If you are the guardian of your spouse who is mentally incompetent, you can sign the return for your spouse as guardian. You can sign a joint return for your spouse if your spouse can't sign because he or she is serving in a combat zone such as the Persian Gulf area, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, or Afghanistan , even if you don't have a power of attorney or other statement. Attach a signed statement to your return explaining that your spouse is serving in a combat zone. For more information on special tax rules for persons who are serving in a combat zone, or who are in missing status as a result of serving in a combat zone, see Pub.
In order for you to sign a return for your spouse in any of these cases, you must attach to the return a power of attorney POA that authorizes you to sign for your spouse. You can use a POA that states that you have been granted authority to sign the return, or you can use Form Part I of Form must state that you are granted authority to sign the return. Generally, a married couple can't file a joint return if either one is a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year.
However, if one spouse was a nonresident alien or dual-status alien who was married to a U. If you do file a joint return, you and your spouse are both treated as U. You can choose married filing separately as your filing status if you are married. This filing status may benefit you if you want to be responsible only for your own tax or if it results in less tax than filing a joint return. If you and your spouse don't agree to file a joint return, you must use this filing status unless you qualify for head of household status, discussed later.
You may be able to choose head of household filing status if you are considered unmarried because you live apart from your spouse and meet certain tests explained later, under Head of Household. This can apply to you even if you aren't divorced or legally separated. If you qualify to file as head of household, instead of as married filing separately, your tax may be lower, you may be able to claim the earned income credit and certain other benefits, and your standard deduction will be higher.
The head of household filing status allows you to choose the standard deduction even if your spouse chooses to itemize deductions. See Head of Household , later, for more information. You will generally pay more combined tax on separate returns than you would on a joint return for the reasons listed under Special Rules , later. However, unless you are required to file separately, you should figure your tax both ways on a joint return and on separate returns.
This way you can make sure you are using the filing status that results in the lowest combined tax. When figuring the combined tax of a married couple, you may want to consider state taxes as well as federal taxes.
If you file a separate return, you generally report only your own income, credits, and deductions. Select this filing status by checking the "Married filing separately" box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form or SR. If you choose married filing separately as your filing status, the following special rules apply. Because of these special rules, you usually pay more tax on a separate return than if you use another filing status you qualify for. Your exemption amount for figuring the alternative minimum tax is half that allowed on a joint return.
However, if you are legally separated or living apart from your spouse, you may be able to file a separate return and still take the credit.
You can't take the education credits the American opportunity credit and lifetime learning credit , the deduction for student loan interest, or the tuition and fees deduction. You can't exclude any interest income from qualified U. If your spouse itemizes deductions, you can't claim the standard deduction. If you can claim the standard deduction, your basic standard deduction is half the amount allowed on a joint return.
If your AGI on a separate return is lower than it would have been on a joint return, you may be able to deduct a larger amount for certain deductions that are limited by AGI, such as medical expenses. You may not be able to deduct all or part of your contributions to a traditional IRA if you or your spouse were covered by an employee retirement plan at work during the year.
Your deduction is reduced or eliminated if your income is more than a certain amount. This amount is much lower for married individuals who file separately and lived together at any time during the year.
This is called a special allowance. However, married persons filing separate returns who lived together at any time during the year can't claim this special allowance. See Rental Activities in Pub.
If you live in a community property state and file separately, your income may be considered separate income or community income for income tax purposes. You can change your filing status from a separate return to a joint return by filing an amended return using Form X.
You can generally change to a joint return any time within 3 years from the due date of the separate return or returns. This doesn't include any extensions. A separate return includes a return filed by you or your spouse claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status. Once you file a joint return, you can't choose to file separate returns for that year after the due date of the return.
A personal representative for a decedent can change from a joint return elected by the surviving spouse to a separate return for the decedent. The personal representative has 1 year from the due date including extensions of the return to make the change. You are unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. See Marital Status , earlier, and Considered Unmarried , later.
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 doesn't 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 will usually 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. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the "Head of household" box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form or SR.
If the child who qualifies you for this filing status isn't claimed as your dependent in the Dependents section of Form or SR, enter the child's name in the entry space at the bottom of the Filing Status section. To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests. You file a separate return.
A separate return includes a return claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status. Your spouse didn't live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences , later. Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year.
See Home of qualifying person , later, for rules applying to a child's birth, death, or temporary absence during the year. You must be able to claim the child as a dependent. However, you meet this test if you can't claim the child as a dependent only because the noncustodial parent can claim the child using the rules described, later, in Children of divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart under Qualifying Child or in Support Test for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents or Parents Who Live Apart under Qualifying Relative.
The general rules for claiming a child as a dependent are explained, later, under Dependents. If you were considered married for part of the year and lived in a community property state listed, earlier, under Married Filing Separately , special rules may apply in determining your income and expenses. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you don't choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien.
However, your spouse isn't a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as head of household. You are considered married if you choose to treat your spouse as a resident alien. To qualify for head of household status, you must pay more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the year. You can determine whether you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home by using Worksheet 1.
Include in the cost of keeping up a home expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home. Don't include the cost of clothing, education, medical treatment, vacations, life insurance, or transportation. Also don't include the value of your services or those of a member of your household. See Table 4 to see who is a qualifying person. Any person not described in Table 4 isn't a qualifying person.
Your unmarried son lived with you all year and was 18 years old at the end of the year. He didn't provide more than half of his own support and doesn't meet the tests to be a qualifying child of anyone else. As a result, he is your qualifying child see Qualifying Child , later and, because he is single, your qualifying person for head of household purposes.
Because he doesn't meet the age test explained, later, under Qualifying Child , your son isn't your qualifying child. Because he doesn't meet the gross income test explained, later, under Qualifying Relative , he isn't your qualifying relative. As a result, he isn't your qualifying person for head of household purposes. Your girlfriend lived with you all year. Even though she may be your qualifying relative if the gross income and support tests explained later are met, she isn't your qualifying person for head of household purposes because she isn't related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who don't have to live with you.
See Table 4. The facts are the same as in Example 3 except your girlfriend's year-old son also lived with you all year. He isn't your qualifying child and, because he is your girlfriend's qualifying child, he isn't your qualifying relative see Not a Qualifying Child Test , later.
Generally, the qualifying person must live with you for more than half of the year. If your qualifying person is your father or mother, you may be eligible to file as head of household even if your father or mother doesn't live with you. However, you must be able to claim your father or mother as a dependent. Also, you must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for the entire year for your father or mother. If you pay more than half the cost of keeping your parent in a rest home or home for the elderly, that counts as paying more than half the cost of keeping up your parent's main home.
You may be eligible to file as head of household even if the qualifying person who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year. To qualify you for head of household filing status, the qualifying person as defined in Table 4 must be one of the following.
Your qualifying child or qualifying relative who lived with you for more than half the part of the year he or she was alive. Your parent for whom you paid, for the entire part of the year he or she was alive, more than half the cost of keeping up the home he or she lived in.
You are unmarried. Your mother, who you claim as a dependent, lived in an apartment by herself. She died on September 2. Your brother made no other payments toward your mother's support. Your mother had no income. Because you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up your mother's apartment from January 1 until her death, and you can claim her as a dependent, you can file as head of household.
You and your qualifying person are considered to live together even if one or both of you are temporarily absent from your home due to special circumstances such as illness, education, business, vacation, military service, or detention in a juvenile facility.
It must be reasonable to assume the absent person will return to the home after the temporary absence. You must continue to keep up the home during the absence. You may be eligible to file as head of household even if the child who is your qualifying person has been kidnapped. You can claim head of household filing status if all the following statements are true. The child is presumed by law enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who isn't a member of your family or the child's family.
In the year of the kidnapping, the child lived with you for more than half the part of the year before the kidnapping. You would have qualified for head of household filing status if the child hadn't been kidnapped. This treatment applies for all years until the earlier of:. If your spouse died in , you can use married filing jointly as your filing status for if you otherwise qualify to use that status.
The year of death is the last year for which you can file jointly with your deceased spouse. See Married Filing Jointly , earlier. You may be eligible to use qualifying widow er as your filing status for 2 years following the year your spouse died.
For example, if your spouse died in and you haven't remarried, you may be able to use this filing status for and The rules for using this filing status are explained in detail here.
This filing status entitles you to use joint return tax rates and the highest standard deduction amount if you don't itemize deductions.
It doesn't entitle you to file a joint return. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the "Qualifying widow er " box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form or SR. You are eligible to file your return as a qualifying widow er if you meet all the following tests. You were entitled to file a joint return with your spouse for the year your spouse died. It doesn't matter whether you actually filed a joint return.
Your spouse died in or and you didn't remarry before the end of You have a child or stepchild not a foster child whom you can claim as a dependent or could claim as a dependent except that, for This child lived in your home all year, except for temporary absences. See Temporary absences , earlier, under Head of Household. There are also exceptions, described later, for a child who was born or died during the year and for a kidnapped child. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
John's wife died in John hasn't remarried. He has continued during and to keep up a home for himself and his child who lives with him and who he can claim as a dependent. For , he was entitled to file a joint return for himself and his deceased wife. For and , he can file as a qualifying widower. After , he can file as head of household if he qualifies. You may be eligible to file as a qualifying widow er if the child who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year.
You must have provided more than half of the cost of keeping up a home that was the child's main home during the entire part of the year he or she was alive.
You may be eligible to file as a qualifying widow er even if the child who qualifies you for this filing status has been kidnapped. You can claim qualifying widow er filing status if all the following statements are true. You would have qualified for qualifying widow er filing status if the child had not been kidnapped. As mentioned earlier, this filing status is available for only 2 years following the year your spouse died.
All the requirements for claiming a dependent are summarized in Table 5. You can't claim any dependents if you, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.
You can't claim a married person who files a joint return as a dependent unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid. You can't claim a person as a dependent unless that person is a U.
You can't claim a person as a dependent unless that person is your qualifying child or qualifying relative. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
The child must be a under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you or your spouse if filing jointly , b under age 24 at the end of the year, a student, and younger than you or your spouse if filing jointly , or c any age if permanently and totally disabled. The child must not be filing a joint return for the year unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid.
The person either a must be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who don't have to live with you , or b must live with you all year as a member of your household 2 and your relationship must not violate local law. You may be entitled to a child tax credit for each qualifying child who was under age 17 at the end of the year if you claimed that child as a dependent. For more information, see the Instructions for Forms and SR.
You may be entitled to a credit for other dependents for each qualifying child who does not qualify you for the child tax credit and for each qualifying relative. Even if you have a qualifying child or qualifying relative, you can claim that person as a dependent only if these three tests are met. Dependent taxpayer test. Joint return test. Citizen or resident test. If you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, you can't claim anyone else as a dependent.
Even if you have a qualifying child or qualifying relative, you can't claim that person as a dependent. If you are filing a joint return and your spouse can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, you and your spouse can't claim any dependents on your joint return. You can claim a person as a dependent who files a joint return if that person and his or her spouse file the joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.
You supported your year-old daughter, and she lived with you all year while her husband was in the Armed Forces. The couple files a joint return. You can't claim your daughter as a dependent. Example 2—child files joint return only as claim for refund of withheld tax. They lived with you all year. Neither is required to file a tax return. They don't have a child. Taxes were taken out of their pay so they file a joint return only to get a refund of the withheld taxes. The exception to the joint return test applies, so you aren't disqualified from claiming each of them as a dependent just because they file a joint return.
You can claim each of them as dependents if all the other tests to do so are met. Example 3—child files joint return to claim American opportunity credit. The facts are the same as in Example 2 except no taxes were taken out of your son's pay or his wife's pay. Because claiming the American opportunity credit is their reason for filing the return, they aren't filing it only to get a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.
The exception to the joint return test doesn't apply, so you can't claim either of them as a dependent. You generally can't claim a person as a dependent unless that person is a U. However, there is an exception for certain adopted children, as explained next.
This exception also applies if the child was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption and the child lived with you for the rest of the year after placement. Children usually are citizens or residents of the country of their parents. If you were a U. Foreign students brought to this country under a qualified international education exchange program and placed in American homes for a temporary period generally aren't U. You can't claim them as dependents.
However, if you provided a home for a foreign student, you may be able to take a charitable contribution deduction.
Relationship ,. Age ,. Residency ,. Support , and. Joint return. If a child meets the five tests to be the qualifying child of more than one person, there are rules you must use to determine which person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child. Your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant for example, your grandchild of any of them; or.
Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant for example, your niece or nephew of any of them. An adopted child is always treated as your own child.
The term "adopted child" includes a child who was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption. A foster child is an individual who is placed with you by an authorized placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction.
A student under age 24 at the end of the year and younger than you or your spouse if filing jointly , or. Your son turned 19 on December Unless he was permanently and totally disabled or a student, he doesn't meet the age test because, at the end of the year, he wasn't under age To be your qualifying child, a child who isn't permanently and totally disabled must be younger than you. However, if you are married filing jointly, the child must be younger than you or your spouse but doesn't have to be younger than both of you.
Example 1—child not younger than you or your spouse. Your year-old brother, who is a student and unmarried, lives with you and your spouse, who provide more than half of his support. He isn't disabled. Both you and your spouse are 21 years old, and you file a joint return. Your brother isn't your qualifying child because he isn't younger than you or your spouse.
Example 2—child younger than your spouse but not younger than you. The facts are the same as in Example 1 except your spouse is 25 years old. Because your brother is younger than your spouse and you and your spouse are filing a joint return, your brother is your qualifying child, even though he isn't younger than you. To qualify as a student, your child must be, during some part of each of any 5 calendar months of the year:.
A full-time student at a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study, and a regularly enrolled student body at the school; or. A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described in 1 , or by a state, county, or local government agency. A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance.
A school can be an elementary school, junior or senior high school, college, university, or technical, trade, or mechanical school. However, an on-the-job training course, correspondence school, or school offering courses only through the Internet doesn't count as a school.
Students who work on "co-op" jobs in private industry as a part of a school's regular course of classroom and practical training are considered full-time students. Your child is permanently and totally disabled if both of the following apply. He or she can't engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition. A doctor determines the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for at least a year or can lead to death.
To meet this test, your child must have lived with you for more than half the year. There are exceptions for temporary absences, children who were born or died during the year, kidnapped children, and children of divorced or separated parents. Your child is considered to have lived with you during periods of time when one of you, or both, are temporarily absent due to special circumstances, such as:.
A child who was born or died during the year is treated as having lived with you more than half the year if your home was the child's home more than half the time he or she was alive during the year.
The same is true if the child lived with you more than half the year except for any required hospital stay following birth. You may be able to claim as a dependent a child born alive during the year, even if the child lived only for a moment.
State or local law must treat the child as having been born alive. There must be proof of a live birth shown by an official document, such as a birth certificate. The child must be your qualifying child or qualifying relative, and all the other tests to claim the child as a dependent must be met.
You can treat your child as meeting the residency test even if the child has been kidnapped, but the following statements must be true. In the year the kidnapping occurred, the child lived with you for more than half of the part of the year before the date of the kidnapping. Children of divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart.
In most cases, because of the residency test, a child of divorced or separated parents is the qualifying child of the custodial parent.
However, the child will be treated as the qualifying child of the noncustodial parent if all four of the following statements are true. Are divorced or legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance,. Lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year, whether or not they are or were married.
The child received over half of his or her support for the year from the parents. The child is in the custody of one or both parents for more than half of the year. The custodial parent signs a written declaration, discussed later, that he or she won't claim the child as a dependent for the year, and the noncustodial parent attaches this written declaration to his or her return.
If the decree or agreement went into effect after and before , see Post and pre divorce decree or separation agreement , later. If the decree or agreement went into effect after , see Post divorce decree or separation agreement , later. If statements 1 through 4 are all true, only the noncustodial parent can:. Claim the child as a qualifying child for the child tax credit or the credit for other dependents.
The custodial parent or another taxpayer, if eligible, can claim the child for the earned income credit. The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights during the year. The other parent is the noncustodial parent. If the parents divorced or separated during the year and the child lived with both parents before the separation, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights during the rest of the year.
A child is treated as living with a parent for a night if the child sleeps:. In the company of the parent, when the child doesn't sleep at a parent's home for example, the parent and child are on vacation together.
If the child lived with each parent for an equal number of nights during the year, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher adjusted gross income AGI. The night of December 31 is treated as part of the year in which it begins. For example, the night of December 31, , is treated as part of If a child is emancipated under state law, the child is treated as not living with either parent. See Examples 5 and 6. If a child wasn't with either parent on a particular night because, for example, the child was staying at a friend's house , the child is treated as living with the parent with whom the child normally would have lived for that night, except for the absence.
But if it can't be determined with which parent the child normally would have lived or if the child would not have lived with either parent that night, the child is treated as not living with either parent that night. If, due to a parent's nighttime work schedule, a child lives for a greater number of days, but not nights, with the parent who works at night, that parent is treated as the custodial parent. On a school day, the child is treated as living at the primary residence registered with the school.
Example 1—child lived with one parent for a greater number of nights. In , your child lived with you nights and with the other parent nights. You are the custodial parent. In , your daughter lives with each parent for alternate weeks. In the summer, she spends 6 weeks at summer camp.
During the time she is at camp, she is treated as living with you for 3 weeks and with her other parent, your ex-spouse, for 3 weeks because this is how long she would have lived with each parent if she had not attended summer camp. Your son lived with you nights during the year and lived the same number of nights with his other parent, your ex-spouse.
You are treated as your son's custodial parent because you have the higher AGI. Your son normally lives with you during the week and with his other parent, your ex-spouse, every other weekend. You become ill and are hospitalized. The other parent lives in your home with your son for 10 consecutive days while you are in the hospital. Your son is treated as living with you during this day period because he was living in your home.
When your son turned age 18 in May , he became emancipated under the law of the state where he lives. As a result, he isn't considered in the custody of his parents for more than half of the year. The special rule for children of divorced or separated parents doesn't apply. Your daughter lives with you from January 1, , until May 31, , and lives with her other parent, your ex-spouse, from June 1, , through the end of the year.
She turns 18 and is emancipated under state law on August 1, Because she is treated as not living with either parent beginning on August 1, she is treated as living with you the greater number of nights in The custodial parent must use either Form or a similar statement containing the same information required by the form to make the written declaration to release a claim to an exemption for a child to the noncustodial parent.
Although the exemption amount is zero for tax year , this release allows the noncustodial parent to claim the child tax credit, additional child tax credit, and credit for other dependents, if applicable, for the child. The noncustodial parent must attach a copy of the form or statement to his or her tax return.
The release can be for 1 year, for a number of specified years for example, alternate years , or for all future years, as specified in the declaration. Post and pre divorce decree or separation agreement. If the divorce decree or separation agreement went into effect after and before , the noncustodial parent may be able to attach certain pages from the decree or agreement instead of Form The decree or agreement must state all three of the following.
The noncustodial parent can claim the child as a dependent without regard to any condition, such as payment of support. The custodial parent won't claim the child as a dependent for the year.
The years for which the noncustodial parent, rather than the custodial parent, can claim the child as a dependent. The noncustodial parent must attach all of the following pages of the decree or agreement to his or her tax return. The cover page write the other parent's social security number on this page. The pages that include all of the information identified in items 1 through 3 above. The signature page with the other parent's signature and the date of the agreement.
The noncustodial parent can't attach pages from the decree or agreement instead of Form if the decree or agreement went into effect after The custodial parent must sign either Form or a similar statement whose only purpose is to release the custodial parent's claim to an exemption, and the noncustodial parent must attach a copy to his or her return.
The form or statement must release the custodial parent's claim to the child without any conditions. For example, the release must not depend on the noncustodial parent paying support. The noncustodial parent must attach the required information even if it was filed with a return in an earlier year.
The custodial parent can revoke a release of claim to an exemption. For the revocation to be effective for , the custodial parent must have given or made reasonable efforts to give written notice of the revocation to the noncustodial parent in or earlier. The custodial parent can use Part III of Form for this purpose and must attach a copy of the revocation to his or her return for each tax year he or she claims the child as a dependent as a result of the revocation.
If you remarry, the support provided by your new spouse is treated as provided by you. This rule for divorced or separated parents also applies to parents who never married and lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year.
To meet this test, the child can't have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year. This test is different from the support test to be a qualifying relative, which is described later.
If you aren't sure whether a child provided more than half of his or her own support, you may find Worksheet 2 helpful. He provided more than half of his own support for the year. He isn't your qualifying child. Payments you receive for the support of a foster child from a child placement agency are considered support provided by the agency. For more information about taxpayer identification number requirements, see the Instructions for Form and Form SR.
An unmarried dependent student must file a tax return if his or her earned or unearned income exceeds certain limits. Even if you don't have to file a federal income tax return, you should file if you can get money back for example, you had federal income tax withheld from your pay or you qualify for a refundable tax credit.
See "Who Should File" in Publication for more examples. Federal tax law is what determines who may claim a child as a dependent on a federal income tax return. Even if a state court order allocates the ability to claim the child to a noncustodial parent, the noncustodial parent must comply with the federal tax law to claim the dependent.
Refer to Publication , Divorced or Separated Individuals for more information on the special rule for children of divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart.
No, you may not file as head of household because you weren't legally separated from your spouse or considered unmarried at the end of the tax year. To be considered unmarried at the end of a tax year, your spouse may not be a member of your household during the last 6 months of the tax year and you must meet other requirements.
Your filing status for the year will be either married filing separately or married filing jointly. See What is My Filing Status? Back to Frequently Asked Questions. Answer: To claim your child as your dependent, your child must meet either the qualifying child test or the qualifying relative test: To meet the qualifying child test , your child must be younger than you and either younger than 19 years old or be a "student" younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.
There's no age limit if your child is "permanently and totally disabled" or meets the qualifying relative test. In addition to meeting the qualifying child or qualifying relative test, you can claim that person as a dependent only if these three tests are met: Dependent taxpayer test Citizen or resident test, and Joint return test. Subcategory: Dependents. Category: Filing Requirements, Status, Dependents.
If the parents of a year-old child never married but live together with the child for the tax year, and both contribute to the cost of maintaining the household for the child and themselves, may they both file as head of household? Answer: No, only one parent may claim the child as a qualifying child to file as head of household. To file as head of household you must furnish over one-half of the cost of maintaining the household for you and a qualifying person.
Therefore, only one of the parents will have contributed more than one-half of the cost of maintaining the household and be eligible to file as head of household. If both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, there is a tiebreaker rule to determine which parent may claim the child.
Subcategory: Filing Status. May each parent claim the child as a dependent for a different part of the tax year? Answer: No, an individual may be a dependent of only one taxpayer for a tax year.
There are two types of exemptions: personal exemptions and exemptions for dependents. Your spouse is never considered your dependent. On a joint return, you may claim one exemption for yourself and one for your spouse. Exemptions for dependents. You generally can take an exemption for each of your dependents.
A dependent is your qualifying child or qualifying relative. You must list the social security number of any dependent for whom you claim an exemption. If someone else claims you as a dependent, you may still be required to file your own tax return.
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