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Originally Posted By chieffan9

Davis,
No, no, no. Whether or not you are owed money by the government has absolutely nothing at all to do with whether or not you get a tax credit. Unless you have an incredibly unique situation, if you work for a living, you owe the government income tax every year. Your employer takes money out of your check each month to help you set aside money to help pay this tax bill to the government. Sometimes, your employer takes out too much, in which case the government sends you a refund check after you file your taxes. In other cases, your employer doesn't take out enough, and you have to send the government a check along with your tax papers. Either way, you will have paid the government a lot of money in income taxes for the year. Here's why EVERYBODY who adopts can take advantage of the tax credit: No matter how much money you make in a given year, part of this money is paid to the government in income taxes. The US government has decided that adoption is something that makes this country a better place. So....they have agreed to allow all people who adopt to use the money that they would normally pay the government in income taxes for an adoption instead. (Up to $10,000 per adoption only, and it can only take you up to five years to use the credit.) In essence, the government is giving you your income tax money back, as long as you can prove you spent at least that much money on adoption. Tax refunds have absolutely nothing to do with tax credits. All a tax refund means is that your employer took out too much money during the year and the government is sending you the extra back. That's it. A credit is a reduction of your tax bill!! It's an incredible deal and if you or your accountant is not sure about the credit, find someone who understands it to do your taxes instead!