Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2025
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2025
This bill makes the federal adoption tax credit refundable. The bill also requires the Internal Revenue Service to provide for a standardized third-party affidavit for purposes of verifying a legal adoption.
As background, individuals may claim a tax credit for qualified expenses to adopt a child. The maximum amount of the tax credit is $17,280 per child for 2025, which is adjusted annually for inflation. Income limitations apply. Under current law, the adoption tax credit is not refundable but may be carried forward for up to five subsequent tax years to reduce taxable income in those years.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on April 10, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on April 10, 2025: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Danny Davis (D-IL) introduced it on April 10, 2025, and 12 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 6 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 10, 2025, 518 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 518 days ago, on April 10, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers