Tax Credits
Head of
Household
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Head of Household
Definition
A tax filing status that can be used by
a married or unmarried person who
maintains a household for a dependent or
nondependent relative, and provides more
than half of the dependent's financial
support.
Heads of household are
usually entitled to preferential tax
treatment. A head of household must be
unmarried unless his/her spouse files an
individual tax return and has not lived
with the head of household for more than
six of the last 12 month's.
An unmarried individual
who is able to file income taxes using
the Head of Household filing status will
typically receive a larger income tax
return than an individual filing as
single. You must be substantially
providing support for another person for
more than half of the year.
Usually the
person you are providing for is a child
who lives in your home, but others may
qualify as well. It may be your child,
grandchild, or other relative who lives
in that home for more than half the
year, or a parent whether or not he or
she lives in your home.
Anyone claiming children that are not
legally their dependents, may be subject
to fines and penalties. If
more than one person claims the same
dependent, the IRS has a set of criteria
to determine which person will be
allowed to claim the dependent, and the
Head of Household filing status because
of that dependent. The other
individual's claim will be disallowed,
and that individual will pay the higher
tax rate of the single filer.
Head of household is an
IRS filing status that you can use if
you are unmarried or considered
unmarried on the last day of a tax year
..
The advantage of filing as head of
household is that you can take a higher
standard deduction than if you filed as
a single taxpayer and you owe less
federal income tax than you would as a
single, assuming all other details were
the same.
Filing as head of household also means
you qualify for certain deductions and
credits that would not be available to
you if you used the married filing
separate returns status.
Head of Household
The filing status used by an unmarried
taxpayer who pays over half the cost of
maintaining their home that is the
principal residence for over half the
tax year.
Taxpayers may receive $300 for each
qualifying child. Payments could be
less, depending on tax liability and
Adjusted Gross Income.
In most cases, payments will range from
$300 to $600 for individuals and $600 to
$1200 for joint filers.
Phase out reduction begins at $75,000 for
single filers and $150,000 for joint
filers.
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