My boyfriend said that he filed head of household but did not claim our daughter as a dependent (we agreed that I would). Can I also claim head of household?

[xmasbaby0]

If your BF filed as head of household---what qualifying dependent did he claim?   He could not file HOH unless he claimed a qualifying dependent.    And...if he claimed your child then you cannot also claim that same child on your own tax return.   The child can only be claimed on one of your returns.   If you all live together as a family the child can only be entered on ONE of your returns--not both.   

The two of  you sound like you do not understand what filing as HOH means.  It is not possible for each of you to pay for over half the support of your household.  Mathematically that is impossible.

Am I Head of Household?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894553-do-i-qualify-for-head-of-household

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2900097-what-is-a-qualifying-person-for-head-of-household

If you qualify as Head of Household, when you enter your marital status (single or married filing separately) into MyInfo, and then enter your qualifying dependent, TurboTax will offer HOH as your filing status.

Did the two of you get confused about the rules that are for divorced or never married parents who do NOT live together and who share custody of the same child?   Those rules do not apply to couples who live together with their child as a family.   The rules that allow one of you to file as HOH and get EIC do not apply here-----you do not say that you have a signed agreement when you all live together.

These rules come into play if you do not  all  live together:

Are you the custodial parent?  Do you have an agreement with the other parent to allow the other parent to claim them--due to divorce or that you live apart and share custody?  Did one of you sign a Form 8332?

If there is a signed 8332 then the custodial parent retains the right to file as Head of Household, get earned income credit and the childcare credit.  The non-custodial parent gets the child tax credit for children under the age of 18.

As far as the IRS is concerned, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child spent the most nights during the tax year--at least 183 nights.

If you are a non-married couple who live together then only one of you can claim the child(ren) and the one not claiming the child does not enter anything at all on their tax return about the child. 

[NCperson]

1) did the two of you live together? if yes, then only one of you paid more than 50% of the household expenses and only THAT person could even be eligible to claim head of household. 

2) who claimed the child? 

it is possible that neither of you are eligible to file HOH (which isn't a problem - you both file Single and one of you claims the child).  That could occur if HE paid more than 50% of the household expenses, but you claim the child.  Neither of you would meet the requirements of filing HOH.