Correct. The qualifying person for head of household must be a blood relative.
You can claim your partner as a dependent if you pay more than half their living expenses and they have less than $4700 of taxable income (or $5050 for 2024). Many forms of disability payment are not taxable but some are, and even if they receive non-taxable disability that does not count for the income text, it still does count for the support test.
And you are correct, this type of dependent does not make you eligible for HOH status.
Thank you for your response. I'm really confused because I have coworkers that have similar situations, example: he has his partner ( not married) who is on disability and he claims her as a dependent and claims head of household without any issues. My partner is blind can't work and I pay more than 75% of household expenses he has been living in my home for 15 years. And I can't because we choose not to be "legally married"
@becflack A friend can be a dependent but they are not a qualifying person for Head of Household filing status. Your coworkers are incorrectly filing as HOH if they have similar situations.
IRS Publication 501 Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information page 9 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf#page=9
Example 3—your friend. Your friend lived with you all year. Even though your friend may be your qualifying relative if the gross income and support tests (explained later) are met, your friend isn't your qualifying person for head of household purposes because your friend isn't related to you in one of the ways listed under
Relatives who don't have to live with you, later.
See Table 4.
Your friend is commenting tax fraud. See here.
https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/head_of_household_qualifying_person_4012.pdf
You cannot file as head of household unless you have a qualified dependent. A "partner" will not ever be a qualified dependent for HOH filing status. If in fact your partner meets certain criteria, you may be able to claim them for a $500 credit for other dependents, but NOT for Head of Household filing status.
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 My Info, and then enter your qualifying dependent, TurboTax will offer HOH as your filing status.
CREDIT FOR OTHER DEPENDENTS
Q. I'm really confused because I have coworkers that have similar situations, example: he has his partner ( not married) who is on disability and he claims her as a dependent and claims head of household without any issues?
A. Your coworker is erroneously claiming HoH filing status. if you use a tax preparer or good software, like TurboTax (TT), they will ask the right questions to keep that from happening. In particular, TT asks you, in the personal info section to identify the relationship of your dependent. In your case, you check "other". TT will not let you claim HoH.