Can I still file head of household without claiming my child? It's her mothers turn to claim her this year.

[Marketstar]

To file as Head of Household, you must:

• Pay for more than half of the household expenses
• Be considered unmarried for the tax year, and
• You must have a qualifying child or dependent

Qualifying child

The requirement for a qualifying child or dependent extends beyond just your own son or daughter. To be considered a qualifying child, the child must meet the criteria in each of the following categories:

• The child must be your biological child, stepchild, foster child, sibling, step sibling, half sibling, or a descendant (child, grandchild, great grandchild, etc.) of one of these relatives.
• The child must have lived within your home for more than six months during the tax year.
• The child needs to be younger than you.
• As of the end of the tax year, the child must be under 19 if he is not a student, or under 24 if he is a full-time college student.
• The child must not have paid for more than half of his living expenses during the tax year.

So, you can claim Head of Household without actually claiming a dependent.

See Filing Taxes As Head of Household

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[poohj80]

TurboTax is not currently allowing me to file Head of Household without claiming my child as a dependent.  Per the IRS instructions, it should be possible to document the qualifying person without actually including that person as a dependent.  In previous years, TurboTax used to ask if another person would be claiming that qualifying person as a dependent but that question did not come up this year.  Help please!

[Cynthiad66]

Generally, to qualify for head of household filing status, you must have a qualifying child or a dependent. However, a custodial parent may be eligible to claim head of household filing status based on a child even if he or she released a claim to exemption for the child.

Your entries in the My Info (left-hand menu bar) section of your return will help TurboTax determine if you qualify for this status.

The following items are required to qualify to claim Head of Household with qualifying dependent.  Please review to make sure you answered these areas accurately to qualify for Head of Household.

Residency test: The child must have lived with the taxpayer for more than half of 2019.

​​Age test: The child must be:

• Under age 19 at the end of the tax year and younger than the taxpayer (or spouse), or
• Under age 24 at the end of 2019, a full-time student for any part of five calendar months during the tax year, and younger than the taxpayer (or spouse), or
• Permanently and totally disabled at any age

Relationship or Member of Household Test: To be considered a qualifying relative.

and

Must have lived with the taxpayer for more than 1/2 of the tax

Please follow the steps below to change your filing status to head of household in TurboTax Online:

1. On the toolbar on the top of the screen, towards the left, you should see where it says personal info. Select that tab and it will bring you to the Personal Info Summary. 
2. Then go down to the second section where it shows your marital status and select on edit. Go thru each question until you get to the page that says "Here's the best filing status for you". 
3. This is where you will edit your filing status and once you pick the one best for you (Head of Household) continue answering all the questions until it brings you back to the Personal Info Summary page to ensure it saves properly.

[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.  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.

[poohj80]

Thank you, I understand all the above.  The issue for me is the software is not currently asking the follow-on questions it used to ask after confirming whether there is a written agreement in place.  It sounds like this is a known bug from previous responses to other questions and is hopefully being worked.