How to qualify for Head of Household, and what is a dependent?

Question

Can I claim my dad as a dependent even though he did not live with me? Also my fiance lived with me this last year and he did not have income because he was in college can I claim him?

Answer 1

In order to be a Head of Household, you have to be single AND have dependents. You can claim your dad as your dependent even if he did not live with you, provided that you had provided at least 50% of his support (he is a blood relative). You can claim your fiance as your dependent ONLY if he lived with you for the full year (January 1 to December 31) AND you provided at least 50% of his support.

Uh.....Dizneyfreak....yes, the relationship test was not met. But if you read further down in the IRS publication (Publication 501) on who qualifies as a dependent, the fiance would qualify as a dependent as a qualifying relative under the member of household test.

The below is cut and pasted from IRS Publication 501:

Qualifying Relative

There are four tests that must be met for a person to be your qualifying relative. The four tests are:

Not a qualifying child test,
Member of household or relationship test,
Gross income test, and
Support test.
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Not a Qualifying Child Test
A child is not your qualifying relative if the child is your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer.

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Member of Household or Relationship Test
To meet this test, a person must either:

Live with you all year as a member of your household, or

Be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who do not have to live with you.

If at any time during the year the person was your spouse, that person cannot be your qualifying relative.
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Gross Income Test
To meet this test, a person's gross income for the year must be less than $3,300.

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Support Test (To Be a Qualifying Relative)
To meet this test, you generally must provide more than half of a person's total support during the calendar year.

However, if two or more persons provide support, but no one person provides more than half of a person's total support, see Multiple Support Agreement, later.

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So, for the original question above with regards to the fiance.....

1. The fiance is not a qualifying child,
2. The fiance meets the member of household test if he lives with her for the entire year,
3. The fiance meets the gross income test, since he did not work at all during the year, and
4. The fiance meets the support test if she provided at least 50% of the support.

So, as far as the IRS is concerned, the fiance is her dependent as a qualifying relative as long as he meets all 4 tests above.

Answer 2

You can claim head of household and claim your dad as a dependent, if you provided more than 50% support for him, even though he did not live with you.

You cannot claim your fiance as a dependent. You can never claim someone as your dependent who is not a relative.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure that you can claim your fiance but I'm not sure how, you'd have to go to a tax preparer with a course list showing that he was a full time student and if there is a receipt of his courses and books that would be really good so that you can write those expenses off. I don't think that you can claim your dad as a dependant unless you have documentation that you are paying his living expenses and he has no income.


I have one dependant and I qualified as head of household and I was able to get the earned income credit... it's definately worth at least seeing if you can legally claim somebody because you get like an extra $2795 back. good luck

Answer 4

Yes you can claim your fiance as a dependant if he lived/lives with you and you provide more than 50% of his support. I do know this as a Fact cause I have claimed my fiance for the last 2 years as a dependant and I have claimed HOH too.
I am pretty sure that you can claim your father also but I don't know if he has to live with you. You might want to ask a tax preparer about that.
But as far as your fiance I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOU CAN CLAIM HIM!!! Like I said I have done it for the last 2 years with no problem and I have a tax preparer do mine. If I wasn't able to claim him and HOH she would have told me right away.

Answer 5

You cannot claim your dad if he didn't live with you unless you paid for more than half his "housing" costs. And I believe you cannot claim your fiance, because you are not related. You don't have to be single to claim head of household, just considerred single and you have to have a "dependant" for HoH status. For your information: if you are married and have been seperated as of Dec. 31; You paid more than half the costs of keeping up your home for the year; Your home was the main home for you and a qualifying person who lived with you for more than half the year; The qualifying person met the requirements to be a qualifying child or qualifying relative.

Answer 6

I filed Head of Household when I divorced, I kept my kids which are dependants. The only way I could claim them after age 18 was if they were still in school. No you cannot claim your dad or your boyfriend unless they are disabled and 65. If you have a child you are entitled to child care tax break and earned income credit.

Answer 7

You can not claim your father at all. You can only claim children under the age of 19, or 23 if full time college students, the tax booklet gives examples of who qualifies as a dependent, child, step-child, foster child, grandchild, etc. When you list a dependent they ask for their name, social security number, and their relationship to you.

Answer 8

purely dealing with the final public of the expenditures, would not qualify him as Head of significant different and youngsters. He has to have a based newborn or determine residing interior the residing house from extra desirable than 6 months of the 365 days, that he's on the subject count of by way of blood or adoption and he has paid extra desirable than 0.5 the cost of keeping up the residing house for the 365 days. If he qualifies for HOH and archives that way, it could have not something to do with you submitting single.

Answer 9

1st off, don't listen to "hsean114" or "Mel" or "dtwladyhawk" or "Melissa D" about claiming a fiance. YOU CAN"T CLAIM THEM because you are not married. The relationship test has not been met.

Check the IRS website for the details regarding dependents.

As for your dad, did you provide more than 50% of his support? If yes, probably - however, check with a tax pro that is not H&R Block.

Answer 10

Yep you can and from what you saying you are the Head of house hold....You are not married and you are paying for all.