Head of Household

Head of Household is a filing status for individual United States taxpayers.

To use the Head of Household filing status, a taxpayer must:

A taxpayer using the Head of Household filing status is entitled to use the Head of Household tax rates, which feature wider tax brackets. Also, the taxpayer is entitled to a larger standard deduction ($9,300 for tax year 2016) than taxpayers using Single or Married Filing Separately ($6,300 for 2016).

A person who is married on the last day of the tax year generally must use either the Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately filing status. The exception is a taxpayer who is considered unmarried for Head of Household filing purposes and actually qualifies as Head of Household.

To be considered unmarried, a taxpayer must meet all the following tests:

A taxpayer may also be considered unmarried for head of household purposes if the spouse is a nonresident alien, and the taxpayer does not elect to treat the spouse as a resident alien. In that case, the taxpayer is still considered married for purposes of the earned income credit.

To qualify for Head of Household filing status, the taxpayer must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year. Costs to consider include property taxes, mortgage interest, rent, utilities, repairs and maintenance, insurance, and food eaten in the home. Costs such as education, clothing, vacation, and transportation are not included in the cost of keeping up the home.

The following table determines who is a qualifying person for Head of Household filing status:

(1) Qualifying Child MUST meet all the tests. For Example a 25-year-old full-time student does not qualify as a child but may qualify as a Qualifying Relative if the tests are met. See Table 5 Pub 501 (2012). In this case you could not file as HOH. If the tests are met you could file as single or married filing separately and claim an exemption for the non qualified child.

Other than a father or mother, the following types of relationships may qualify a dependent as a qualifying person for head of household purposes:

Any of these relationships that was established by marriage is not ended by death or divorce.

If the qualifying person is the taxpayer's father or mother, the taxpayer may file as Head of Household even if the father or mother does not live with the taxpayer. However, the taxpayer must be able to claim the exemption for the father or mother. Also, the taxpayer must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for the entire year for the father or mother. The taxpayer is considered keeping up the father or mother's main home by paying more than half the cost of keeping the parent in a rest home for the elderly.

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