head of household

[SHUBEE89]

clients son lived with her all year -he earned 23,000 and is 23 years old not a full time student
can she claim head of house hold or has to claim single

[New York Enrolled Agent]

clients son lived with her all year -he earned 23,000 and is 23 years old not a full time student
can she claim head of house hold or has to claim single

Short answer (assuming no hidden significant facts) No and Yes

§2 requires either a qualifying child or a dependent - you don't appear to have either

[BOB W]

I'm always confused: When can a t/p claim HOH without a dependent but type in a name and Social Security Number in the special area on a tax return?

[Lion]

If she's the custodial parent but the dependent is being claimed on the other parent/ex-spouse's return this year, is one example I've had.

[BOB W]

Any other reason(s)? The words "Dependent or Qualifying person" is part of the research. My confusion come from Qualifying person (not a dependent). Any other then what Lion stated?

[Lion]

My example would be a qualifying person. Table 4 gives Qualifying Person and Not Qualifying person: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p50...link1000220823

[Gene V]

Any other reason(s)? The words "Dependent or Qualifying person" is part of the research. My confusion come from Qualifying person (not a dependent). Any other then what Lion stated?

Bob,
The way I read it, for HH, you would have to have Qualifying child or Qualifying relative in order to claim HH, a Qualifying person could be use to claim someone as your dependent, however, you could not use them for HH.
TTB page 3-7 and 3-8 explains why the OP could not claim HH

[BOB W]

Thanks... I reread TTB and let it sink in, I hope.

[dtlee]

The point is there is no splitting of a Qualifying Child Ever! Except when there are divorced spouses and one is allowed the dependency exemption and the other can still use the qualifying child as a Head of Household qualifier.

[BOB W]

So that is it...Only has to do with parents that have split up and custodial parent gets to file HOH all the time whether claiming a child or not.

I'm sorry if I keep trying to simplify the code. Complexity is not my strong suit.

[Lion]

We're in the business of complexity!

[Rapid Robert]

The point is there is no splitting of a Qualifying Child Ever! Except when there are divorced spouses and one is allowed the dependency exemption and the other can still use the qualifying child as a Head of Household qualifier.

As a minor clarification, the IRS was forced to accept that never-married parents (not just divorced/separated) also can use the "splitting benefits" scenario. What changed beginning TY2005 with Uniform Definition of a Child is that others, such as grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc cannot split the tax benefits for a child, as they used to be able to do under the old rules.

[dtlee]

I you have a cite for this, I would really like it.

[New York Enrolled Agent]

I you have a cite for this, I would really like it.

Take a look at King 121 TC 245

[dtlee]

Thank you.