Discussion:Head of Household without claiming exemtion

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Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Head of Household without claiming exemtion

TLF (talk\|edits) said:	7 February 2006
I have two clients that live together, and they have one child together. He makes $ 45000.00 per year and she makes $24000.00 per year. Can he file HOH without claiming the exemption credit for the child and she file single and claim the childs exemption credit and take the EIC and Child Tax credit?

Riley2 (talk\|edits) said:	7 February 2006
No to all of the above. He can file HOH if he decides to claim the QC. If he claims the QC, then she cannot claim the QC. If she has no QC, she has no EIC, CTC or dependency exemption.

TLF (talk\|edits) said:	7 February 2006
Riley2, thanks for the help, these rules can sometimes be very confusing even if you have done similar returns in the past. It's nice to have a place to get another point of view. Thanks.

Riley2 (talk|edits) said:

2 March 2007

In response to the question regarding claiming HOH when the taxpayer does not have dependents, I can see that this would happen only rarely. Example, Dad lives in Paris, France with his son who is a nonresident alien. Dad would be a head of household, but his son would not be a dependent since he is a nonresident alien. Example 2, Dad gets more than one-half of his own support from his wealthy parents who claim him as a dependent. Dad provides over one-half the cost of maintaining his home which is also the residence of his 9-year old son. The son cannot be his dependent since his Dad is a dependent of his wealthy parents, but Dad would qualify as head of household.

Deback (talk\|edits) said:	March 2, 2007
TLF - We had a discussion about this a couple of weeks ago. The alternative, which usually works out better, if both parties agree, is to claim Single for both, and have the mother claim the child, EIC, and CTC. Neither will file HOH in this case.