Head of Household - unmarried couple with a child who are living together

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 2, 2022
2 replies
0 views

I have 2 new clients. They had a child together in 2020 and are living together but not married. The mother is claiming the child as a dependent. However, the father pays most of the bills in the home. Is it possible for him to claim Head of Household? All the rules I read around Head of Household is "you must have a qualifying child". I'm a little fuzzy on "must have a qualifying child" and "must actually claim" a qualifying child. Is it possible for one to claim the child as a dependent and the other (not both) to claim Head of Household? One of the reasons I ask is ProSeries next to checkbox for Head of Household Filing status - "If Qualified person is child but not a dependent".

Thanks in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Best answer by runbullrun

Thank You. It did answer my question - here was my result - the last paragraph answered the question.

Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support and joint return test to be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit).

The child tax credit;
Head of household filing status;
The credit for child and dependent care expenses;
The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits; and
The earned income credit.

You cannot take any of these benefits based on the person unless you claim that person as a dependent. In other words, you and another person cannot divide these tax benefits for the person between you.

J

jeffmcpa2010

Level 10

First you might want to use this tool

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/whom-may-i-claim-as-a-dependent

and determine who is "entitled" to claim the child as a dependent.

then use this one https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/what-is-my-filing-status to determine filing status.

R

runbullrunAuthorAnswer

Level 3

Thank You. It did answer my question - here was my result - the last paragraph answered the question.

Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support and joint return test to be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit).

The child tax credit;
Head of household filing status;
The credit for child and dependent care expenses;
The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits; and
The earned income credit.

You cannot take any of these benefits based on the person unless you claim that person as a dependent. In other words, you and another person cannot divide these tax benefits for the person between you.