Hi ToddL99. Thank you for the super prompt response! Your statement below is consistent with my understanding up until recently. My tax preparer was able to set my Filing Status as Head of Household on my 2019 return without putting my son as a dependent (instead, my son was listed at the top of Form 1040 where it says, "If you checked the HOH or QW box, enter the child's name if the qualifying person is a child but not your dependent."). It looks like the tax preparer used a professional version of TurboTax to prepare the form. After noticing that he was able to set HOH without dependents, I did some looking, and a number of sources indicate it is allowed. Even the quote above from Form 1040 seems to imply you can be HOH without a dependent. Since I'm not an expert, I may be misinterpreting what I'm finding, but I'd like to see what others think as well. Again, thank you for the rapid feedback!
