Updated October 19, 2026. Quick answer: The Form 8839 instructions for 2025 list the expenses that qualify for the adoption credit and the ones that do not. Travel and readoption costs qualify, while expenses covered by a government program or a surrogate parenting arrangement do not. The dollar limit is $17,280 per eligible child, and examples in the instructions show how employer payments reduce the expenses left for the credit.
Quick reference
| Item | As the IRS form or instructions state it |
|---|---|
| Form and year read | Form 8839 for 2025 and its instructions, Dec 8, 2025 |
| Dollar limit | “However, your credit is dollar-limited to $17,280.” |
| Example 2 expenses | “You paid $20,000 in qualified adoption expenses for the adoption of an eligible child, including $8,000 of legal fees.” |
| Example 4 expenses | “You paid $36,000 in qualified adoption expenses to adopt an eligible foreign child, and the adoption became final in 2025.” |
| Attempts to adopt one child | “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.” |
| Special needs exclusion | “The exclusion may be available, even if you or your employer didn’t pay any qualified adoption expenses, provided the employer has a written qualified adoption assistance program.” |
Expenses that count
The instructions give a general test and then a list. Part of the list reads “Travel expenses (including meals and lodging) while away from home, and” “Re-adoption expenses relating to the adoption of a foreign child.”
The page that covers the eligible child and the first items on the list is the Form 8839 overview.
Expenses that do not count
The instructions list six kinds of expense that are left out. Four of them are “For which you received funds under any state, local, or federal program;” “That violate state or federal law;” “For carrying out a surrogate parenting arrangement;” and “Allowed as a credit or deduction under any other provision of federal income tax law.”
An employer’s payment also reduces the expenses left for the credit. The instructions say “Qualified Adoption Expenses don’t include expenses reimbursed by an employer under a written qualified adoption assistance program”. The employer side is covered on the Form 8839 Part III page.
Worked examples from the instructions
Example 2 begins with “You paid $20,000 in qualified adoption expenses for the adoption of an eligible child, including $8,000 of legal fees.” “Under a qualified adoption assistance program, your employer reimbursed you the $8,000 of legal fees.” The instructions state the same result, “$8,000 exclusion and $12,000 credit”, for the neighboring case where the employer pays the law firm directly.
Example 4 involves a foreign adoption: “You paid $36,000 in qualified adoption expenses to adopt an eligible foreign child, and the adoption became final in 2025.” “However, your credit is dollar-limited to $17,280.” “The remaining $18,720 of expenses” are described as continuing to be qualified adoption expenses eligible for the credit.
Attempts are combined. “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.” The instructions work this through in Example 2: “Example 2. The facts are the same as in Example 1 except that both attempts are unsuccessful and no adoption is ever finalized.” In that example the amounts of both attempts are combined on the first child’s line.
Foreign adoption and timing
The instructions define a foreign child: “A child is a foreign child if they weren’t a citizen or resident of the United States (including U.S. territories) at the time the adoption effort began.” On when a foreign adoption counts as final, they say “To find out when a foreign adoption is treated as final, see Rev. Proc. 2005-31”.
Employer payments made early are taxed first: “Then, on your return for the year the adoption becomes final, you can make an adjustment to take the exclusion.” The year-by-year credit and exclusion tables for domestic and foreign adoptions appear in the instructions under the heading for when to take the credit or exclusion.
Special needs adoptions
The special needs rules loosen the expense requirement. The instructions say “If you adopt a U.S. child with special needs, you may be able to exclude up to $17,280 and claim a credit (the total of the refundable and nonrefundable portion) for additional expenses up to $17,280 (minus any qualified adoption expenses claimed for the same child in a prior year).”
One of the three tests concerns the child’s home: “A state (including the District of Columbia) or Indian tribal government has determined that the child can’t or shouldn’t be returned to their parents’ home.” The limits and the phase-out are on the Form 8839 Part II page.
Where this comes from
The editions read for this page are Form 8839 (2025) and the Instructions for Form 8839 (2025), dated Dec 8, 2025, which are the revisions irs.gov served when they were read on 2026-10-19. Check the revision printed on the form you file, because a later revision can change the lines, the dollar limits and the income ranges. This page describes Form 8839 (2025), Qualified Adoption Expenses; Instructions for Form 8839 (2025), as served on irs.gov on October 19, 2026. The IRS can revise a form after we read it, and the form you file and its own instructions control. Current and earlier revisions are listed on the IRS page Forms, Instructions and Publications. General information, not tax or legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Counting an expense the employer paid. The instructions say these expenses “no longer meet the definition of qualified adoption expenses”.
- Reading $17,280 as a cap on spending rather than on the credit. The instructions say “your credit is dollar-limited to $17,280”.
- Assuming a surrogate arrangement qualifies. The list of exclusions includes “For carrying out a surrogate parenting arrangement;”
Related: Form 8839 instructions, Form 8839 Part II, Form 8839 Part III, adoption credit, Form 1040 lines 29, 30 and 31, and Form 5329 code 19.
Sources
- Form 8839 (2025), Qualified Adoption Expenses: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8839.pdf
- Instructions for Form 8839 (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8839.pdf
Read from the IRS pages linked above on October 19, 2026. General information, not tax or legal advice. The IRS form and the instructions for your own form control, and your own facts decide the outcome.