topic Can you claim head of household without claiming your child as dependent? in Deductions & credits

Can you claim head of household without claiming your child as dependent?

streampaw — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 20:44:56 GMT

Can you claim head of household and not claim the child as dependent, and NOT claim any other benefits (EIC, child tax credit, dependent care credit, etc)? Let's say two UNMARRIED parents live together and have kids. They both make money. Can it be structured like this:

Parent #1 files as single, claims all the kids, and claims all the credits (EIC, child tax credit, dependent care credit).

Parent #2: files as head of household, doesn't claim any of the credits, doesn't claim any kids as dependents.

Can they do it like this?

Re: Can you claim head of household without claiming your child as dependent?

xmasbaby0 — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 20:49:30 GMT

No. If all of you live together then only one of you claims the children. The parent who claims the children can file Head of Household and gets the child-related credits. Share with each other however you want to. In general, the one with the higher income should claim the children.

The scenario your are trying to use is only for divorced or never married couples who live apart and have a signed Form 8332. That does not apply to your situation.

Re: Can you claim head of household without claiming your child as dependent?

Hal_Al — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 21:10:47 GMT

You said kids (plural). You could claim one child and then be Head of Household (HoH). But you would still have to be the one paying more than half the household expenses. Two parents living together can not both be HoH.

Re: Can you claim head of household without claiming your child as dependent?

TomD8 — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 21:18:06 GMT

If the couple has more than one child, the parent wanting to file HOH has to do claim at least one of them as a dependent (and pay more half the expenses of keeping up the home). The other parent files Single and claims the remaining child or children.