My partner and I separated in December of 2020, he was head of household last year but technically I spent more time with our son, who can claim him for 2020? Me or him?

[polillaaa]

He left the home at the end of December leaving me as primary/custodial parent ever since. I claimed our son on my taxes this year due to the father’s difficulty even though he made more last year. I have read that tax officers will look at who made more but also who spent more time with the child, who was considered the primary parent. We do not have a parenting plan in place yet due to state jurisdiction being undefined - who has the greater right to claim our son?

[RayW7]

 Usually, the custodial parent gets to claim any qualifying children as dependents.

 If you can’t agree on who claims the child, the tie-breaker rules apply. Under the tie-breaker rules, the child is a qualifying child only for:

• Whoever the child lived with the longest during the tax year
• The parent with the highest AGI if the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time during the year
• The person with the highest AGI if no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child
• A person with an AGI higher than any parent if the parent can claim the child as a qualifying child but doesn’t

The IRS won’t allow two different people to e-file using the same dependent Social Security number (SSN).

If more than one person claims the same dependent then the IRS will then send a letter to both of you to determine who gets to claim the exemption for the child.

[polillaaa]

Thank you! Because the father left at the end of December and he technically spent more time with me, is that length of time justifiable or does he have to have spent six months or more with me? 

[npierson7]

To determine who can claim the child as a depended, you need to count not only time, but also who spent more on the child support. It isn't always the one who made more money during the year. 

You can find more information about that here:

Rules for Claiming a Dependent on Your Tax Return