Claiming head of household without claiming child

davergroh · ‎January 10, 2019

Hello everyone!

I have a question. I meet the requirements to file as head of household, and I am considering filing that way. Will I be required to enter my daughter's information when filing to be eligible?

A little backstory to explain the question:

My ex and I share 50/50 custody of our daughter and we take turns every year claiming her. Last year it was her turn to claim her. I got my tax documents first so I went ahead and filed. When it came time to claim my daughter, I chose the option in TurboTax that it was the other parent's turn to claim her and I was not claiming her. TurboTax suggested I keep my daughter's information in because it could make me eligible for other tax credits. So, I kept her information on my return. It turns out that it locked my ex from claiming her. Which turned into a big debacle of filing amendments to fully claim her since I did not get all I would've gotten back had I just claimed her to begin with.

So I'm wondering if having her info (ss#/DOB etc) will be necessary to file as head of household because I'm nervous about having the same issue as last year where her mother is unable to claim her because I have her information in my return.

Thank you all for your time!

AJ · ‎January 10, 2019

As I understand, you and your Ex are divorced; and are not married to anyone else; and there is only one child for you and your former spouse. In that situation, only one parent can use the child to qualify for Head-of-Household (HoH) filing status, and the other parent would normally file Single. Both parents CANNOT be HoH for the same year with the one child. Normally, the person who gets HoH status is the custodial parent, who keeps up the home and lives with the child for over 6 months for the tax year. I understand that you are trading off the living arrangements each year, but in any single year, the child would normally only be with one parent for "over half of the year". (If you really have a "tie", then the parent with the higher AGI wins the right to claim the qualifying child.) There are additional possibilities in divorce arrangements where the custodial parent can issue a Form 8332 to the non-custodial parent that gives the non-custodial parent the dependent exemption. In such a case, the child can appear on both tax forms, but the custodial parent would need to uncheck the dependency. The Form 8332 allows the non-custodial parent the right to claim the child tax credit, which can be worth up to $2,000. The custodial parent would retain rights for earned income credit and child day care credits. I hope that you are getting the idea that the situation can get complicated. TurboTax will guide you through the process, but if you don't fully understand terms, or if make an error, then you might have a problem to fix. As you experienced last year, a mistake by you or your Ex creates a messy situation that takes a lot of time to fix. It is difficult to give you all the information that you need in this forum. Since you appear to be on good terms with your Ex, perhaps you might consider going together to get face-to-face assistance such as should be available using this link: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-you-by-volunteers. Your situation is fairly common and they should be able to get it right for you. (If the income limit is a problem, then use the AARP site since they waive the income limit.)

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AJ · ‎January 10, 2019

As I understand, you and your Ex are divorced; and are not married to anyone else; and there is only one child for you and your former spouse. In that situation, only one parent can use the child to qualify for Head-of-Household (HoH) filing status, and the other parent would normally file Single. Both parents CANNOT be HoH for the same year with the one child. Normally, the person who gets HoH status is the custodial parent, who keeps up the home and lives with the child for over 6 months for the tax year. I understand that you are trading off the living arrangements each year, but in any single year, the child would normally only be with one parent for "over half of the year". (If you really have a "tie", then the parent with the higher AGI wins the right to claim the qualifying child.) There are additional possibilities in divorce arrangements where the custodial parent can issue a Form 8332 to the non-custodial parent that gives the non-custodial parent the dependent exemption. In such a case, the child can appear on both tax forms, but the custodial parent would need to uncheck the dependency. The Form 8332 allows the non-custodial parent the right to claim the child tax credit, which can be worth up to $2,000. The custodial parent would retain rights for earned income credit and child day care credits. I hope that you are getting the idea that the situation can get complicated. TurboTax will guide you through the process, but if you don't fully understand terms, or if make an error, then you might have a problem to fix. As you experienced last year, a mistake by you or your Ex creates a messy situation that takes a lot of time to fix. It is difficult to give you all the information that you need in this forum. Since you appear to be on good terms with your Ex, perhaps you might consider going together to get face-to-face assistance such as should be available using this link: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-you-by-volunteers. Your situation is fairly common and they should be able to get it right for you. (If the income limit is a problem, then use the AARP site since they waive the income limit.)

davergroh · ‎January 11, 2019

Thank you! That's exactly what I needed to know. It was a bit more information than what I was looking for, but it was all useful information nonetheless, so I appreciate that. 🙂

Thank you again!

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Claiming head of household without claiming child