This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

• The critical timing difference for claiming expenses between domestic adoptions (claimable the year after payment if not final) and international adoptions (only claimable after finalization).

• How the special needs adoption rule allows a taxpayer to claim the full maximum credit ($16,810 for 2025) for a finalized domestic adoption, regardless of their actual out-of-pocket expenses.

• To distinguish between the nonrefundable tax credit and the employer assistance exclusion, and that the same expenses cannot be used for both benefits.

• That any portion of the nonrefundable adoption credit unused due to tax liability limitations can be carried forward for up to five years.

• To identify common ineligible expenses tested on the exam, such as costs related to a surrogate or the adoption of a spouse’s child.

For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep