After you file

Who is able to file as a head of household?

To qualify, you must meet certain criteria. To file as head of household, you must:

• Pay for more than half of the household expenses
• Be considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year, and
• You must have a qualifying child or dependent.

This tax filing status includes single parents and divorced or legally separated parents with custody of the child. Further, you can also be an adult who provides support for a parent or other relative under qualifying circumstances.

Please see this TurboTax Tip for more information about qualifying as HOH.  

For the purposes of the Head of Household filing status, a qualifying person is a child, parent, or relative who meets certain conditions, listed below.

The conditions are stricter than those for claiming a dependent; for example, you might be able to claim a roommate as your dependent, but never as a qualifying person for Head of Household status.

A qualifying child would be:

• Your child (including legally adopted), stepchild, foster child, sibling, half-sibling, step-sibling, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild or niece) AND
• Permanently and totally disabled OR under the age of 19 as of December 31, 2020 (under 24 if a full-time student) and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly) AND
• Lived with you for more than half the year AND
• Single (or if the child is married, you'd have to qualify to claim them as a dependent even if you're not going to claim them as such).

A child that is too old to qualify as a child might be able to qualify as a relative for Head of Household. A qualifying relative would be:

• Your mother or father, if you're qualified to claim them as a dependent (even if you're not claiming them as such) OR
• A relative related by blood, legal adoption, or marriage other than a parent (child, sibling, grandparent, nephew, aunt, step-parent, in-law, etc.) AND lived with you for more than half the year AND that you're able to claim as a dependent (even if you're not claiming them as such).