Happy New Year. It is a new year and we have new tax laws. That’s the way it works these days. Of the new laws the one of most interest to the same sex tax community is the expiration of the refundable credit for adoption expenses.
TaxProf Blog reports that 53 tax breaks expired today (January 1). For details see here.
Of interest to the same sex tax community should be the fact that the refundable nature of the adoption credit expired last night. The adoption credit is still availble but for 2010 and 2011 it was refundable — meaning that if the amount of the credit exceeded your tax liability you actually got money back from the government. It is only the refundable aspect of the credit that has expired.
Of course Congress could decide to reinstate the refundable nature of the credit. But then remember when we thought they’d revive the estate tax after letting it expire? There is just no way to predict what Congress may do in the future. So for now assume the adoption credit is not refundable.
Best wishes for 2012.
