My Thai wife has a birth daughter and an adopted son. I have been told that for me to claim them as dependants for tax purposes they would have to live in the states for 5 years. Does anyone know of any tax benefits to be gained by adopting a Thai child?

I was also told by an accountant (one that makes all of his income doing taxes) that I should go ahead and claim them. All the IRS would do is to make me pay them back.

Thanks for you responses.

zen

Would you be adopting them because you want to - or to save paying taxes?

It seems I can't remove my previous post. Sorry, I was being a bit too sharp I think I cut myself.

My Thai wife has a birth daughter and an adopted son. I have been told that for me to claim them as dependants for tax purposes they would have to live in the states for 5 years. Does anyone know of any tax benefits to be gained by adopting a Thai child?

I was also told by an accountant (one that makes all of his income doing taxes) that I should go ahead and claim them. All the IRS would do is to make me pay them back.

Thanks for you responses.

zen

I've never heard of the 5 year rule. Must be something obscure. Perhaps they mean it takes 5 years of living in the US to qualify for citizenship??? Would be very interested in reading that rule if you can provide the relevant statute.

My understanding is that if your dependent child is not a US citizen, he must be either your natural or adopted child and living in North America (USA, Canada and Mexico). Dependent children outside of North America who are not US citizens do not qualify.

My Thai wife has a birth daughter and an adopted son. I have been told that for me to claim them as dependants for tax purposes they would have to live in the states for 5 years. Does anyone know of any tax benefits to be gained by adopting a Thai child?

I was also told by an accountant (one that makes all of his income doing taxes) that I should go ahead and claim them. All the IRS would do is to make me pay them back.

Thanks for you responses.

zen

The tax benefit is you get to add a dependent, but the child should apply for a social security number.

On the having to live in the US for 5 years, my kid didn't. I don't know how it is now, but when I did it, it wasn't easy due to having first apply to Home Security and then going through the US Embassy. I found working with the embassy people a lot easier, but that was several years ago and perhaps the process is a lot easier now. You will have to adopt the child in Thailand first and you need to be aware of this, because you will need both Thai parents signature, not just the mom.

My Thai wife has a birth daughter and an adopted son. I have been told that for me to claim them as dependants for tax purposes they would have to live in the states for 5 years. Does anyone know of any tax benefits to be gained by adopting a Thai child?

I was also told by an accountant (one that makes all of his income doing taxes) that I should go ahead and claim them. All the IRS would do is to make me pay them back.

Thanks for you responses.

zen

The tax benefit is you get to add a dependent, but the child should apply for a social security number.

On the having to live in the US for 5 years, my kid didn't. I don't know how it is now, but when I did it, it wasn't easy due to having first apply to Home Security and then going through the US Embassy. I found working with the embassy people a lot easier, but that was several years ago and perhaps the process is a lot easier now. You will have to adopt the child in Thailand first and you need to be aware of this, because you will need both Thai parents signature, not just the mom.

As OMR suggests, the dependent child must have a US Social Security number and that number must be shown on your US Federal tax return to qualify for the dependent exclusion. If there is no Social Security number (or it is wrong, as was the case on my return a few years ago) the IRS will disallow the claim of a dependent, recalculate the taxes due and send you a reduced refund or a bill for additional tax (plus penalty and interest). Get yourself a new accountant.