Rebuilding Futures Through Foster Parents!

Federal Tax Benefits

for Foster, Adoptive Parents and Kinship Caregivers

The Assistant Attorney Office cautions DSHS staff against providing tax advice, since IRS rules for claiming children are complicated.  DCFS staff should refer caregivers to their Accountant or tax preparer to determine if a foster or relative child can be claimed on their taxes.  Below is a resource that has been helpful in the past for caregivers regarding IRS rules for claiming children.  Thanks!

The National Foster Parent Association is pleased to present the 2008 Tax Benefits for Foster, Adoptive Parents and Kinship Caregivers. This resource guide provides you with valuable information worth several thousand dollars or more in tax benefits.

The guide is filled with links to reference material and explains basic rules and offers tips on ways that foster and adoptive parents and kin­ship caregivers can claim deductions and credit available to them. Nei­ther the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) nor commercial tax manuals of­fer information on unique tax rules that affect these families. As a result, obscure and complicated tax rules cause some families, and even some commercial tax preparers, to overlook or miss deductions and tax credits.

Here’s the web site with the guide: http://www.nfpaonline.org/uploads/2008_federal_tax_benefits.pdf

Contact NFPA for more information: (253) 653-4246 or www.NFPAonline.org

Thank you to Casey Family Programs for their collaboration on the pro­duction of the Federal Tax Benefits guide.