Adoption Tax Credit Calculator

Estimate your federal adoption credit for 2025, 2026 or 2027: how much is refundable, how much offsets your tax, how much the income phaseout removes, and what carries forward.

Short answer: for 2026 the adoption credit equals your qualified adoption expenses up to $17,670 per child — or the full $17,670 for a U.S. child with special needs regardless of expenses. It shrinks when modified AGI passes $265,080 and disappears at $305,080. Up to $5,120 per child is refundable; the rest reduces your income tax and any unused amount carries forward for up to five years.

This calculator is for informational purposes only. Results are estimates based on the figures you enter and published IRS limits; they are not tax advice, and Form 8839 controls the final number. For who qualifies, which expenses count, and when to claim, read the adoption tax credit guide.

Adoption credit limits for 2027, 2026 and 2025

The 2027 amounts are from Rev. Proc. 2026-35, sections 3.04 and 3.20, published November 5, 2026; use them for an adoption you expect to finalize, or expenses you expect to claim, on the return for 2027. The 2026 amounts are from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, sections 4.04 and 4.18; the 2025 amounts are in the Form 8839 instructions. The refundable portion is new — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made up to $5,000 refundable starting in 2025 and indexed it after that.

What to enter in each field

How the adoption credit calculation works

The calculator follows the same order as Form 8839, Part II:

1. Tentative credit. The smaller of your qualified expenses or $17,670. For a special-needs adoption, $17,670 regardless of expenses.
2. Income phaseout. If MAGI exceeds $265,080, multiply the tentative credit by (MAGI − $265,080) ÷ $40,000 and subtract the result. At $305,080 or more, the credit is zero.
3. Refundable portion. The first $5,120 of the remaining credit is refundable and goes on Form 1040, line 30 (2025 form line numbers).
4. Nonrefundable portion. Whatever is left over $5,120 can reduce your tax only down to zero; it goes on Schedule 3, line 6c.
5. Carryforward. Any nonrefundable credit you can't use this year carries forward for up to five years. Prior carryforwards are used after the current year's nonrefundable credit, and they stay nonrefundable, with one exception for 2025 described below.

2025 carryforwards: the IRS is refunding part of them automatically

In October 2026 the IRS said (IR-2026-123) that for tax year 2025 only, carryforwards from 2020 through 2024 can count toward the refundable part of the credit, up to $5,000 per child. The 2025 Form 8839 was not changed; instead the IRS is adjusting eligible 2025 accounts itself and mailing a notice, with no amended return needed. If you select 2025 and enter a carryforward, the calculator still follows the form as printed and flags that your refund may be larger after the IRS adjustment when this year's refundable part is under $5,000. For 2026 and 2027, carryforwards are nonrefundable again. Who gets adjusted automatically and how to refigure your remaining carryforward afterward is in the adoption credit guide's carryforward section.

Example 1: domestic adoption, moderate income

A married couple filing jointly finalizes a domestic adoption in 2026. They have $22,000 of qualified expenses, MAGI of $180,000, and $8,000 of income tax before credits.

• Tentative credit: smaller of $22,000 or $17,670 = $17,670
• Phaseout: none (MAGI below $265,080)
• Refundable: $5,120
• Nonrefundable available: $17,670 − $5,120 = $12,550; tax is $8,000, so $8,000 is used
• Carryforward to 2027: $12,550 − $8,000 = $4,550
• Benefit this year: $5,120 + $8,000 = $13,120. The $4,330 of expenses above $17,670 ($22,000 − $17,670) can never be claimed.

Example 2: income in the phaseout range

A single parent has $30,000 of qualified expenses and MAGI of $285,080 for 2026, with $55,000 of tax liability.

• Tentative credit: $17,670
• Phaseout fraction: ($285,080 − $265,080) ÷ $40,000 = 0.50
• Reduction: $17,670 × 0.50 = $8,835; credit after phaseout = $8,835
• Refundable: $5,120; nonrefundable: $3,715, fully used against tax

Reducing MAGI by $10,000 — for example with an extra pre-tax 401(k) deferral — would cut the phaseout fraction to 0.25 and add $4,417.50 of credit. The MAGI guide explains what counts.

Example 3: special needs adoption with low tax liability

A married couple adopts a child from foster care in 2026. The state determined the child has special needs. They paid $3,000 of expenses, have MAGI of $95,000, and owe $2,500 of income tax before credits.

• Tentative credit: $17,670 (special-needs rule, not $3,000)
• Refundable: $5,120
• Nonrefundable: $12,550 available; $2,500 used
• Carryforward: $10,050

Before 2025 this family would have received only $2,500 in the first year. The refundable portion now gets $7,620 into their hands right away.

Example 4: using the carryforward

In 2027 the same family owes $3,000 of tax and has no new adoption. Their $10,050 carryforward offsets $3,000, leaving $7,050. If they owe $3,000 a year, the carryforward is used up in the fourth year (2030), within the five-year window. Any amount still left after the fifth year expires.

How employer adoption benefits change the result

Expenses your employer pays or reimburses under a written adoption assistance program are excluded from your income (up to $17,670 for 2026) but are no longer qualified expenses for the credit. Enter only your unreimbursed expenses in the calculator.

The Form 8839 instructions give the pattern: if you pay $20,000 and your employer reimburses $8,000, you exclude $8,000 and your credit is based on $12,000. With a $36,000 foreign adoption and a full employer reimbursement of the limit, you can exclude the maximum and still claim the maximum credit on the remaining expenses, which is how families with very large costs get close to twice the limit.

Employer adoption assistance is exempt from federal income tax withholding but still subject to Social Security and Medicare tax (Pub. 15-B). It appears in box 12 of your W-2 with code T.

Reading your result

• Refundable credit is money you get back even if your tax is zero.
• Nonrefundable credit shows how much of your tax bill the credit erases this year.
• Credit to carry forward is what to record for next year: unused prior-year carryforward plus any of this year's nonrefundable credit your tax could not absorb. Keep your Form 8839 carryforward worksheet; you'll need it every year until the balance is used or expires.
• Fully phased out means your MAGI is at or above $305,080 for 2026. A carryforward from an earlier year can still be used even when current MAGI is too high to claim a new credit.

Situations the calculator simplifies

• More than one child. Run it once per child; each child has its own $17,670 limit and its own $5,120 refundable amount.
• Timing of expenses. For a domestic adoption, expenses paid before the year the adoption becomes final are claimed the year after you pay them; for a foreign adoption, nothing is claimable until the adoption is final. Enter only the expenses that belong in the tax year you selected — the guide's timing tables show which year that is.
• Prior claims for the same child. If you claimed expenses for the same child in an earlier year, the $17,670 limit is reduced by what you already used.
• Married filing separately. You generally must file jointly (IRC §23(f)). The exception covers legally separated taxpayers and those whose spouse did not live in the home for the last six months of the year, where the child lived with you more than half the year and you paid more than half the cost of the home. The calculator returns $0 for a separate return unless you tick that exception.
• Other nonrefundable credits. The child tax credit, education credits, and others can use up tax liability first. Enter your tax after those credits for a closer estimate.

Common mistakes that inflate the estimate

1. Counting reimbursed costs. If your employer, a state program, or any other source paid an expense, it is not a qualified expense for the credit.
2. Claiming the special-needs amount for a foreign child. The special-needs rule applies only to a child who was a U.S. citizen or resident when the adoption effort began and whom a state or tribal government determined has special needs. A medical diagnosis alone is not a determination.
3. Expecting the whole credit as a refund. Only $5,120 per child is refundable for 2026. With a small tax bill, most of the remaining $12,550 waits in carryforward.
4. Claiming foreign adoption costs early. Expenses for a foreign adoption that is not yet final can't be claimed at all; they wait until the year of finality.
5. Leaving out MAGI add-backs. Families living abroad must add back the foreign earned income and housing exclusions, which can push MAGI into the phaseout range.
6. Losing track of the carryforward. The IRS does not track it for you. Without the worksheet, a five-year balance is easy to forget.

Related tools

The adoption credit often comes alongside other family credits. Check the child tax credit calculator for the new $2,200 per-child amount, the federal tax bracket calculator to estimate your tax before credits, and the 2026 inflation adjustments guide for every other indexed limit. The OBBBA tax changes guide explains the law that made part of this credit refundable.