[WhoKnew]

Anyone who finalized their adoption in 2005, be sure to claim the Federal Adoption Tax Credit. It reduces your taxes by almost $11K. If you adopted a special needs child (most from foster care are for this purpose) you get the credit even if you had not adoption expenses. In our case we paid over $11K in payroll withholdings, so we'll get and $11k refund - yippee! If you paid less than $11K in 2005, you can carry the credit over to next year.

[Mel in NEPA]

Wowwy!! That's a lot of green. Prayerfully, we will have 3 adoptions this year, all "special needs". From what I understand special needs is three main catagories: siblings, over the age of 5, and any type of diagnosis? Anyway... that would be cool to get a little extra from the tax man.

[WhoKnew]

It may vary by state, but when I asked our SW if N would be considered special needs for the tax credit, she told me "all our kids are special needs", meaning all children adopted from foster care.