Credit from Adoption Expenses in the past but for tax year 2021, it was past the five year limit to carry those expenses forward but Form 8839 is still generated? Is that correct?  We sanitized the return you provided and it no longer had the dates for the original adoption for me to view.

This credit is non-refundable and this means the amount of the credit is limited in a given year to a taxpayer's taxes due but any credit leftover can be carried forward for up to five years.