Head of household or married filing jointly

For IRS purposes, a head of household is generally an unmarried taxpayer who has dependents and paid for more than half the costs of the home. This tax filing status commonly includes single parents and divorced or legally separated parents (by the last day of the year) with custody. It can also be an adult who is supporting a parent or other relative under certain circumstances. It can be difficult to know if it makes sense for you to file your taxes this way. For more help with your tax planning, consider consulting with a financial advisor.

Who Can File as a Head of Household?

There are three specific guidelines the IRS expects you to meet to qualify as a head of household (HOH). First, you have to be single or considered unmarried by the last day of the tax year. The IRS considers you unmarried if you meet the following criteria:

• You’re divorced or legally separated.
• Your spouse didn’t live with you during the last six months of the year.
• You and your spouse file separate tax returns.

If the circumstances of your separation are temporary, the IRS will consider you married for tax purposes. Qualifying temporary separations include military deployment, staying in a medical treatment facility or going to college.

Second, you need to have paid more than half the costs of keeping up a home for the year. That includes your rent or mortgage payment, property taxes, utilities, repairs, maintenance and groceries. You can’t include things like clothing, life insurance or transportation. Receiving child support or alimony doesn’t prevent you from claiming head of household as long as you’re paying more than 50% of your household costs from your own income or savings.

Finally, you need to have a qualifying dependent living in the home with you for more than half the year. For many people who file as head of household, their qualifying dependent is a child. A qualifying child can be your biological child, stepchild, foster child, sibling, step-sibling, half sibling or a descendant of one of the aforementioned relatives.

The child also needs to be under the age of 19 (or under the age of 24 if a full-time student). You can also claim these relatives as your qualifying dependent if the person is permanently and totally disabled, regardless of age. If the dependent, though, is a sibling, he or she must be younger than you and their gross income must be less than $4,300.

Other non-child qualifying dependents include a parent, step-parent, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle and daughter-, son-, mother- or father-in-law. Note that you can claim a parent as your dependent even if the parent doesn’t live with you, as long as you pay for half the costs of their home, including if they live in a nursing home. The same is true for a child who is away at college. Again, they cannot have gross incomes in excess of $4,300.

Head of Household Status Advantages

Claiming “head of household” as your filing status (versus filing as single or married filing separately) benefits you in two ways. First, you’ll get a lower tax rate. For tax year 2021, for example, the 12% tax rate applies to single filers with an adjusted gross income that’s between $9,950 and $40,525. If you file head of household, however, you can earn between $14,201 and $54,200 before surpassing the 12% tax bracket.

Head-of-household filers also benefit from a higher standard deduction. For the 2021 tax year, the deduction for single filers is $12,550, but it climbs almost 50% more to $18,800 for those filing head of household. Deductions reduce your taxable income for the year, which can bring your tax bill down or bump up the size of your refund.

Speaking of the 2021 tax year, the current tax deadline is April 15 in 2022. For reference, your 2020 tax return had to be filed by May 17 in 2021 (which was extended because of the coronavirus pandemic).

Can I File as Head of Household If I Live With My Significant Other?

If you both are unmarried and have children from previous relationships, each of you can file as heads of household as long as you’re adhering to the IRS guidelines (including each of you is paying for more than half of your home costs – e.g., you’re evenly splitting the rent and utilities and each of you pays for your own food).

If you have a child together, only one of you can claim HOH status with that child in mind (the IRS says that a child can be only one person’s dependent.)

In the case where only one of you has a child from a previous relationship, the biological parent can claim HOH status – and the other can claim single status. But if the biological parent doesn’t work outside the home, the earning partner could claim HOH status. In order to claim both the child and non-earning partner as qualifying dependents, the following would have to be true:

• You provided more than half of their total support for the year.
• They lived with you legally as members of your household for the entire year.
• Neither had a gross income that exceeds $4,300.
• Neither is someone’s qualifying child.

Can I File as Head of Household If There Are No Children?

If there are no children, you can still claim a live-in boyfriend or girlfriend as a qualifying dependent, as long as you meet the following is true:

• The significant other lived with you legally the whole year.
• You provided more than half his or her total support for the year.
• His or her income does not exceed $4,300.
• He or she is not someone’s qualifying child.

Can I File as Head of Household If I’m Married?

You can file as head-of-household even if you’re married but if you have a spouse, it’s likely more beneficial tax-wise to file jointly. However, if you are filing separately, you can claim head-of-household status if you meet these three criteria:

• Your spouse did not live with you for the last six months of the year.
• You provided the main home of the qualifying child and paid for more than half the home costs.
• You are claiming your child as a dependent.

It’s important to analyze the best outcome for your personal situation and that of your spouse if you are married before deciding on your filing status.

The Bottom Line

Filing as head of household will put you in a lower tax bracket than if you filed as single. It also enables you to claim a higher standard tax deduction on your tax return. This is because you are supporting one or more people besides yourself. In turn, the government is lowering your tax burden the same way it does for married couples with children. This can make the head-of-household choice a very beneficial tax status for the right situation.