As a single parent, can I claim head of household filing status as long as I have a child living with me (no matter what the age of the child) and paid for over half the cost of keeping up a home?

In order to qualify for head of household filing status, the age of the qualifying person is immaterial, but you must meet the other head of household requirements. Please refer to Publication 501 (PDF), Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, for more information.

References:

• Publication 501 (PDF), Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
• Tax Topic 353, What is your filing status

Can a person claim a girlfriend as a wife if they have a child or do they have to be married?

You are considered married if you are living together in a common law marriage that is recognized in the state where you now live or in the state where the common law marriage began. If you are considered married, then you may file as married filing jointly. If you are not considered married, then you would have to file as single or head of household.

In order to claim your girlfriend as a dependent, your relationship must not be in violation of local law, your girlfriend must have lived with you for the entire year, and the following 5 dependency exemption tests must be met:

• Member of household or relationship test.
• Citizenship test.
• Joint return test.
• Gross income test.
• Support test.

Refer to Publication 501 (PDF), Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, for an explanation of the five exemption tests (5).

References:

• Publication 501 (PDF), Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information

My husband and I have provided a home for my niece and her son for the past seven months. She receives no child support from her ex-spouse, and she does not work or have any income of her own. Can I claim her and her son as a dependent?

Your niece doesn't need to live with you for the entire year in order to be claimed as a dependent. She meets the first of five dependency exemption tests, which is the relationship test. She must still meet the other four dependency exemption tests.

• Citizenship test.
• Joint return test.
• Gross income test.
• Support test.

Your niece's son did not live with you for the entire year and does not meet the relationship test. Therefore, he cannot be claimed as a dependent. Refer to Publication 501 (PDF), Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, for more information on five exemption tests.

References:

• Publication 501 (PDF), Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information

If both parents want to claim the Earned Income Credit, who is entitled to it if there was no marriage?

If the child is a qualifying child of both parents, they may choose which one will claim the credit. If there are two qualifying children, each parent may claim the credit on the basis of one of the children. If both actually claim the credit on the basis of the same child or children, the parent who is entitled to the credit is the parent with whom the child lived for the longest period of time during the tax year, or the parent with the higher Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) if the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time during the year.

Refer to Publication 596 (PDF), Earned Income Credit, for full discussion of the Earned Income Credit rules.

References:

• Publication 596 (PDF), Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EIC)

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