Unmarried Couple with baby

jewlz67 — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:57:27 GMT

Since the state of Alabama does not recognize Common Law marriage currently, can a young couple who have lived together for 4 years and now have a young child file taxes together using Head of Household and him claiming the child as a dependent and then claim the mother of the child (who has not worked, he has fully supported the entire year) for purposes of head of household? The mother is attending school and again, does not work. Alabama did away with common law marriage several years ago so this would not come into play with this. I know I can claim Head of Household for him and the baby--just not sure where (or if) I can claim the mother as his dependent as well.

Re: Unmarried Couple with baby

DoninGA — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 16:03:28 GMT

If he is the father of the child, then he can claim the child as a dependent and if he provides over one-half of the cost to maintain the household, the TurboTax software will give him Head of Household filing status.

He needs to select Single as a filing status and let the program give him HOH.

He can also claim you as a dependent as long as you have lived in the household for the entire year and your gross income in 2024 was less than $5,050.

To be a Qualifying Child -

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at college are considered living with you.
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.
6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.
7. The child must be younger than you unless disabled.

To be a Qualifying Relative -

1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund on income tax withheld.
2. The person either (a) must be related to you or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household.
3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $5,050 (social security does not count) in 2024
4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.
5. The person must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S., Canada, or Mexico resident for some part of the year.
6. The person must not file a joint return with their spouse with the following exception -
You can claim a person as a dependent who files a joint return if that person and that person’s spouse file the joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.

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Unmarried Couple with baby

Re: Unmarried Couple with baby