Head of household

[UrsulaB]

I was guided through my tax return this year and was told I could claim head of household even though my son, who is living with me, is 32, but has been without a job since COVID lockdown. This seems to be an emergency exception and I would like to know the following:

a) Filing as head of household was correct, and I won't have any surprises next year?

b) My son can not file his own tax return because I was head of household and because he did not have any income last year, correct?

c) This means that he is missing out on the Federal and California relief payments that he would otherwise get, but would only qualify for if he did file a tax return, correct?

d) Since I had to tap into my retirement account, my "income" exceeded the cut off for Federal and State COVID relief payments. Is there anything I can do next year to get something?

Thank you for holding this event. This is amazing!

Ursula

[Nick-K-EA]

In order to file as head of household, you must have a qualifying child, or a qualifying relative. Since your son earned less than $4,300, he is a qualifying relative, even though he's too old to be a qualifying child. Here's the IRS criteria for that:

https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/table_2_dependency_exemption_relative_4012.pdf

Additional details on this can be found in IRS Publication 501.

Your son who has no income would not be required to file a return. However, if you claim him as a dependent, he is not eligible for the stimulus payment.

[UrsulaB]

Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease. Is there a way to file an amended return for 2019 where the situation was the same?

[DoninGA]

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@UrsulaB wrote:

Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease. Is there a way to file an amended return for 2019 where the situation was the same?

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See this TurboTax support FAQ for amending a 2019 tax return originally completed and filed using TurboTax - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/amending/help/how-do-i-amend-my-turbotax-online-return/01/27577