If I was in a rehab facility when I started working at company would I put that I was in a halfway house?

[GiseleD]

It depends on the conditions in the rehab facility. Per this memo, here is how the IRS defines a halfway house:

With respect to individuals transferred to a halfway house, those individuals have not been released from their sentences, can be returned to the prison facility, and are usually required to perform services. Although these individuals are not confined to a prison, jail, or penitentiary, they are confined to the halfway house for the remainder of their sentence. Thus, a halfway house falls within the general definition of a penal institution.

I wish you the best of luck.

[rjs]

The term "halfway house" has two different meanings, which can cause confusion. I assume that your question is related to the Earned Income Credit (EIC). Income earned while you are in a halfway house is not considered "earned income" for purposes of qualifying for the Earned Income Credit. However, as you can see from the information that GiseleD posted, this rule applies to a halfway house for people who are being released from prison. It does not mean a halfway house following treatment for drug or alcohol abuse.

So if you were in prison and started working while you were in a halfway house after prison, you would answer Yes. But if you were in a halfway house following treatment for drug or alcohol abuse, you would answer No. That's not the kind of halfway house that the question refers to.