2 children, parents live together, but aren't married. Who can claim, and whose health insurance?

[OutsiderVA]

Our current situation is we have 2 children. 
My partner, their mother, is self employed, and has a lot of write offs, so her income looks very low. 
Because of this, she qualifies for our state Medicaid for health insurance, and thus has both of our children on it as well. She has been claiming our 1st child (3yrs old), but now that we have 2  (2nd born in Aug. '24) we're questioning if I should be claiming one of them or both and as head of household?

Can I claim my kids on taxes, with them on their mother's Medicaid health insurance?

[Vanessa A]

Yes when it comes to federal tax laws. Your child being on Medicaid does not affect your ability to claim them as a dependent.  

You would need to check with the state Medicaid office to determine if your claiming them as a dependent would cause their benefits to be re-evaluated and your income considered instead of their mothers.  

As long as all of the following apply, you can claim your 2nd child on your tax return.

The following criteria must be met to claim someone as a qualifying child:

• Your child (including adopted and foster children), your sibling, or a descendent of any of them.
• Age 18 or younger at the end of the tax year OR under 24 (and younger than you and your spouse) if they are a full-time student
• Lived with you for more than 6 months during the tax year
• They did not provide more than half of their own support (social security does not count)
• They did not file a joint return, unless it was to claim a refund

[TomD8]

If The parents are unmarried and live together with their children, the parent who pays more than half the cost of maintaining the household can file as Head of Household; the other must file as Single.  With regard to claiming the children as dependents, you may split that up any way you want.  But each child may only be claimed once (the same child can't be claimed by both parents).

[AmeliesUncle]

---

@OutsiderVA wrote:

with them on their mother's Medicaid health insurance?

---

In most states, the children's Medicaid eligibility is based on the combined income of BOTH of you, regardless of who actually claims the child.