Comments on: What Is a Refundable Tax Credit?

By: ML

ML — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:33:28 +0000

I am a school teacher who took in two of her students. The children had been in DHR for 4 years but were returned to their father. The father was arrested and sent to prison shortly after getting the children out of DHR. The children have lived with us since 1/2010. I have full custody as no other family member would take the children.

I want to adopt these children and have been working on this for a year and a half. The adoption is set to be final before the end of the year so I contacted DHR to get the special needs adoption letter. I need the adoption credit so that I can continue supporting the children. DHR informed me that because the children were not in DHR custody we would not be able to receive the credit. Is this true? I am in a panic because, without this credit, I cannot support these children and would have to give them up.

FYI: I am working three jobs so the children can stay with us. I work form 6am to 6pm. PLEASE do not tell me to hire an attorney. I simply cannot afford to feed the children and pay an attorney.

Thanks in advance for any help,
ML

By: shorty

shorty — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:26:29 +0000

Dan P: that’s too harsh. Better to call it “wealth redistribution”.

By: Dan Patrick

Dan Patrick — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:07:37 +0000

Too bad they don’t call it what it is… welfare.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:30:48 +0000

Aryn,

I was under the impression that people are allowed to file an amended return to their 2008 tax returns in order to receive this money sooner.

By: the weakonomist

the weakonomist — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:55:53 +0000

Great summary, it was a simple enough explanation. The news people never bothered to clarify that. Typical.

By: Aryn

Aryn — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:54:20 +0000

My friend is in this situation. She’s a single parent with sole custody. Because her income is also low, she receives more money back than she paid. It’s mostly due to the child credit and earned income credit.

To answer Steve, you’ll apply the credit to your 2009 taxes, not the 2008 taxes you already filed. And it isn’t a straight $8K, there are other limitations that I’m sure will be included in the forms/software.

By: Pev

Pev — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:40:38 +0000

Hey thanks for explaining, really appreciate it.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:43:24 +0000

Got a quick question for you.

Let’s say I filed my taxes already, and received a refund of $800. In two weeks I close on a house, and file an amended return to get the $8,000.

Will I be able to get the entire $8,000 back, or will my total refund (including the 800 I already received) be capped at 8k, thus only giving me a $7,200 refund for the new home buyer credit?

Thanks,
Steve

By: RateNerd

RateNerd — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:28:02 +0000

the language the IRS uses is so confusing – thanks for clearing this up. No idea why they cant hire a language consultant or someone from Disney to make it easy!