Can I file head of household?

Question

I have been living with my girlfriend and her 6 year old daughter for over 2 years now, and someone told me I should be filing head of household on my taxes. Her daughters father pays very little in child support, and I make 85% of the household income, my girlfriend just works part time. We are currently renting but closing on a house the end of December. What would be the best way to file to get the biggest refund back?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, the new laws established in 2005 prevent you from using the Head of Household filing status for dependents that are NOT related to you by blood or marriage. This decision by Congress was a major blow to good people like you...people who, out of the goodness of their own heart, take in a single woman along with her brood.

In fact, I have more bad news. If your girlfriend earns more than $3,300 in 2006, she can NOT be your dependent. If she isn't anyone's dependent, then her children (assuming they live with her for at least 6 months) also can NOT be your dependents. That is true regardless if the children live with you all year AND you pay 100% of their expenses. If they aren't your dependents, you can't even write off their medical expenses.

Now, if your girlfriend can be your dependent (if she earned less than $3,300, lived with you ALL year, and you paid over 1/2 of her exenses), her children become fair game and you can claim them as your dependents if they, too, lived with you ALL year and you paid over 1/2 of their support. You still can't use Head of Household, but you will get their exemptions ($3,300) per child subtracted from your income. Because they are not your children, you will NOT get Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Credit, or Child Care Credit (daycare).

Technically, there are two terms for dependents (as of 2005), Qualifying Relatives (QR) and Qualifying Children (QC). If your girlfriend is not anyone's dependent, then her children are her QC. Any time someone is someone elses QC, they can NOT be anyone elses QR. If your girlfriend can be your QR, she can not have any dependents of her own which allows you to claim her kids (assuming they lived with you ALL year and you paid over 1/2 of their costs) as your QR. They can not by your QC because you aren't their biological father and because you are not married to their biological mother.

If you really love your girlfriend and want to support her and her children for the rest of your life, you may want to consider marrying her. If you were to marry her by December 31st, you would be able to file as Married Filing Jointly, you would be able to claim her children as QC which would allow you to get all of the benefits (Credits, medical expenses, etc.) .

I've attached an official IRS publication explaining all of this. It is a rather lenghy document. I tried to boil down all the pertent information above, but you can see it in all its gory detail at the link.

Please don't blame the messenger. Blame congress.

Answer 2

there is not any style to "split" the new child if you're living jointly. (the style 8832 purely applies if the dad and mom aren't to any extent further living jointly.) at the same time as the new child is a qualifying new child for both dad and mom, the new child can purely be claimed with the aid of one among them. That parent can declare the exemption, any new child care expenditures they paid, the new child tax credit, EIC, and head of relatives contributors (in the experience that they could tutor they paid more desirable than 50% of the expenditures). If the dad and mom won't be able to come to a decision who will declare the new child, the tiebreaker the IRS will use is the parent with the better AGI. The parent who would not declare the new child can not declare any of those advantages. they could ought to record as unmarried and declare purely their own exemption. even if that in the experience that they have got very low income, they don't seem eligible for EIC (because they have a qualifying new child that somebody else is claiming).

Answer 3

Head of Household
You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.

You are unmarried or “considered unmarried” on the last day of the year.

You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.

A “qualifying person” lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the “qualifying person” is your dependent parent, he or she does not have to live with you. See Special rule for parent, later, under Qualifying Person.




If you qualify to file as head of household, your tax rate usually will be lower than the rates for single or married filing separately. You will also receive a higher standard deduction than if you file as single or married filing separately.

How to file. If you file as head of household, you can use either Form 1040A or Form 1040. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the box on line 4 of either form. Use the Head of a household column of the Tax Table or Section D of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax.

Answer 4

you should be able to file as head of household, and claim the earned income credit for having a small child,, go to the irs site online, or call their toll free number,, and get information,,,,, it mostly has to do with if you provide over half of the support for someone,,,,,,,,,,, so you should be able to file with yourself and 2 dependents,,,,,i know it has boxes, for the earned income credit, for unrelated children,,,,,
ps: not to get into your business lol but i do have to ask, if you have been together two years, and buying a house,,, have you not considered getting married?

Answer 5

you should file as head of house hold, you can call and talk to a tax expert like H&R Block they can help you a lot better about the child and also depends how much you and your girlfriend make. good luck