I can't get our adoption credit. It's always a carryover and i can't figure out why

You must have tax liability for the credit to be applied to.    The credit is nonrefundable, which means it's limited to your tax liability for the year. However, any credit in excess of your tax liability may be carried forward for up to five years. 

 

For more information please check Adoption Credit 

 

You can see a summary of your tax return while in TurboTax by doing the following:

 

1. Find the "Tax Tools" option on your left menu bar and click on it

2. Click on "Tools"

3. Click on "View Tax Summary"

 

This will allow you to see if you have any income tax to apply the credit to.

Other non refundable credits like the child tax credit or day care credit must be used first then if you still have any tax liability left the adoption credit is used.   REVIEW the worksheets for all those credits to see how they work together to get you the best bottom line results.

 

To use up this credit increase your taxable income ... a good way is to convert some IRA funds to a ROTH.