This article will assist you with entering information about a credit for a failed adoption from Form 8839, Qualified Adoption Expenses, in the Individual module of Lacerte.
Attempted Adoptions of U.S. Children
Per the Attempted Adoptions of U.S. Children section of the Instructions for Form 8839:
In general, the dollar limitation requires you to combine the qualified adoption expenses you paid if you made more than one attempt to adopt one eligible U.S. child. When you combine the amounts you spent, complete only the “Child 1” line. Don't report the additional attempt(s) on the “Child 2” or “Child 3” line. Complete the “Child 2” or “Child 3” lines only if you adopted or tried to adopt two or three eligible children.
How do I enter this credit information in the program?
Inputs for all adoption-related information are on Screen 37, Adoption Credit (8839).
Expenses for an unsuccessful or failed adoption must be taken in the year following the one in which the expenses were incurred. For all unsuccessful adoptions, proof is required to be filed with the return.
If paper filing, include the documentation with the return. If e-filing, use the steps below to send the proof of the failed adoption with the return.
Follow these steps to file the proof of the failed adoption with the e-file return:
- Go to Screen 4, Electronic Filing.
- Select e-file Miscellaneous from the left navigation menu.
- Click the PDF Attachment button.
- Click the Attach PDF button.
- Click Browse Files.
- Browse to and select the applicable files with information about the credit.
- Click OK.
- Choose Other from the Link to form (defaults to main form) dropdown list.
If information is missing from Form 8839, line 1 (child's first name, last name, ID number, and date of birth), critical diagnostics will generate and prevent e-filing.
This is because Lacerte doesn't support a situation where the child's information isn't available. The program will only calculate the credit when this information is entered.
In the scenario where the child's information isn't available, the credit will need to be manually entered using the override on Screen 37, under General information. The return will then need to be paper-filed, including a manually prepared Form 8839.
