Updated October 19, 2026. Quick answer: Form 8839 is the form for qualified adoption expenses. For 2025 it figures the adoption credit and any employer-provided adoption benefits that can be excluded from income, and the instructions put the maximum for each at $17,280 per eligible child. It is attached to Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.
IRS worksheets read line by line: Schedule 8812 Credit Limit Worksheet B.
Quick reference
| Item | As the IRS form or instructions state it |
|---|---|
| Form and year read | Form 8839 for 2025, Qualified Adoption Expenses |
| Where it goes | “Attach to Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.” |
| What it does | “Use Form 8839 to figure your adoption credit and any employer-provided adoption benefits you can exclude from your income.” |
| 2025 dollar amount | “The maximum credit (the total of the nonrefundable and refundable portion) and the exclusion for employer-provided benefits are both $17,280 per eligible child in 2025.” |
| Refundable part | “Up to $5,000 of your adoption credit may be refundable.” |
| Income ceiling for eligibility | “Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $299,190 or you have a carryforward of an adoption credit from 2024.” |
| Age test for an eligible child | “Any child under age 18.” |
| Children per form | “If you adopted or tried to adopt more than three eligible children, fill in and attach as many Forms 8839 as you need to list them.” |
What Form 8839 is for
The instructions open with the purpose: “Use Form 8839 to figure your adoption credit and any employer-provided adoption benefits you can exclude from your income.” The form has three parts. Part I lists the child or children. Part II is the adoption credit, and Part III is the exclusion for employer-provided benefits. Two companion pages go line by line through those parts: Form 8839 Part II and Form 8839 Part III.
A filer can use both benefits for one adoption, with a limit: “You can claim both the exclusion and the credit for expenses of adopting an eligible child.” “But, you can’t claim both a credit and exclusion for the same expenses.”
Who can take the credit or exclusion
The instructions set a three part test: “You may be able to take the credit or exclusion if all three of the following statements are true.” The first concerns filing status: “Your filing status is single, head of household, qualifying surviving spouse, or married filing jointly.” The second concerns income: “Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $299,190 or you have a carryforward of an adoption credit from 2024.”
Married filers who do not file jointly have a narrow path. One of the listed conditions is “You lived apart from your spouse during the last 6 months of 2025.” Another is “The eligible child lived in your home more than half of 2025.”
Employer benefits have one extra exclusion: “You can’t exclude employer-provided adoption benefits if your employer is an S corporation in which you own more than 2% of the stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power.”
Eligible child and qualified adoption expenses
The instructions define the child: “An eligible child is:” “Any child under age 18.” or “Any disabled individual physically or mentally unable to take care of themselves.”
Expenses must be “reasonable and necessary expenses directly related to, and for the principal purpose of, the legal adoption of an eligible child.” The listed examples include “Adoption fees,” “Attorney fees,” and “Court costs,”. Expenses that do not count include those “Reimbursed by your employer or otherwise;” and those “For the adoption of your spouse’s child;”
Part I and the timing rules
Part I is completed for each child. The instructions say “Complete all columns that apply to the eligible child you adopted or tried to adopt.” For the identifying number, “This can be a social security number (SSN), an adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN), or an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN).”
Timing depends on whether the child was a U.S. child or a foreign child. For a U.S. child, “you can take the adoption credit or exclusion even if the adoption never became final.” For a foreign child, “you can’t take the adoption credit or exclusion unless the adoption becomes final.”
A child with special needs is defined by a three statement test: “A child is a child with special needs if all three of the following statements are true.” The instructions add that “A child having a specific factor or condition isn’t enough to establish that the state or Indian tribal government has made a determination of special needs.”
Where to go next
The credit lands on the main return at the lines covered on the Form 1040 lines 29, 30 and 31 page, and taxable employer benefits are reported at the line covered on the Form 1040 lines 1e and 1f page. A broader look at the credit is on the adoption credit page, and the retirement account exception for a birth or adoption is on the Form 5329 code 19 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 thresholds. 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
- Treating the credit and the exclusion as stackable on the same dollars. The instructions say “But, you can’t claim both a credit and exclusion for the same expenses.”
- Assuming an adoption must be final to claim anything. For a U.S. child the instructions say “you can take the adoption credit or exclusion even if the adoption never became final.”
- Assuming any special condition makes a child a child with special needs. The instructions say “The state or Indian tribal government must make a determination that a child has special needs before the child is considered to be a child with special needs.”
- Counting reimbursed costs as credit expenses. Qualified adoption expenses do not include those “Reimbursed by your employer or otherwise;”
Related: Form 8839 Part II, Form 8839 Part III, Form 1040 lines 29, 30 and 31, Form 1040 lines 1e and 1f, adoption credit, 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.