@wilsoneee to file HOH, there are two critical rules
1) you paid more than 1/2 the cost of keeping up your home.
2) you claim a qualified person. As you describe this situation, your child is a qualified person. One of the rules that defines a "qualifying person" for HOH purposes is that they live with you more than half the year.
So you can file HOH because you state you meet both conditions.
read page 13
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
and especially this in the middle and rightmost columns:
if these 4 conditions are true (which from your statements all appear to be true):
1) you two are divorced
2) the child's parents provide more than 50% of the child's support
3) the child is in the custody of 1 or both parents for at least half the year
4) you sign form 8332 indicating you won't be claiming this child and give the other parent the right to and that other parent files the form with their tax retugn
Then, only the noncustodial parent can:
• Claim the child as a dependent; and
• Claim the child as a qualifying child for the child tax credit, the credit for other dependents, or the additional child tax credit.
However, this doesn’t allow the noncustodial parent to claim head of household filing status,
the credit for child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits,
or the earned income credit
and as stated in the thread above, if the number of nights is EXACTLY the same: (half way down page 13 on the right)
"Equal number of nights. If the child lived with each parent for an equal number of nights
during the year, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher AGI."
make sense?
