Head of Household post Divorce

[Someguy22]

I am confused regarding my ability to file as HOH in 2020. My ex-wife and I were living under the same roof with our 5 year old son thru August 2020 while we went through quarantine and mediation. I then moved to an apartment and later a house (in November) while retaining 50/50 custody of our son. Our divorce was finalized in mid-November 2020. Per our parenting agreement we are claiming our son as a dependent on alternating years. She is claiming him as a dependent for 2020.

Am I ok filing as HOH in 2020?

[macuser_22]

If you physically lived with the child more then half of 2020 then probably yes .

Head of Household is for UNMARRIED taxpayers with a related dependent or married and have not lived with their spouse at anytime during the last 6 months of the tax year AND has a child, stepchild or foster child that can be a dependent.
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You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.

1. You are unmarried or “considered unmarried” on the last day of the year.
(You could be considered unmarried if your spouse did not live in your home at any time during the last 6 months of the tax year).
If you were considered married for part of the year and lived in a community property state, special rules may apply in determining your income and expenses. See Publication 555 for more information.

2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.

3. A “qualifying person” lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences such as school) - a parent does not have to live with you to be a qualifying person.

4. If the qualifying person is your qualifying relative, their gross income must have been less than $4,300 (do not include non taxable Social Security) and you provided more than 1/2 of their support

5. You must be able to claim the dependent for the qualifying person except in the case of divorced or separated parents (that lived apart) and the noncustodial parent is claiming the dependent.

A Qualifying person is either:
A qualifying child or a qualifying closely related relative and meets certain other requirements, however if you are considered unmarried it can only be your child, stepchild, or foster child.

See IRS Publication 501 for more information about who is a qualifying person and a worksheet to determine the cost of keeping up a home.

See IRS Pub 501 for more information
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2018_publink1000220775

[RayW7]

You may still qualify for head of household filing status even though you aren't entitled to claim your child as a dependent, if you meet the following requirements:

1. You're not married, or you’re considered unmarried on the last day of the year.
2. You paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home, that was your home and the main home of your child for more than one-half of the year.
3. Your child is your qualifying child for purposes other than the dependency exemption and the child tax credit.  

-follow these links for additional information-

Filing Status 2 | Internal Revenue Service

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[macuser_22]

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@RayW7 wrote:

You may still qualify for head of household filing status even though you aren't entitled to claim your child as a dependent, if you meet the following requirements:

1. You're not married, or you’re considered unmarried on the last day of the year.
2. You paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home, that was your home and the main home of your child for more than one-half of the year.
3. Your child is your qualifying child for purposes other than the dependency exemption and the child tax credit.  

-follow these links for additional information-

Filing Status 2 | Internal Revenue Service

•  

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That is true ONLY if the reason for not claiming as a dependent is because the other parent is claiming per a custodial agreement.    But that is ONLY possible if the parents have lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the tax year. 

The poster said that they did not live apart until August which is less then the last 6 months of 2020 so the special rules for children of separated parents that live apart do not apply.

See “Children of divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart” in IRS Pub 501 for full information.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2018_publink1000220904

[NCperson]

if you claim HOH, she can't -

one of the requirements of HOH is you are providing more than 50% of the support of the home.  Obviously, two people can't claim that with one child.

[Someguy22]

She did claim HOH as well, in addition to claiming him as a dependent, as agreed. Sounds like I have to amend my return. Ugh. 

[Someguy22]

We were rotating in and out of the house from June through August but I assume this doesn’t suffice. 

[macuser_22]

It does not.

To claim HOH you must have paid more than half of the keeping of the entire household for the entire year, AND have a qualifying related dependent that you can claim.

[Someguy22]

This is also confusing to me. I paid more than 50% of the marital home through August (I am the higher earner) and then paid 100% of my rent and mortgage in a new apartment and home, that my son lived in 50% of the time, for the rest of the year.  Ultimately that was more than paying 51% of the marital home for a full year. 

[Someguy22]

Where is this stated?

[macuser_22]

I posted a link to the IRS publication with the rules for HOH.