Me and my girlfriend (unmarried) have two children together. Can I claim HOH with our daughter and she claim single with our son? We live in the sa me household. Would that be against the IRS rules? E

[tthompson0403]

Ex. I claim HoH with our daughter and she would claim single with our son.

[MayaD]

Only one of you can claim Head of Household. In order to qualify you have to:

1. Pay more than half the cost to run your (or a qualifying parent's) home this year(rent, mortgage, utilities, etc.) and
2. Support a Qualifying person.

The one who contributed more than half of the household expenses can claim HOH. The other parent can claim one of children but his/her filing status will be Single.

[tthompson0403]

Thank you for you reply but I have a few more questions.

Is it okay if we live together?

How common is this?

Would something like this potentially cause problems?

Should this be the route I take?

[MinhT1 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can claim one or both your children and file Head of Household. Your girlfriend will file Single and claim the remaining child (if applicable). Usually, it would be globally more beneficial for the higher earner to file as Head of Household and the other to file Single.

There is nothing to prevent you from living together. This situation is quite common for unmarried domestic partners and tax wise, I see no potential problems.