There is new due diligence required for tax professional to file head of house hold.
The Head of Household filing status applies to unmarried individuals (or married individuals considered unmarried) who provide a home for a qualified individual, either a qualifying child or a qualifying relative.
Qualifying child. For Head of Household filing status purposes, a qualifying child is an individual:
- Younger than the taxpayer and under age 19 or under age 24 and a full-time student, or any age and permanently and totally disabled, and
- Who lived with the taxpayer for more than half of the year, and
- Who did not provide over half of his or her own support, and
- Who is the taxpayer’s son, daughter, stepchild, foster child,
brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, a grandchild, niece, or nephew).
Qualifying relative. For Head of Household filing status purposes, a qualifying relative is an individual:
- Who is not a qualifying child of the taxpayer or any other tax- payer, and
- Who lived with the taxpayer for more than half of the year
(except a parent), and
- Whom the taxpayer can claim as a dependent, and
- child, grandchild, brother, sister, half brother, half Who is the taxpayer’s son, daughter, stepchild, foster sister, niece, nephew, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, stepbrother, stepsister, stepfather, stepmother, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law.
Note: A person other than the relationships listed, above, who lived with the taxpayer all year as a member of the taxpayer’s household, can qualify to be claimed as a dependent by the tax- payer, but such person who is a dependent only because they lived with the taxpayer all year does not qualify the taxpayer for Head of Household filing status.
Unmarried individuals. A taxpayer can file using the Head of Household filing status if he or she was unmarried or legally separated according to state law under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance at the end of 2019, and one of the following applies.
1) The taxpayer paid over half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for all of 2019 of his or her parent who can be claimed as a dependent of the taxpayer, other than under a multiple support agreement. The parent did not have to live with the taxpayer.
2) The taxpayer paid over half the cost of keeping up a home in which the taxpayer lived and in which one of the following persons also lived for more than half the year.
a) Any person the taxpayer can claim as a dependent, but not including the following:
- – The taxpayer’s qualifying child claimed as a dependent based on the rules for children of divorced or separated parents,
- – Any person who is the taxpayer’s dependent only because he or she lived with the taxpayer for all of 2019, or
- – Any person claimed as a dependent under a multiple support agreement.
b) The taxpayer’s unmarried qualifying child who is not a dependent of the taxpayer.
c) The taxpayer’s married qualifying child who is not a dependent of the taxpayer only because the taxpayer can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s 2019 return.
d) The taxpayer’s child who is neither the taxpayer’s dependent nor a qualifying child because of the rules for children of divorced or separated parents.
Keeping up a home. To qualify for HOH filing status a taxpayer must pay more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the year. The requirement is met only if the amount the taxpayer paid is more than the amount others paid toward the total costs of keeping up the home.
Keeping Up a Home:
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