Generally, the Head of Household filing status applies to unmarried individuals (or married individuals considered unmarried) who provide a home for a qualified individual.
A married individual is considered unmarried for HOH purposes if ALL of the following apply:
- The taxpayer lived apart from his or her spouse for the last 6 months of the year.
- The taxpayer does not file a joint return with his or her spouse.
- The taxpayer paid over half of the cost of keeping up the home during the year.
- The taxpayer's home was the main home of the taxpayer's child, stepchild or foster child for more than half of the year.
- The taxpayer claims this child as a dependent, or the child's other parent claims the child as a dependent pursuant to the rules for children of Divorced or Separated Parents Decree.
Head of Household Worksheet
TaxSlayer Pro includes an HOH worksheet that can help you determine HOH eligibility. To make this worksheet available to be used in individual tax returns, from the Quick Menu of TaxSlayer Pro select:
- Configuration
- Advanced Configuration (Macros)
- Use Head of Household Worksheet - Answer YES.
With this option set to YES, when you create a new return and select HOH as the taxpayer's filing status, you will be prompted with a series of eligibility questions to determine if the taxpayer can file using this status.
2018 and prior: Can A Married Taxpayer Claim Their Spouse's Dependent Exemption?
A taxpayer filing HOH can claim an exemption for his or her spouse if:
- They are still married at the end of the year,
- The spouse has no income and is not filing their own return, and
- The spouse cannot be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.
To claim a spouse's exemption, from the Main Menu of the Tax Return (Form 1040) select:
- Personal Information
- Other Categories
- HOH and claiming spouse's exemption
Additional Information:
IRS Form 886-H-HOH - Supporting Documents to Prove Head of Household Filing Status