Head of Household Not an Option

[bradtx16]

I have tried again and agin, but I cannot convince the TurboTax system to let me file as Head of Household. I am single, I pay more than half of the household bills (I own my home) and I am claiming a biological child as a dependent who lives with me 6+ months throughout the year. No matter what I do, Head of Household is never an option. And as I research this, it appears numerous other people have run into this issue. Has anyone found a workaround? I'm about to try another service.

[xmasbaby0]

Are you choosing "6 months" as the amount of time he lives with you?  That may be your problem.  Try using 7 months so that it will be more than half the year.

[DoninGA]

Delete answer...Was answered for the wrong post.

[bradtx16]

Ah. That was it.

Might I ask another question? I'm in a divorce scenario with two children. The lawyers gave me the right to claim one child until he turns 18. She was given the claim rights to the other child. And we are fine with this.

With that said, we share 50/50 custody. Both kids share equal time at each household (six months, theoretically). So given that information, am I "safe" to say seven months? I have 100% of the claim to this child, so as far as I'm concerned, I should just as easily be able to say 12 months and it not be an issue. But I'd like an extra opinion. This matter ended up costing me a lot of money last year, and I'm trying to avoid it this year.

Why the online portal is frustrating? See this TurboTax video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLiUHmSv8jY

"If your dependent is your child however, then you'll only need to show that they lived with you for half of the year."

You should be able to select six and file as Head of Household. Just saying. This would solve mine and everyone else's frustration. 

[ThomasM125]

Technically, the child must live with you for 183 days or more, which would be more than half of the days in a year (365). If the children only live with you and their other parent during the year, they would have to have lived one more day with one of you, as 365 is not evenly divisible by 2.  For practical purposes, if the other parent does not claim them as a dependent then it is unlikely you would have an issue claiming them if you are only being precluded from doing so by proving one extra day of their presence in your home.