Unmarried parents living together, can one claim the dependent and the other claim head of household?

[sn2bkp1215]

My boyfriend and I take turns claiming our daughter.  This is his year to claim her.  Am I able to claim Head  of Household if he does not?  I made more money this year.  We all lived together for the full year.

[moomoney-1]

If we file together and he claims head of household will my income still be included?

[moomoney-1]

Or if he made more money than I did but I provided the majority of her financial needs

[macuser_22]

@moomoney#1 - this is a 2 year old post, but a child can only be on one tax return when  you live together.

[bwa · Accepted solution]

One thing you need to remember is whichever one of you claims the child, they would claim all tax attributes. One person has to claim all of the tax attributes if you live together, as the child would be a qualifying child of both of you.

From Publication 17:  "Sometimes a child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person. However, only one person can treat that child as a qualifying child and claim the EIC using that child. The paragraphs that follow will help you decide who, if anyone, can claim the EIC when more than one person has the same qualifying child.

You can choose which person will claim the EIC. If you and someone else have the same qualifying child, you and the other person(s) can decide which of you, if otherwise eligible, will take all of the following tax benefits based on the qualifying child.

• The exemption for the child.
• The child tax credit.
• Head of household filing status.
• The credit for child and dependent care expenses.
• The exclusion for dependent care benefits.

The EIC."

[MinhT]

No. The spouse claiming the child should file as Head of Household because he/she would have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year and have one qualifying person living with him/her for more than half of the year.

The other would have to file as Single as he/she cannot satisfy the two conditions above.