Head of Household?

[NotEasy]

Taxpayer co-owns a house with her boyfriend. Both of them live at the house. She paid about 1/3 of the expenses (mortgage interest, property tax, etc). She lived with her son. The boyfriend is not the father of her son. So they are not related at all.

Obviously, her boyfriend pays more than 1/2 of the expenses for the house. But can the woman and her son be considered as one separate household and since she pays for 100% of the expenses for her own household with her son, she can file as a HOH?

Thank you for your opinion.

[Larmil]

Taxpayer co-owns a house with her boyfriend. Both of them live at the house. She paid about 1/3 of the expenses (mortgage interest, property tax, etc). She lived with her son. The boyfriend is not the father of her son. So they are not related at all.

Obviously, her boyfriend pays more than 1/2 of the expenses for the house. But can the woman and her son be considered as one separate household and since she pays for 100% of the expenses for her own household with her son, she can file as a HOH?

Thank you for your opinion.

It is possible to have two households in the same house, but it does not seem the case here. It seems the three of them are one household.

[taxcraft]

H of H must pay over 1/2 of cost.

Head of Household

You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.

1.

You are unmarried or “considered unmarried” on the last day of the year.
2.

You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
3.

A “qualifying person” lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the “qualifying person” is your dependent parent, he or she does not have to live with you. See Special rule for parent , later, under Qualifying Person.

If you qualify to file as head of household, your tax rate usually will be lower than the rates for single or married filing separately. You will also receive a higher standard deduction than if you file as single or married filing separately.
How to file. If you file as head of household, you can use either Form 1040A or Form 1040. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the box on line 4 of either form. Use the Head of a household column of the Tax Table or Section D of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax.

Considered Unmarried

To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests.

1.

You file a separate return (defined earlier under Joint Return After Separate Returns ).
2.

You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.
3.

Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences , later.
4.

Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year. (See Home of qualifying person , later, for rules applying to a child's birth, death, or temporary absence during the year.)
5.

You must be able to claim an exemption for the child. However, you meet this test if you cannot claim the exemption only because the noncustodial parent can claim the child using the rules described later in Children of divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart under Qualifying Child or in Support Test for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents or Parents Who Live Apart under Qualifying Relative. The general rules for claiming an exemption for a dependent are explained later under Exemptions for Dependents .

If you were considered married for part of the year and lived in a community property state (listed earlier under Married Filing Separately), special rules may apply in determining your income and expenses. See Publication 555 for more information.
Nonresident alien spouse. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household.

Earned income credit. Even if you are considered unmarried for head of household purposes because you are married to a nonresident alien, you are still considered married for purposes of the earned income credit (unless you meet the five tests listed earlier under Considered Unmarried ). You are not entitled to the credit unless you file a joint return with your spouse and meet other qualifications.

See Publication 596 for more information.

Choice to treat spouse as resident. You are considered married if you choose to treat your spouse as a resident alien. See chapter 1 of Publication 519.

Keeping Up a Home

To qualify for head of household status, you must pay more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the year. You can determine whether you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home by using the following worksheet.

Cost of Keeping Up a Home

Amount
You
Paid Total
Cost
Property taxes $ $
Mortgage interest expense
Rent
Utility charges
Repairs/maintenance
Property insurance
Food consumed
on the premises
Other household expenses
Totals $ $

Minus total amount you paid ( )

Amount others paid $

If the total amount you paid is more than the amount others paid, you meet the requirement of paying more than half the cost of keeping up the home.

Costs you include. Include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home.

If you used payments you received under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or other public assistance programs to pay part of the cost of keeping up your home, you cannot count them as money you paid. However, you must include them in the total cost of keeping up your home to figure if you paid over half the cost.

Costs you do not include. Do not include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as clothing, education, medical treatment, vacations, life insurance, or transportation. Also, do not include the rental value of a home you own or the value of your services or those of a member of your household.

Also do not include any government or charitable assistance you received because of your temporary relocation due to the storms, tornadoes, or flooding in a Midwestern disaster area.

Qualifying Person

See Table 4, later, to see who is a qualifying person.

Any person not described in Table 4 is not a qualifying person.

[RLymanC]

Hoh

a long story short,,,,both file single