SECTION 1. PURPOSE

This revenue procedure provides safe harbors for determining the finality of foreign adoptions for purposes of the adoption credit under § 23 of the Internal Revenue Code, redesignated § 36C after 2009, and the exclusion for employer reimbursements under § 137. A taxpayer within the scope of this revenue procedure who meets the requirements of a safe harbor described in section 4 may rely on that safe harbor to determine when a foreign adoption of an eligible child is final.

Rev. Proc. 2005–31, 2005–1 C.B. 1374, provides guidance to taxpayers on the finality of foreign adoptions but does not apply to adoptions governed by the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Convention) and subject to the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, Pub. L. 106–279, 114 Stat. 825 (IAA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 14901–14954 ( Convention adoptions ) . The Convention became effective in the United States on April 1, 2008. This revenue procedure provides taxpayers with safe harbors for claiming the adoption credit and exclusion for Convention adoptions, and guidance on filing amended returns to claim the credit or exclusion for Convention adoptions that became final in 2008 or 2009. Rev. Proc. 2005–31 continues to apply to foreign adoptions not governed by the Convention (non-Convention adoptions).