@huston1982
I didn’t mean any disrespect. I couldn’t tell if you were having confusion, or an argument with your partner. If you were, you would not have been the first.
Because of the high standard deduction, it may be the case that if you split the expenses, neither of you will have enough itemized deductions to overcome the standard deduction, but if one person claims all the housing expenses, they might pass the threshold to deduct them. That will depend on your other itemized deductions and your overall tax situation, and the only way to know for sure is to test different scenarios. You can divide the costs in any manner that you both agreed to, as previously explained.
Likewise, if one of you has a significantly lower income than the other, the person with the lower income might get earned income credit from claiming the dependent, that would be greater than the extra tax paid by the higher income partner because they can’t file as head of household without the dependent. This would also have to be tested.
Unmarried couples who live together and share a child have a great deal of flexibility in how they file their tax returns, and it may take several test scenarios to find the combination that gives the lowest overall taxes.
