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Married but want to file head of household spuose not filing ipaid moe than half of expenses

 
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Married but want to file head of household spuose not filing ipaid moe than half of expenses

If you are married and live with your spouse, you can not file as Head of Household, that would be illegal. It doesn't matter whether your spouse is filing or not.
If you were legally married as of 12/31/2016, your choices are Married Filing Jointly, if your spouse agrees,  or Married Filing Separately, unless you meet the qualifications to be "considered unmarried", in which case you could file as Head of Household. The requirements are:

Considered Unmarried
To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests

1. You file a separate return

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

3. Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your
spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances.

4. Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year.

5. You must be able to claim an exemption for the child. (There are some exceptions to this rule, see IRS Pub 17, Chapter 2 and 3) You can find Pub 17 at this link
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

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2 Replies

Married but want to file head of household spuose not filing ipaid moe than half of expenses

If you are married and live with your spouse, you can not file as Head of Household, that would be illegal. It doesn't matter whether your spouse is filing or not.
If you were legally married as of 12/31/2016, your choices are Married Filing Jointly, if your spouse agrees,  or Married Filing Separately, unless you meet the qualifications to be "considered unmarried", in which case you could file as Head of Household. The requirements are:

Considered Unmarried
To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests

1. You file a separate return

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

3. Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your
spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances.

4. Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year.

5. You must be able to claim an exemption for the child. (There are some exceptions to this rule, see IRS Pub 17, Chapter 2 and 3) You can find Pub 17 at this link
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

Married but want to file head of household spuose not filing ipaid moe than half of expenses

Why are you not filing a joint return?  You do not “claim” a spouse as a dependent.  By filing as “Married Filing Jointly” you will each get the $4050 personal exemptions and the standard deduction of $12,600 for a married couple.

You can file a joint return even if one of the spouses had little or no income.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
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