My dependent was under 6 moths old at the end of 2018. Can I claim him as a dependent under head of household status?

[srpendl]

I have a son that was born August 2018. I have lived with his mother April 2018 through current (Feb 2019). We are unmarried. I pay a little over half of all child expenses. Can I file as Head of Household and claim him as my dependent? I am finding conflicting codes saying that a child can be claimed as a dependent even if they aren't alive the whole year 2018, but also there is a code saying to be head of household the child must have lived with you more than 6 months of the year (which isn't possible when he's 4 months old!). He has lived with me over 50% of his lifetime, in fact he's lived with me 100% of his life. Am I eligible to claim as head of household?

[Coleen3 · Accepted solution]

Assuming you pass all the other qualifications, yes, you can claim him. He has lived with you the entire year for IRS purposes. They will not penalize you for him not having been born until August.

Head of Household

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. See Marital Status , earlier, and Considered Unmarried , later.
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). However, if the qualifying person is your dependent parent, he or she doesn't have to live with you. See Special rule for parent , later, under Qualifying Person.

Qualifying Person

See Table 4 to see who is a qualifying person. Any person not described in Table 4 isn't a qualifying person