Head of Household Filing Status

How to qualify to use the Head of household filing status?

To qualify to use the head of household tax filing status or H/H you must be:

• unmarried or
• considered unmarried as of the last day of the tax year

AND:

• have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the tax year and in most cases
• a qualifying person generally must have lived with you in the home for more than half the tax year

Definition of cost of keeping up a home for Head of household tax filing status qualification

The cost of keeping up a home includes the amount you paid for: rent mortgage interest real estate taxes home insurance repairs utilities food eaten in the home

Should I include payments from public assistance programs?

In determining the cost of keeping up a home:

• do not include payments from public assistance programs in the amount you paid
• do include payments from public assistance program in the total cost of keeping up a home to see if you paid over half the cost

How to calculate the cost of keeping up a home?

To find out if a taxpayer has paid over half of the cost of keeping up a home, use the Cost of Keeping Up a Home Worksheet. The Cost of Keeping Up a Home Worksheet can be found in the IRS Publication 17 page 26.