[bmarsicano]

Hi. We've been home 6 months yesterday. I am starting the process to readopt her here. The surrogate said that if I get the paperwork in by 10/13, sw coming tonight, I could probably get a court date by the end of the year. Since I adopted her in Russia, doesn't that count for the tax credit, or do I need to readopt her in the US before I can get the credit. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

[Kasey]

You finalized in Russia, so that is what counts. We have not done re-adoption with our son, we didn't need to to get birth certificate here in PA.
We used the tax credit. We adopted in 2004 (August) so we used it for that year.

[angelkisses0102]

I could be wrong but in most states you do not need to readopt your Russian child...but I *think* there are a few states in which you do. Talk to a CPA or qualified tax preparer who is familiar with the tax credit.

We had a very bad experience with this credit for DD's adoption...we were not entitled to it even though got it and ended up having to pay back our refund (plus interest, luckily the nice senior auditor couldn't figure out exactly what went wrong with our CPA/program he used, so no penalities) when we were audited.

Good luck.

[Jim_in_PA]

The federal benefit applies in the year you complete your adoption...and that would be "in" Russian court in your case. Your re-adoption activities are not material to your taxes unless your child didn't come in on an IR3 visa. (rare for Russia)