What is "Head of Household"?

Question

I am married, my wife stays home (and has all of 2006) with our only child....I think that is the prime example of H.O.H....but I am not sure. How will I benefit and how should I be filling out my W-4?Is there any way that I can find out now approx what kind of refund/pay-in I will be facing once I file my 06 taxes?

Answer 1

Head of Household is basically what the IRS calls a "Single Parent". It provides some tax advantage to a single person who has children versus a single person who doesn't. It sort of bridges the gap between Married Filing Jointly and Single.

If you are married and living together, you can't claim Head of Household. You must file Married. If you are separated and you have not lived with your spouse for the 2nd half of the year AND you live with your child for over 1/2 the year in a home in which you pay at least 1/2 of the costs, then you can claim Head of Household. If you are not married, you can claim HoH if you live with a relative for at least 6 months whom you claim as a dependent and pay over 1/2 of the living costs OR if you pay over 1/2 the costs for the home where your parent lives for the entire year and you claim the parent as a dependent.

Confusing? Yeppers. I probably forgot something here or there, but basically, you can NOT and should NOT claim HoH. Filing as Married Filing Jointly will give you more benefits than filing HoH. Let me repeat, HoH is WORSE than Married Filing Jointly. So please, ignore HoH.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

Head of Household is a filing status that provides lower progressive rates for individuals who meet the following qualifications:

You must have either a "qualifying child" or "qualifying relative" who are your dependent.

You must provide more than half the cost for maintaining you home.

Your dependent must have lived more than half the year in your household.

There are 4 requirements for a qualifying child:
Relationship — the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or stepsibling, or a descendant of one of these.
Residence — more than half the year again.
Age — must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year, or be permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year.
Support — you provide more than half

Qualifying relative requirements:
Gross Income – The dependent earns less than $3,200 in income during the year,
Total Support – You provide more than half of the dependent's total support during the year,
Relationship – You are related to the dependent (theres a long list for this of course, but it pretty much includes anyone you can think of step bro, sis, mother, aunts, uncle, etc)
Joint Return – If the dependent is married, the dependent cannot file a joint return with his or her spouse.

One nice thing the IRS does is that for your parents, you DO NOT have to live with them in order to qualify for HOH rates. That's right, the IRS knows you may not want to live with your parents, but still meet all the requirements (half of their support etc)

Finally, your best rates are under married filing jointly, however, if you are single or married and filing separately, you would definitely try to qualify for HOH filing.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

head of household cant be claimed by married couples unless the were legally separated for at least 6 months of that year.

Answer 5

Well the person who makes more money is the head of the house hold. I think! Any way I would Rather be the neck! Cause the neck can turn the head any way it wants! LOL!!!!

Answer 6

this side of the universe: HoH means the one who brings in the bread and gravy and has a say in everything that takes place at home as well.

Answer 7

just go to irs page and you will find all you need from ho much you can expect to how to fill, also you can buy tax software and find out even more accurate numbers(turbo tax...)

Answer 8

The man is if he makes the most money.

Answer 9

house owner