Semicolon Stories

Help Needed: The Adoption Tax Credit

August 4, 2012 at 10:13 am Danielle B Leave a comment

When you adopt, there’s this “little” thing called the Adoption Tax Credit. Let’s just say the tax season after your adoption is final, it’s your best friend. Unfortunately many adoptions do not come free (there ARE some routes where costs are minimal) … however in the case of our domestic adoption of a little gal outside of the foster care system – it took a little capital to have it all go through.

The Adoption Tax Credit allowed us to claim up to a certain amount of dollars on our tax return and receive a nice refund around tax time. It’s a one-time credit you can claim in addition to claiming a dependent. And while it doesn’t cover all the adoption expenses for some, it’s certainly a very nice chunk of change that comes back for anyone who’s adopted a child.

Help Keep the Adoption Tax Credit

Unfortunately, this tax credit isn’t a permanent feature in our Congressional system, and it happens to be up for review and is set to expire if we don’t take action. It needs our help.

If you have a few minutes, can you help write your representative and ask them to sponsor & support the bill? (It’s easier than standing in a Chick-fil-A line or making signs to protest, right?)

Our adoption agency, American Adoptions, has made this very simple. Follow the steps below. I just did it and it took less than five minutes. Help stand up for adoption and keep the tax credit in place!

If Congress does not act, the tax credit will expire on December 31, 2012.

Action: Contact your Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. You can reach your Representative by calling the U.S. Capitol Operator at 202.225.3121 and asking for your Representative’s office. You can find your representative by going to http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and entering your zip code in the box provided.

I opted to send an email to my representative once I found his page.

Message: Here are some good things to include in your message:

• I am a constituent in your district and the adoption tax credit is important to me. (It matters to me because…)
• I urge the Representative to become a co-sponsor of The Making Adoption Affordable Act, H.R. 4373.
• If Congress does not act – the credit as we now know it – will expire in December 2012.
• H.R. 4373 is bipartisan, and it supports all types of adoptions (domestic private, foster care, and international adoptions).
• This tax credit has made adoption a more viable option for many parents who might not otherwise have been able to afford adoption, allowing them to provide children with loving, permanent families.
• Thank you for your support of H.R. 4373.

If you want to learn more about the adoption tax credit, visit http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/. You can also like the Save the Adoption Tax Credit mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AdoptionTaxCredit.

Entry filed under: Burgess Adoption. Tags: adoption, adoption tax credit, congress, domestic adoption, H.R. 4373.