Making Adoption Affordable

GREAT NEWS!!!  On April 17, Iowa Representative Braley introduced a bill to renew and expand the adoption tax credit.  Now the bill needs more representatives to sponsor the bill and vote yes.  This is where we need your help.  It only takes a few minutes to send your US House Representative an email.  This could help give more orphans chances to become part of a forever family. 

Click here https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml to find your rep by entering your zip code and then type a quick email to him or her.  I have provided a short sample email here.

Good afternoon Representative __________,

I am contacting you today to request your support of the "Making Adoption Affordable Act of 2012" bill.  Please join me in advocating on behalf of orphaned and vulnerable children by co-sponsoring and supporting this bill. 

Sincerely,

For the full text of the proposed bill, see here http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr4373/text.

Here is a short summary:

The Making Adoption Affordable Act expands and maintains the tax credits for families who choose to adopt children.  These credits help defray the high administrative costs sometimes associated with adoptions and ensure that families who choose to open their homes to children and are otherwise able to raise a child as their own are not turned away because of the high cost of the process.  Preserving and expanding these tax credits has been a bipartisan policy of both the Bush and Obama administrations.

The Making Adoption Affordable Act:

1.     Permanently expands the Adoption Tax Credit

a.     Provides up to $13,360 for covered adoption expenses, adjusted for inflation

b.     Without extension, credit will fall to $6,000 for special-needs adoptions only

2.     Maintains the higher income tax exclusion of employer provided adoption assistance

3.     Preserves the policy of excluding up to $13,360 in employer provided adoption assistance from tax considerations. Annually adjusts the threshold for inflation

4.     Income Tax exclusion of adoption benefits have been expanded and supported by the Bush and Obama administrations.

5.     Makes permanent the higher-income phase-out of the credit, adjusted for inflation

a.     Families with income in excess of $185,210 receive a reduced credit

b.     Credit reduced by the ratio of income in excess of $185,210 to $40,000

c.     Income phase out thresholds set by the 2001 Bush tax cuts, and extended by the Obama tax cuts

d.     Without extension, the credit will begin phasing out for families with incomes over $75,000, and will not provide any benefit to families making over $115,000.

6.     Permanently makes the credit refundable

a.     Allows families to receive a tax refund on the credit in excess of their tax liability

b.     Without extension, credit can reduce a family’s tax liability to nothing but any excess credit cannot be taken as a tax refund.