Can I file as head of household?
My adult daughter and grandchild live with me in my home that I pay al the bills for . She does not pay rent to me .
My daughter works part-time and has custody
Can I file as head of house hold ?
If so , how do that affect my daughter's filing ?
Best Answer
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Hi!
Generally, to file head of household status, you must be able to claim a qualifying child or qualifying relative as a dependent. If you are able to prove you provide more than half the cost of maintaining the home, you may qualify to claim this status.
In this case, your daughter would have to file as a dependent. Additionally, she would not be able to claim her child as a dependent because a dependent can't claim a dependent on their own tax return.
The IRS has a useful survey where you can enter more information regarding your situation to see your recommended filing status. I will link that below.
https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/what-is-my-filing-status
Answers
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My granddaughter, 16, is the qualifying child for me to file Head of Household, but she is not my dependent. This year FreeTaxUSA seems to have omitted that option even though it is still on the IRS 1040 form. They're saying I have to either claim her as a dependent or delete her and change my filing status.
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Hello,
Generally, a qualifying person must be a dependent in order to claim head of household status.
The only times that is not true is when the custodial parent signs Form 8332, which is a release to the noncustodial parent allowing them to claim the child as a dependent. This allows the noncustodial parent the child tax credit while maintaining head of household status for the custodial parent.
Form 8332 doesn't apply to anyone but the parents. Grandparents can claim a grandchild as a dependent and (as long as the child is a dependent) use the grandchild as the qualifying person for claiming head of household status. However, they cannot split claiming head of household with claiming a grandchild as a dependent.
Let us know if there are additional questions or concerns, and thanks for using FreeTaxUSA community.
