Mother and HOH

[Oxtrainer]

If i remember correctly there was a posting a few weeks ago about claiming Mother
that was in a nursing home. Taxpayer was paying the expenses however the
mother was making over 3200 dollars. As I remember if correctly there was some
few opinions about this. The question is can the mother qualify the taxpayer for
HOH? I have quickfinder but won't have The Tax Book until next months so please
don't quote it yet. Also with diverse opions among experts it is possible I could
miss some points on this.

Thanks

[Kram BergGold]

No H of H

The mother has to be a dependent to qualify taxpayer for H of H. The mom has more than $3200 of income so can't be a dependent. So no H of H.

[Unregistered]

May be

The 3200 limit in this case is income that is not exempt from income tax. Therefore, it the mother's income is social security, for example, then HOH is ok as she will be a dependent.

[jainen]

Medicaid

I suppose it's theoretically possible, but I've known a client in a nursing home who wasn't either having Medicaid or insurance pay it, or spending down their own resources so that they can qualify for Medicaid to pay it.