Can my fiancé claim our son and we both put head of house for our filing status if we're not married and we're both paying rent for our own rooms in a house?

lgnmgl · ‎March 4, 2021

Her father owns the house. We're not married. She's going to claim our son and we both pay more than half of our own living expenses. Can we both put head of household for our filing status?

xmasbaby0 · ‎March 4, 2021

No. If all of you live together then only one of you can claim the child on your tax return. You cannot both be head of household and claim the same child to do so. You can prepare your returns both ways and decide which one of you should be the parent who claims the child and gets the child-related credits---and who files as HOH. In order to file as HOH you must be able to claim a qualifying dependent.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

macuser_22 · ‎March 4, 2021

Only one parent can claim the child and all the credits - they cannot be split unless the parents lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the tax year.

Only one parent can claim these credits.

-Head of Household
-The Earned Income Credit
-The Child and Dependent Care Credit
-The Health Coverage Tax Credit- The child as a dependent
- The Child Tax Credit or credit for other dependents

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

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Can my fiancé claim our son and we both put head of house for our filing status if we're not married and we're both paying rent for our own rooms in a house?