My question is 2 parts, I am selling my home and moving with my qualified dependents to my boyfriends home. He owns his home, he has no dependents, & files single. We will not be sharing ownership of this property and all bills for the property are in his name. I want to still be able to file as HOH, paying over 50% of the household expenses.
What is the best way to prove/document I am contributing more than 50% of the expenses?
If its in the form of "monthly rent" , Can my boyfriend avoid having to claim rental income if I am writing him a check every month to cover my portion of the monthly expenses?
The head of household must pay for more than 1/2 of the household costs.
To file as head of household, you must:
Qualifying costs include expenses like rent or mortgage interest payments—although not the principal portion of your mortgage payments because that's paying back your loan. They include property taxes, property insurance, repairs, utilities, and groceries.
You need to keep records of your spending and of the household costs to prove that you paid more than 50% of the costs.
Head of Household
this is the official IRS form to determine support
https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf
suggest filling it out and see what happens. Suggest estimating the expenses that reflect the situation you are walking into.
on the rent question, I wouldn't worry about your boyfriend having to declare the rent as income. This is no different that two non-married people who room together in an apartment or house. when two people share an apartment or house, no one is declaring rent income when only one name is on the lease or deed.