Please review all the questions about yourself and your dependents that were asked at the beginning of tax return, All 5 of the conditions below must apply for you to be considered unmarried as of December 31. You can also revisit these questions by selecting My Info (online) or Personal Info (software), and then selecting Edit next to your name or your dependent's.
Even if you were legally married as of December 31, you are considered unmarried (and therefore eligible for Head of Household) if all 5 of these conditions apply:
- You won't be filing jointly with your spouse; and
- Your spouse didn't live in your home after June (temporary absences due to illness, school, vacation, business, or military service don't count); and
- Your home was your child's, stepchild's, or foster child's main home for more than half the year (non-child dependents in your home don't qualify); and
- You paid more than half the costs of keeping up your home during the tax year; and
- You meet the qualifications to claim the child as your dependent, even if the other (noncustodial) parent is actually claiming the child as a dependent on their return.
You can also be considered unmarried for Head of Household if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year and you're not treating them as a resident alien.
Please see page 8 of IRS Publication 501 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
