Head of Household Boyfriend & Girlfriend

[rfk]

I have a returning client this year (girlfriend) with most probable head of household. She and boyfriend live together in the same house. Both have own children and so want to potentially claim head of household. The real question is can they both claim head of household if they live in the same house, abiding by the rules of head of household tax law?

I am preparing both tax returns, so a little bit of consultation here is helpful to keep myself out of trouble as well as them regarding this situation. The girlfriend brought the boyfriend's paperwork to me for referral business.

Thank you for your help.

rfk

[Gretel]

Theoretically they could both claim of HOH, but not as boyfriend/girlfriend since this implies that they do not have separate households within the same house. If they split everything exactly 50/50 then none of them pays more than 50% for keeping of the house and none of them will be able to file HOH.

[MAW TAX]

Yes they can....IF

They have good records to prove they are not playing house.

If they're playing house.........forget it.

They'd have to have meticulous records showing they keep everything separate and live like roommates (the old fashioned kind) for me to do both tax returns as Head of Household.

Good Luck!
Good try, huh?
MAW

[solomon]

For the parameters, see SCA 1998-041.

[taxea]

No they can't. A 1998 resource is not the most current rule on HH. Look at the TTB for this year.taxea

[newbie]

No they can't. A 1998 resource is not the most current rule on HH. Look at the TTB for this year.taxea

can't seem to find the info to tell me I can't, what page are you looking at?

[solomon]

can't seem to find the info to tell me I can't, what page are you looking at?

Obviously the previous poster is not familiar with the Reg. governing substantial authority - TTB is not listed.

[kaimana]

Newbie...I think it is 13-5 TTB look at the examples. kaimana