@ahogue114 wrote:
My ex-husband and I live in the same household but have our own separate rooms and each claim a child and pay half the rent and half the bills can we both claim head of household or will we get flagged. WE are legally divorced but I kept his last name.
If you have two separate households, you can each file as HOH for that household. It is possible for two adults living in the same home to actually be two separate households.
However, the fact that you share two children makes me think the IRS will not accept this explanation. I'm sure your kids eat and play together, go on outings together, have shared birthday parties, and generally act like siblings. That will go a long way to disproving that you and your ex actually manage and pay for two separate households. Read the answer that started this topic. I am pasting the important part of it here again for you.
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The Internal Revenue Service analyzes the situation based on all the facts and circumstances. The IRS's general thinking is outlined in a memorandum from the Chief Counsel's office (SCA 1998-041, pdf 9 pages).
Some factors that would weigh in favor of there being two separate households sharing the same residence might include:
- Are there separate telephone lines for each family? Separate utility bills?
- Do the taxpayers maintain separate finances and separate bank accounts? Or do they have a joint account or commingle funds?
- Does one family contribute to the financial support to the other?
- Do the adult taxpayers have separate bedrooms?
- Do the children have separate bedrooms?
- Do the family members give Christmas and birthday presents together or separately?
