If you made $7-8000 earned income, in 2024, you will get more for claiming the children then he will.
Q. Can he file me as a dependent.
A. No. Your income was too high to be a dependent.
Q. Can he file my children as his dependents?
A. Yes, if you lived together all year and "has since been the primary breadwinner" amounts to more than half their support for the whole year.
Q. Can he file head of household (HoH)?
A. No. He must have dependents who are blood (or adopted or by marriage) related to qualify for HoH.
There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit and student status test, a relationship test and a residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. The Other dependent (qualifying relative) credit is worth (up to) $500 per dependent and is non-refundable. That is, it can only be used to reduce an actual tax liability.
The chidden cannot be his QC dependents because they are not related. A person can still be a Qualifying relative dependent, if not a Qualifying Child, if he meets the 6 tests for claiming a dependent:
- Closely Related OR live with the taxpayer ALL year
- His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4700 (2023) ($5050 for 2024).
- The taxpayer must have provided more than 1/2 his support
In either case:
- He must be a US citizen or resident of the US, Canada or Mexico
- He must not file a joint return with his spouse or be claiming a dependent of his own
- He must not be the qualifying child of another taxpayer
He must have a US social security number or tax identification number (TIN)
In addition to the above requirements, to claim your girlfriend's children, they must meet all of the above requirements and:
--- your girlfriend must not be required to file a return,
--- she does not file a return claiming the children
