Question For Tax Experts

[summerrluvv]

If you are married and live in the same household as your spouse, you both are working and you file separately, can each of you claim "head of household" on your taxes? I didn't think you could but I'm sitting here looking at a clients taxes and they both filed that way and each got a substantial refund since filing as HOH with one dependent each qualified them for the EIC.

 

[golfgal]

I am no expert but I thought the head of household status was for single parents with children.

 

[golfgal]

http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq-kw80.html

Ok, this is from the IRS website.

.2 Filing Requirements/Status/Dependents/Exemptions: Filing Status

If I moved out of my house on July 10, but was not divorced at the end of the year, can I file as head of household and take the earned income credit if I have a minor child? Can I also claim child care expenses?

You do not qualify for the head of household filing status because you and your spouse have not lived apart for the last 6 months of the taxable year and are not considered unmarried. Your filing status for the year will either be married filing separately, or married filing jointly. If it is married filing separately, you will not qualify for the Earned Income Credit and cannot claim a credit based on child care expenses. If you file a joint return with your spouse, you may be eligible to claim these credits. See Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses and Publication 596, Earned Income Credit.


References:

Tax Topic 353, What is Your Filing Status?
Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses
Publication 596, Earned Income Credit

If two single people (never married) have a child and live together, providing equal support for that child, can they both claim head of household status?

Only the person who paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year would qualify for the head of household filing status. If both people paid exactly the same amount, neither would qualify for the head of household filing status. Please refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, for more information.


References:

Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
Tax Topic 353, What is your filing status?

For head of household filing status, do you have to claim a child as a dependent to qualify?

In certain circumstances, you do not need to claim the child as a dependent to qualify for head of household filing status, such as when the qualifying child is unmarried and is your child, grandchild, stepchild, or adopted child. Refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, for more information.


References:

Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information

I am divorced with one dependent child. This year my ex-spouse will claim the child as an exemption. Does this mean I cannot qualify as head of household?

You can file as head of household even though you do not claim your unmarried dependent child as an exemption if you meet all of the following requirements:

You are unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year.
You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
A qualifying person must live with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences such as school).
Refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, for more information.


References:

Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
Tax Topic 353, What is your filing status?

 

[DwarfMaster]

If you are married and live in the same household as your spouse, you both are working and you file separately, can each of you claim "head of household" on your taxes? I didn't think you could but I'm sitting here looking at a clients taxes and they both filed that way and each got a substantial refund since filing as HOH with one dependent each qualified them for the EIC.

My question is very similar....

What if you're NOT married. You & your SO each have 2 children...all 6 of you living in the same house. In that case are you each Head of Household?

 

[tandrjohn]

The answer is no (according to what I know and found):

http://www.irs.gov/applications/wh/helpdocs/hoh.html

Head of Household:

Generally, you may claim head of household filing status on your tax return only if you are unmarried and pay more than 50% of the costs of keeping up a home for yourself and your dependent(s) or other qualifying individuals.

 

[Bob Slydell]

My question is very similar....

What if you're NOT married. You & your SO each have 2 children...all 6 of you living in the same house. In that case are you each Head of Household?

In your case, you'd both file as head of household, that's true. Since you're not married, you can't file married (either filing separate or joint), so HOH is your filing status.

 

[summerrluvv]

Okay thanks for the replies. I'm surprised the IRS didn't catch onto them!

 

[Bob Slydell]

Okay thanks for the replies. I'm surprised the IRS didn't catch onto them!

The IRS doesn't move that fast -- but they have to have been red flagged for a future audit, so in time, it might catch up to them.

 

[mickman1962]

In your case, you'd both file as head of household, that's true. Since you're not married, you can't file married (either filing separate or joint), so HOH is your filing status.

How can that be according to tandrjohn's post

"Head of Household:

Generally, you may claim head of household filing status on your tax return only if you are unmarried and pay more than 50% of the costs of keeping up a home for yourself and your dependent(s) or other qualifying individuals."

Only one person can pay more than 50%, so only one can file HOH.

 

[Bob Slydell]

How can that be according to tandrjohn's post

"Head of Household:

Generally, you may claim head of household filing status on your tax return only if you are unmarried and pay more than 50% of the costs of keeping up a home for yourself and your dependent(s) or other qualifying individuals."

Only one person can pay more than 50%, so only one can file HOH.

In the second example given, each person (unmarried) would be providing 100% of costs for 2 children each.

 

[SillyMe]

In your case, you'd both file as head of household, that's true. Since you're not married, you can't file married (either filing separate or joint), so HOH is your filing status.

I just looked this up about a week ago. IIRC, it doesn't matter whether you are married or not. The only person who can claim HOH is the one with the highest AGI.

 

[mickman1962]

In the second example given, each person (unmarried) would be providing 100% of costs for 2 children each.

Yes, but that is still 50% of the total support for the kids. 100 divided by 2 can never add up to more than 100.

 

[Bob Slydell]

I just looked this up about a week ago. IIRC, it doesn't matter whether you are married or not. The only person who can claim HOH is the one with the highest AGI.

I looked more into it, and you may be right -- it's a wierd grey area that I can't find a specific example matching it on the IRS site. The closest I found was talking about only one child, not multiple children to unmarried parents:

Example 7—unmarried parents.

You, your 5-year-old son, and your son's father lived together all year. You and your son's father are not married. Your son is a qualifying child of both you and his father because he meets the relationship, age, residency, and support tests for both you and his father. Your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $8,000 and your son's father's AGI is $18,000. Your son's father agrees to let you treat the child as a qualifying child. This means you can claim him as a dependent and treat him as a qualifying child for the child tax credit, head of household filing status, credit for child and dependent care expenses, and the earned income credit, if you qualify for each of those tax benefits.

Example 8—unmarried parents.

The facts are the same as in Example 7 except that you and your son's father are unable to agree and both of you claim your son as a qualifying child. Only your son's father will be allowed to treat your son as a qualifying child. This is because his AGI, $18,000, is more than your AGI, $8,000. If you claimed an exemption, the child tax credit, head of household filing status, credit for child and dependent care expenses, or the earned income credit for your son, the IRS will disallow your claim to all these tax benefits.

It seems like part of the time, the IRS talks about costs to support the dependent and part of the time, it mentions cost of maintaining a household.

Using the household rule, the adult providing the larger portion of household expenses gets HOH, the other person would have to file Single.

 

[SillyMe]

I looked more into it, and you may be right -- it's a wierd grey area that I can't find a specific example matching it on the IRS site. The closest I found was talking about only one child, not multiple children to unmarried parents:



It seems like part of the time, the IRS talks about costs to support the dependent and part of the time, it mentions cost of maintaining a household.

Using the household rule, the adult providing the larger portion of household expenses gets HOH, the other person would have to file Single.

That's how I was told I had to do it for years. We lived together for 8 years, owned a house together, had a child together. I also had a child from a previous marriage. H&R Block told me that only he could claim HOH b/c he had the higher AGI, so he claimed our daughter and HOH. I claimed my older dd, but had to claim single.

 

[Bob Slydell]

BTW, this is why I decided not to go into Tax Accounting as a profession.

 

[SillyMe]

So your advice is free then?

 

[Bob Slydell]

So your advice is free then?

Yep -- and you know what they say about you get what you pay for?

I'm a CPA and I do end up doing a couple family members taxes each year, but I never charge anyone anything. The last thing I want is my name on someone else's tax return as a paid preparer.