Can I claim head of household while someone else claims my child on their taxes?

[WillK]

Under the IRS guidelines, in order to claim Head of Household, you need to meet all the following requirements: 

You are unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year.  

You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year. 

A qualifying person lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the qualifying person is your dependent parent, he or she doesn't have to live with you. 

In certain circumstances, you do not have to claim your child as a dependent to qualify for head of household filing status; for example, a custodial parent may be able to claim head of household filing status even if he or she released a claim to exemption for the child.

[yasmin0824]

Can I still file my taxes using turbo tax, as head of household, if I fill out the Form 8332 or will the system not allow me to?

[Rainman12]

Yes. If you, as Custodial Parent (meaning qualifying relative lived with you more than 1/2 year), you retain HoH status (and dependent care deduction, if applicable), but lose the $2k Child Tax Credit. Reference: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2018_publink1000220904 

[yasmin0824]

My question is:  How do I enter my child as a non-dependent while still being able to file Head of Household since the non-custodial parent will be claiming the child tax credit?

[Rainman12]

Read/answer all interview questions carefully, to include persons who lived with you, how long, relationship, and whether person can be claimed by someone else. If HoH status is selected, you'll be prompted to provide info on qualifying person Not already on your return. 

[Anonymous]

I am confused.  Under our divorce decree my ex will claim my son as dependent for 2019 taxes.  You are saying I could still retain HoH status if he lived with me more than 1/2 of the year, but that is a qualification that must be met so my ex can claim him.  How can he meet that qualification for both?

[xmasbaby0]

Are you the custodial parent?  Do you have an agreement with the other parent to allow the other parent to claim them--due to divorce or that you live apart and share custody?  Did one of you sign a Form 8332?

If there is a signed 8332 then the custodial parent retains the right to file as Head of Household, get earned income credit and the childcare credit + education credits if the child is a full-time college student.  The non-custodial parent gets the child tax credit for children under the age of 17.

As far as the IRS is concerned, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child spent the most nights during the tax year--at least 183 nights.

If you are a non-married couple who live together then only one of you can claim the child(ren) and the one not claiming the child does not enter anything at all on their tax return about the child. 

[AmyC]

Yes, it is possible for you to claim Head of Household even if your divorce decree states your ex claims your child for 2019.  Here are the conditions for non-custodial parents to claim HOH:

The IRS states:

Children of divorced or separated parents.

A child will be treated as the qualifying child or qualifying relative of his or her noncustodial parent (defined later) if all of the following conditions apply.

1. The parents are divorced, legally separated, separated under a written separation agreement, or lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of 2019 (whether or not they are or were married).

2. The child received over half of his or her support for 2019 from the parents (and the rules on Multiple support agreements, later, don’t apply). Support of a child received from a parent's spouse is treated as provided by the parent.

3. The child is in custody of one or both of the parents for more than half of 2019.

4. Either of the following applies.

a. The custodial parent signs Form 8332 or a substantially similar statement that he or she won't claim the child as a dependent for 2019, and the noncustodial parent includes a copy of the form or statement with his or her return. If the divorce decree or separation agreement went into effect after 1984 and before 2009, the noncustodial parent may be able to include certain pages from the decree or agreement instead of Form 8332. See Post-1984 and pre-2009 decree or agreement and Post-2008 decree or agreement.

b. A pre-1985 decree of divorce or separate maintenance or written separation agreement between the parents provides that the noncustodial parent can claim the child as a dependent, and the noncustodial parent provides at least $600 for support of the child during 2019.

If conditions (1) through (4) apply, only the noncustodial parent can claim the child for purposes of the child tax credits and credit for other dependents (lines 13a and 18b). However, this doesn't allow the noncustodial parent to claim head of household filing status, the credit for child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits, the earned income credit, or the health coverage tax credit. The custodial parent or another taxpayer, if eligible, can claim the child for the earned income credit and these other benefits. See Pub. 501 for details.

From IRS  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf  

@Anonymous

[lak377]

What happens in the instance of 50/50 legal and physical custody (no custodial parent)?  The divorce decree states that the divorced taxpayers can claim the child every other year.

[DMarkM1 · Accepted solution]

For tax purposes one of you is the custodial parent.  Here is rule for determining the custodial parent according to the IRS if child stayed with each parent an equal number of nights.  For more details and other situations see Publication 504.  

.

"Example 3—child lived same number of days with each parent.

Your son lived with you 180 nights during the year and lived the same number of nights with his other parent, your ex-spouse. Your adjusted gross income is $40,000. Your ex-spouse's adjusted gross income is $25,000. You are treated as your son's custodial parent because you have the higher adjusted gross income."

[jeangrup]

My issue is slightly different. I have an adult child with a disability. I cannot claim him as a dependent, but I have confirmed (after going through all of the IRS questions and consulting with a CPA) that I can use him to claim head of household. The problem is with Turbo Tax. It will not let me claim head of household without adding my son as a dependent. I've gone through all the questions over and over again, and there's no way around it. After I answer all the questions, and I know they are correct, it automatically adds my son as a dependent. When I remove him as a dependent, it takes away the head of household status. It looks like I am going to have to mail my return in. 

[macuser_22]

Head of household requires that you have  a related person that lived with you more the  half the tax year and you *can* claim as a dependent.   There is only one condition in the tax law where that person would not be a dependent and that is in the case of separated parents and the other parent is claiming the dependent but that only applies to a child under age 19 or under 24 if a full time student.    In  all other cases you must claim the dependent. 

Why can't you claim the dependent?

[jeangrup]

That is not what I read, and I spoke to a CPA today and was told I can use him as my qualifier. Because he has a disability, it's a little different. I can't claim him because he claimed himself on his taxes. 

[macuser_22]

Your CPA is incorrect.  A dependent for HOH must indicate on their own tax return that they can be a dependent.   You cannot claim HOH without a related dependent.  Being disabled does not change that.

If he *can* be your dependent then  he needs to amend and change that to being a dependent.