Can I claim head of household on my w4?

Question

Me and fiancee just purchased a towhouse and she doesn't make as much money as me so I will be paying a large % of the bills while she pays some and puts the rest of her money in a savings account every month for emergencies. Should I be able to file head of household in this situation? Are there and pros or cons to filing this way since I never had done this before?

Answer 1

I believe the poster is referring to line "E" of the W-4 form (where you get an extra allowance if you are HOH).

To the poster.

1.  You are not HOH.  You are single.  Even if you can claim your girlfriend as a dependent, she will never qualify you for HOH.

2.  You probably can't claim your fiance as a dependent since I bet she makes more than $3500.

3.  If the two of you bought the townhouse together, you need to review how much of the townhouse you own.  When you try to itemize, you can only deduct mortgage interest and property taxes to the extent that you both owed the money and paid it.  That is, if you own 50% of the house, you can't deduct 100% of the interest even if you paid it.  (In turn, your fiance can't deduct something she didn't pay.)

4.  The first year you buy a home you probably won't be able to itemize (if you bought after July 1st, this tends to be the case) or will not see as much of a tax break as you were hoping...so don't over adjust your W-4.  

Answer 2

You won't be head of household when you file your tax return - an unrelated person doesn't qualify you for that.  If you will be married by the end of the year, you could file a joint return, and could file your W-4 as married.

Answer 3

Choices are married and single

Answer 4

You cannot file as HoH under the circumstances you outlined.  You could if you had your child living with you but a live-in g/f or b/f doesn't qualify.

There is no HoH status on Form W-4, it's only when you file your return.

Edit:  When you get married it still won't be HoH.  You'll file either as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.  MFJ usually results in the lowest total tax.