Manually Change from Head of Household to Single

[SK318]

I'm divorced with two kids. Per my divorce agreement with my ex-spouse we alternate who has custody of our two children for >50% of the time and therefore can claim "Head of Household" filing status. This year is not my year, so I need to file as "single." However, because I own my home and I am claiming one of our children as my dependent (also per our agreement) Turbo Tax keeps telling me that Head of Household is the best filing status. I totally agree, but per IRS rules both parents cannot claim HoH status in the same year. Every time I try to edit my filing status the software asks me the same series of questions and tells me that I should file as Head of Household. How do I change my status manually to "single?" Thanks!

[ThomasM125]

Only the parent that the child lives with could claim head of household status. So, you need to indicate when asked that the child lives with you for less than half the year in order to file as single.

[rjs]

---

@SK318 wrote:

per IRS rules both parents cannot claim HoH status in the same year.

---

There is no such rule. You can't both use the same child to file as head of household, because the child cannot have lived with both of you for more than half the year. But if you and your ex have separate homes, and you each had one child live in your home for more than half the year, you can both file as head of household, each using one of the two children.

Your divorce agreement cannot determine your filing status. Your filing status is determined by the federal tax laws. The divorce agreement cannot override those laws.

From your question, it's not clear who the two children lived with for more than half of 2021. If you are claiming one of the children as a dependent, but that child lived with your ex for more than half the year, you cannot file as head of household. When TurboTax asks how many months the child lived with you, select 5 or less. Then, as ThomasM125 said, TurboTax will recommend a filing status of single instead of head of household.

Is there another child who lived in your home for more than half the year, besides the two children that you share with your ex-spouse? If so, that other child could qualify you to file as head of household, even if neither of the two children that you share with your ex lived with you for more than half the year.

[SK318]

Thank you! We have two kids and we keep them together and we share custody 50/50, though of course 365 is an odd number, so my understanding is that IRS rules won't let us say they y say they were with both us exactly half of the time. So I have been told that we can alternate, one year I get them 183 days (my ex has them 182) so I am the "head of household" and then the other year the reverse I have them 182 days and my ex has them 183. Our agreement says for tax purposes we are each given credit for having the kids more than 50% of the time in alternating years. By agreement though we can give the other person the ability to claim one of the kids even during our "head of household" year.  There are Turbo Tax questions for that and a form to file to tell the IRS we are doing that. I have tried changing the time my daughter lives with me to 5 months and Turbo Tax is still telling me I should file as Head of Household without an option to change it.

[SK318]

I figured it out- had to adjust the other kid to less than 6 months too. THANKS!

[rjs]

---

@SK318 wrote:

we share custody 50/50, though of course 365 is an odd number, so my understanding is that IRS rules won't let us say they y say they were with both us exactly half of the time.

---

That's true. But you don't want them to be with each of you exactly half the time. If that happened, neither of you could be head of household because the kids were not with either of you for more than half the year. Be careful in leap years,, which have an even number of days.