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."
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.
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?
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
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?
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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."
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.
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?
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.
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.
Well, thanks again for your info. It sure can't get any more confusing when I can't even believe a CPA. : ) I don't know what to believe at this point.
There are all kinds of CPA's (Certified Public Accountants). Many do accounting and have very limited (if any) tax law knowledge.
Then see IRS Publication 17 (page 23) and read the HOH rules yourself. You will note that it says nothing about disabled, but it does say that you must have a related dependent and a dependent cannot claim themself.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
@ChampChiran -- Unfortunately, tax law is very complicated and contradicts itself. Therein lies the problem. At the very top of the 1040 form there is a line to write the person's name if you are using them to claim head of household and they are not your dependent. It says, "If you checked the HOH box ..., enter the child's name here if the qualifying person is your child and not your dependent." Also, in Publication 501, it states that a qualifying child can be "...any age if permanently and totally disabled." These are just two small examples of things I've read. Believe me, I've read through so many IRS publications and it's maddening because it's very contridictory.
But, I really appreciate your help. May I ask what your tax expertise is? Thank you
a@Champ -- I also read this in the link you sent me:
How to file. Indicate your choice of this filing
status by checking the “Head of Household”
box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form
1040 or 1040-SR. If the child who qualifies you
for this filing status isn't claimed as your dependent in the Dependents section of Form
1040 or 1040-SR, enter the child's name in the
entry space at the bottom of the Filing Status
section. Use the Head of a household column
of the Tax Table, or Section D of the Tax Computation Worksheet, to figure your tax."
@jeangrup wrote:
@ChampChiran -- Unfortunately, tax law is very complicated and contradicts itself. Therein lies the problem. At the very top of the 1040 form there is a line to write the person's name if you are using them to claim head of household and they are not your dependent. It says, "If you checked the HOH box ..., enter the child's name here if the qualifying person is your child and not your dependent." Also, in Publication 501, it states that a qualifying child can be "...any age if permanently and totally disabled." These are just two small examples of things I've read. Believe me, I've read through so many IRS publications and it's maddening because it's very contridictory.
But, I really appreciate your help. May I ask what your tax expertise is? Thank you
A child that has been certified by a physician can be a Qualifying Child dependent at any age and that is correct. If you are able to claim the child as your dependent that lived with you more than half the tax year and you pay more than half the total upkeep if the home then your an claim HOH.
The IRS publication that stated that the child can be your qualifying relative without being a dependent has a footnote that explains the one and only situation where that can happen and that is when parents that are separated have a custody agreement that allows the parent that does not live with the child to claim the dependent, but the parent that does live with the child can claim the HOH filing status.
The concept of custody ends when the child becomes an adult by the laws of your state (age 18 in most states), after that you must be able to claim the child as a dependent.
Why can't you claim the child as a dependent?
Since you refer to IRS Pub 501 see page 8 under Head of Household
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
5. You must be able to claim the child as a
dependent. However, you meet this test if
you can't claim the child as a dependent
only because the noncustodial parent can
claim the child using the rules described,
later, in Children of divorced or separated
parents (or parents who live apart) under
Qualifying Child or in Support Test for
Children of Divorced or Separated Parents
(or Parents Who Live Apart) under Qualifying
Relative. The general rules for claiming
a child as a dependent are explained,
later, under Dependents.
If that is the case, and the child is under age 18 (or the age of majority in your state) then being disabled makes no difference at all in being able to claim HOH. If the non-custodial parent is claiming than you enter that in the dependent interview. When you said "adult child" I assumed that the child was an adult so custody would not apply.
@jeangrup wrote:
a@Champ -- I also read this in the link you sent me:
How to file. Indicate your choice of this filing
status by checking the “Head of Household”
box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form
1040 or 1040-SR. If the child who qualifies you
for this filing status isn't claimed as your dependent in the Dependents section of Form
1040 or 1040-SR, enter the child's name in the
entry space at the bottom of the Filing Status
section. Use the Head of a household column
of the Tax Table, or Section D of the Tax Computation Worksheet, to figure your tax."
Correct, but you must read the 1040 instructions for that line which says on page 13:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
4. Your qualifying child who, even
though you are the custodial parent, isn't
your dependent because of the rule for
Children of divorced or separated parents
under Who Qualifies as Your Dependent,
later.
If the child isn't claimed as your dependent,
enter the child's name in the entry
space below the filing status checkboxes.
If you don’t enter the name, it
will take us longer to process your return.
As pointed out in my other post, that does not apply to an adult child.
But if you meet al the other requirements for HOH then why do you think that you cannot claim the dependent?
| ---Tests To Be a Qualifying Child--- (Must pass ALL of these tests) NOTE: If a child passes all of these tests he must say “yes” on his/her own tax return (if he/she files one) that another taxpayer CAN claim him/her as a dependent even if they DO NOT claim him/her) 1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother,stepsister, or a descendant of any of them. 2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of 2019, (b) under age 24 at the end of 2019 and a full-time student* for any part of 5 months of 2019, or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled and must be younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly). 3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year (There are exceptions for temporary absences such as school, illness, business, vacation, military service). 4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year. See Worksheet 3-1. Worksheet for Determining Support https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2019_publink1000171012 5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child. 6. The child is not filing a joint return. 7. The child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico *A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance during some part of each of any 5 calendar months of the year. See IRS Publication 17 for more information. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17 |