Divorced in July. Husband pays mortgage (in his name) but I pay everything else including utilities. How do I answer Did you pay more than half the cost?

[kryan03]

Heating alone was nearly $1000 or more from October to December.

[xmasbaby0]

What are you trying to do?   Are you trying to determine if you can file as HOH?   Do you have a qualifying dependent?

Am I Head of Household?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-filing-status/qualify-head-household...

• What is a "qualifying person" for Head of Household?

If you qualify as Head of Household, when you enter your marital status (single or married filing separately) into MyInfo, and then enter your qualifying dependent, TurboTax will offer HOH as your filing status.

[JohnB5677]

If you are divorced, what does it matter?

• If there is a child involved it may be another matter.
• You would have to analyze the situation.
• Claiming Dependent

[kryan03]

This had to be about HOH.  One of the questions was specifically who pays more than half of the expenses.  As per the divorce agreement the mortgage is owed and paid by my ex-husband. (Just realized I wrote "husband")  However, if it's considered alimony I don't have to report it from what I read.  I wasn't sure if the payment affected HOH status.

Thank you both for responding.

[Vanessa A]

You are correct.  You do not have to report alimony if the divorce was done after 2018.  If it was prior to 2018, then you would need to report it as income.

If you are NOT paying more than half of the cost to maintain the home you live in with your child, then yes, it could affect it if your ex-husband is paying the mortgage.  Utilities, maintenance, insurance, etc are also part of the cost of maintaining the home.  However, if he is covering the entire cost of all of that and you are living there with your child, you are not covering over half of the cost of maintaining the home.