Establishes tax credit for the adoption of a child

1 Co-sponsor

• Ruben Diaz

Title of bill

An act to amend the tax law, in relation to the establishment of a tax credit for the adoption of a child

Purpose

To amend section 606 of the tax law to allow persons who adopt children to receive a tax credit.

Summary of provisions

Section 606 of the tax law is amended to provide taxpayers who adopt children the option of claiming a tax credit for allowable adoption expenses. Section 2 defines "allowable adoption expenses" and "qualified adoption expenses". Section 3 clarifies the amount of allowable adoption expenses.

Justification

In order to adopt a child there are high costs that potential adoptive parents would have to incur and therefore, many are discouraged. These high costs include, but are not limited to, adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees and travel expenses. This tax deduction would help to offset these "nonrecurring adoption expenses" and possibly encourage those people who want to adopt but are discouraged from doing so by the high costs associated with the adoption process.

Existing law

There is currently no tax credit for adoption expenses.

Legislative history

S.5136 of 2007 04/25/07 Referred to Investigations & Government Operations

Fiscal implications

UNKNOWN at present time.

Local fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010.