Head of household

[Tmart86]

Serious question because I need to know if I can file for head of household.

My GF and I had our baby. I am the father to be clear… they both live with me full time. My gf don’t pay bills, she just buys groceries occasionally and pays for her car. I pay the rest for mortgage, utilities, cable/internet, insurance(including her car and home), ect… can i file for head of household? My gf makes over 30k and I make over 70k. I pay all the primary bills. So I definitely pay 50% or more of all the bills. We are not married but do live together. Have for the last 5 years. Does her living with me disqualify me for head of household, claiming our child on my return. She wouldn’t be classified as my “spouse” right? In no way shape or form am I trying to claim my girlfriend. Just our child on my return as head of household.

[xmasbaby0]

Since you all live together as a family but are not legally married, your child can only be claimed as a dependent on one of your tax returns.   You can file as Head of Household and claim your child as your qualifying child dependent.   Your GF cannot enter anything about the child on her return.   And---you cannot claim your GF as a dependent because she made over $4300.

[Hal_Al]

If you and the other parent live together, either one of you (but not both) may claim the child. You may decide between you which one will claim the child. Only if you can’t agree, do the IRS tie breaker rules apply, to see who has first choice (it's you because you have the higher income). It may be worthwhile to prepare trial returns, both ways,  to see which way the family comes out best. This tool may be useful: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/?s=1.

You must be claiming the child in order to claim Head of Household (HoH).  If your GF claims the child, she cannot claim HoH, because she didn't pay more than half the household expenses. 

[Mike9241]

if you don't agree on who claims the child, the rules say the parent with the highest Adjusted Gross Income.

[Tmart86]

Yes. Like stated I’m not claiming my girlfriend in no way shape or form. Just no. She will not be claiming our baby at all either. I will be claiming our baby since I make more and I pay medical insurance as well. Makes more sense, and i will get a bigger tax breaks to support us all. Just want to make sure since my girlfriend is living with us full time, checking if it would disqualify me for head of household while claiming our baby on my taxes as a dependent. The definition of “spouse” from the IRS is vague. Because the spouse can’t live with me more than 6 months out of the year to qualify for head of household. Thanks for the responses though!

[Critter-3]

The definition of "spouse"  is not vague ... you are not married therefore your GF is not your spouse.   In the program simply say you have an agreement with the other parent to claim the child so you can skip much of that confusing section.  This will give you HOH automatically.   Then on her return she should NOT enter the child at all for any reason. 

[Hal_Al]

You may be able to file as Married Filing Jointly if you live in a state that recognizes common law marriage. Currently, the following jurisdictions recognize common law marriage:

 Colorado

 District of Columbia

 Iowa

 Kansas

 Montana

 New Hampshire

 Oklahoma

 Rhode Island

 South Carolina

 Texas

 Utah

Living together in a common law state is usually insufficient - you need to hold yourself out as married including owning property together, having joint bank accounts, etc. To find out your state’s rules see:

http://family.findlaw.com/marriage/common-law-marriage-states.html

Alabama (2017), Georgia(1997), Idaho(1996), Ohio(Oct. 1991), and Pennsylvania(2005) are grandfathered for the marriages before the year indicated.