Use Form 8839 to figure the amount of your adoption credit and any employer-provided adoption benefits you can exclude from your income. You can claim both the credit and the exclusion for expenses of adopting an eligible child.

To enter information for the adoption credit (Form 8839) in TaxAct®:

1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal.
2. Click Other Credits on the Federal Quick Q&A Topics to expand the category and then click Qualified adoption expenses
3. The program will proceed with the interview questions for you to enter the appropriate information

Per the IRS Instructions for Form 8839 Qualified Adoption Expenses:

Adoption credit. Use Form 8839, Part II, to figure the adoption credit you can take on Schedule 3 (Form 1040), line 54, or Form 1040NR, line 51. Check box c on that line and enter "8839" in the space next to box c. You may be able to take this credit in 2018 if any of the following statements are true.

1. You paid qualified adoption expenses in connection with the adoption of an eligible U.S. child (including any expenses paid in connection with adopting an eligible U.S. child with special needs) in:
1. 2017 and the adoption wasn't final at the end of 2017, or
2. 2018 and the adoption became final in or before 2018.
2. You adopted an eligible U.S. child with special needs and the adoption became final in 2018. (In this case, you may be able to take the credit even if you didn't pay any qualified adoption expenses.)
3. You paid qualified adoption expenses in connection with the adoption of an eligible foreign child in:
1. 2018 or prior years and the adoption became final in 2018, or
2. 2018 and the adoption became final before 2018. See Column (e), later.
4. You have a carryforward of an adoption credit from 2017.

Employer-Provided Adoption Benefits 
In most cases, employer-provided adoption benefits are amounts your employer paid directly to either you or a third party for qualified adoption expenses under a qualified adoption assistance program. But see Child with special needs. 

A qualified adoption assistance program is a separate written plan set up by an employer to provide adoption assistance to its employees. For more details, see Pub. 15-B. 

Employer-provided adoption benefits should be shown in box 12 of your Form(s) W-2 with code T. Your salary may have been reduced to pay these benefits. You also may be able to exclude amounts not shown in box 12 of your Form W-2 if all of the following apply.

• You adopted a child with special needs. See Column (d), for the definition of a child with special needs.
• The adoption became final in 2018.
• Your employer had a written qualified adoption assistance program as described earlier.