We placed with a newborn baby for adoption in Nov 2021, but the adoption won't be final until 22. Can we claim as a dependent even without a SSN yet?

[grahamgrocho]

Our baby's revised birth certificate and SSN won't be sent to us until perhaps April.

[Mike9241]

in order to claim the child besides the SSN, the child must have the same principal residence as you for more than 1/2 the year (from the date of birth)

you need the SSN.  if you try to e-file claiming the child the lack of an SSN will result in rejection. mailing it and if you are due a refund it will be held up until the IRS gets around to sending you a notice requesting it, you respond, and then the IRS gets around to processing it.  if you owe the IRS will disallow the exemption and send you a notice/bill.  based on what happened in 2021, this could take months.

[Opus 17]

Do you actually qualify to claim the child?  If they are not yet your legally adopted child, they must at least have been placed in your home by a court order or by another legally approved process or agency according to the laws of your state.  A voluntary arrangement with the parents may not be enough.  It must be a legally approved adoption process.

Then, the child must have lived in your home more than half the year, or if it was born in 2021, it must have lived in your home more than half the number of days since it was born.  

If you do qualify to claim the child as a dependent, you must file an on-time tax return with the SSN to qualify for any credits.  On time means before April 15, or before October 15 but only if you first get the extension before April 15.  So you need to wait, and file the extension if necessary.

Separate from the dependent claim, you may be eligible to claim a tax credit for your adoption expenses next year as well as claiming the child as a dependent.  See here for more.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc607

[Critter-3]

To claim the child you must have a SS#  OR  an  ATIN for them  as well as being qualified to claim them as already mentioned.  

[Opus 17]

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@Opus 17 wrote:

Then, the child must have lived in your home more than half the year, or if it was born in 2021, it must have lived in your home more than half the number of days since it was born.  

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Also note that if the child lived in your home less than half the year (or less than half the days since they were born), you might be able to claim them as a qualifying relative or "other" dependent ($500 credit instead of $3000) using a multiple support agreement signed by all the people who provided part of the child's support, agreeing that you can claim the child.  Look for "multiple support agreement" in publication 501. 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf