Head of household

This article is about the tax term. For other uses, see Big Brother (US) § Head of Household (HoH).

Head of Household is a filing status for individual United States taxpayers.

In order to use the Head of Household filing status, the taxpayer must:

1. Be unmarried or considered unmarried as of the last day of the tax year;
2. Have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the tax year (either his or her own home, or the home of a qualifying parent); and
3. In most cases, have a qualifying person who lived with you in the home for more than half of the tax year. However, if the qualifying person is your dependent parent, he or she does not have to live with you. (See Special rule for parents.)

Advantages to using the Head of Household filing status

A taxpayer using the Head of Household filing status is entitled to used the Head of Household tax rates, which feature wider tax brackets. Additionally, the taxpayer is entitled to a larger standard deduction ($8,500 in 2011) than taxpayers using Single or Married Filing Separately ($5,800 in 2011).

Considered unmarried

A person who is married on the last day of the tax year generally must use either the Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately filing status. The exception to this rule is when a taxpayer is considered unmarried for Head of Household filing purposes and actually qualifies as Head of Household.

In order to be considered unmarried, a taxpayer must meet all of the following tests:

1. The taxpayer must file a separate return.
2. The taxpayer paid more than half the cost of keeping up his or her home for the tax year.
3. The taxpayer's spouse must not have lived in the home at any time during the last six months of the year.
4. The taxpayer's home was the main home of his or her child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year.
5. The taxpayer must be able to claim an exemption for the child. However, this test is still met if the only reason the taxpayer cannot claim the child's exemption is that the noncustodial parent is claiming the exemption (under a written release of exemption or a pre-1985 decree of divorce, decree separate maintenance, or written separation agreement.)

A taxpayer is also be considered unmarried for head of household purposes if his or her spouse is a nonresident alien, and the taxpayer does not elect to treat the spouse as a resident alien. In this case, the taxpayer is still considered married for purposes of the earned income credit.

Keeping up a home

In order to qualify for Head of Household filing status, the taxpayer must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year. Costs to consider include property taxes, mortgage interest, rent, utilities, repairs and maintenance, insurance, and food eaten in the home. Costs such as education, clothing, vacation, and transportation are not included in the cost of keeping up the home.

Qualifying person

The following table . determines who is a qualifying person for Head of Household filing status:

If the person is your...	AND...	THEN that person is...
Qualifying child	he or she is single	a qualifying person, whether or not you can claim an exemption for the person.
	he or she is married and you can claim an exemption for him or her	a qualifying person.
	he or she is married and you cannot claim an exemption for him or her	not a qualifying person.
Qualifying relative who is your father or mother	you can claim an exemption for him or her	a qualifying person.
	you cannot claim an exemption for him or her	not a qualifying person.
Qualifying relative other than your father or mother	he or she lived with you more than half the year, and he or she is related to you in one of the ways listed below, and you can claim an exemption for him or her	a qualifying person
	he or she did not live with you more than half the year	not a qualifying person.
	he or she is not related to you in one of the ways listed below and is your qualifying relative only because he or she lived with you all year as a member of your household	not a qualifying person.
	you cannot claim an exemption for him or her	not a qualifying person.

Qualifying relatives

Other than a father or mother, the following types of relationships may qualify a dependent to be a qualifying person for head of household purposes:

• Child, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant of any of them. (A legally adopted child is considered your child.)
• Brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister.
• Grandparent or direct ancestor, but not foster parent.
• Stepfather or stepmother.
• Son or daughter of the taxpayer's brother or sister.
• Brother or sister of the taxpayer's father or mother.
• Son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law.

Any of these relationships that were established by marriage are not ended by death or divorce.

Special rule for parents

If the qualifying person is the taxpayer's father or mother, the taxpayer may file as Head of Household even if the father or mother does not live with the taxpayer. However, the taxpayer must be able to claim the exemption for the father or mother. Also, the taxpayer must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for the entire year for the father or mother. The taxpayer is considered to be keeping up the main home for the father or mother if he or she pays more than half the cost of keeping the parent in a rest home for the elderly.