@bz_92 wrote:
So if one spouse does qualify for Head of Household what filing status does the other spouse use? Would they use Married Filing Separately? Or could they use Head of Household also?
If you are married, you can only use head of household if all these conditions are true:
- you lived apart from your spouse for all of the last 6 months of the year,
- you paid more than half the cost of keeping up your own home for the entire year,
- you provided care in your home for a qualifying person, usually your child dependent who lived in your home with you more than half the nights of the year.
The same rules apply to both spouses. Spouse #2 might also qualify to file as HOH if they meet the same tests. (This means that, among other things, the spouses must have at least two children, and at least one of the children lived with spouse #2 more than half the year while another child lived with spouse #1 more than half the year.) It is unusual, but not impossible, for this to be the case.
If spouse #2 does not qualify to file as HOH, then spouse #2 must file as married filing separately.
