Ezel / IRS Rulings / 201509037
Chief Counsel Advice 201509037 Released February 27, 2015 Advice

Domestic re-adoption is not required for adoption credit

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This page covers one taxpayer's ruling from 2015, which can't be cited as precedent. Ezel answers your situation under the current Code and IRS guidance, with citations.

Currency note: this determination was released in 2015
Statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later IRS guidance may have changed the analysis since then. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, threshold, or position mentioned here.
Not precedent. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3), this written determination may not be used or cited as precedent. It resolved one taxpayer's situation on its specific facts, and identifying details were redacted by the IRS before release. The official IRS release (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source.
About this page: The plain-English summary and ruling snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official IRS release. The full text is the IRS's own document.
View official IRS release (PDF)

Plain-English summary

Chief Counsel addressed an examination that disallowed an adoption tax credit because a non-Hague foreign adoption was not followed by a U.S. re-adoption. Revenue Procedure 2005-31 allows a taxpayer who completes a timely home-state re-adoption to choose between the foreign-decree year and the re-adoption year as the year of finality. It does not require a domestic re-adoption. Without one, the year of finality is the tax year in which the foreign country's competent authority issued the adoption decree.

Ruling snapshot

  • Question: Must a non-Hague foreign adoption be followed by a domestic re-adoption to qualify for the adoption tax credit?
  • Outcome: Advice given, re-adoption is not required
  • Key authorities: Rev. Proc. 2005-31

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA-11251527-14
Office: ---------------
UILC: 23.01-03, 36C.00-00
Number: 201509037
Release Date: 2/27/2015
From: --------------------------
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 15:27 PM
To: -----------------
Cc: --------------------
Subject: Re-adoption not required under Rev. Proc. 2005-31

Good afternoon --

  We understand that Exam is disallowing an adoption tax credit for a non-Hague

adoption on the ground that the foreign-country adoption was not followed by a U.S. re-
adoption. Exam should not disallow the credit on this ground.

    Rev. Proc. 2005-31, 2005-1 C.B. 1374, provides that if a taxpayer adopts a child

in a foreign-sending country and then re-adopts the child in the home state (the state of
habitual residence) within one or two years thereafter, the taxpayer may choose to treat
the year of finality as being either (1) the year the foreign decree was entered, or (2) the
year of re-adoption, if the re-adoption occurs within the first or second year after the
foreign adoption occurs.

   Thus, Rev. Proc. 2005-31 allows the taxpayer to choose the year of finality if

there is a re-adoption. However, Rev. Proc. 2005-31 does not require a re-adoption. In
the absence of a re-adoption, the year of finality is the taxable year in which the foreign
country’s competent authority issues the decree of adoption.

   Regards, --------------------------

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