Head of Household Status for Income Taxes

Question

1 adult with 1 child/dependent living on their own from January through July 2008. The 1 adult is the dependent of no one and the 1 child is only the dependent of the 1 adult.

From August through December 2008, the 1 adult and 1 child/dependent move in with a home-owning relative. The 1 adult pays rent to the home-owning relative, and pays for their share of the utilities and food.

For 2008 Income Taxes, does the 1 adult (with the 1 child/dependent) who's moved in with the home-owning relative still considered Head of Household?

For 2009 Income Taxes, if the 1 adult (with the 1 child/dependent) stays with the home-owning relative for more than 6 months in 2009, will s/he be considered Head of Household for the 2009 Income Taxes?

Answer 1

Sounds like a yes for 2008, assuming that the child is THEIR child.  For 2009, only if that adult is paying over half of the cost of maintaining the household they live in, so probably no.

Answer 2

If the extra people in the house are paying rent, they are considered to be living separately both years. It is still head of household, and both tax years the taxes would be filed separately even though they are at the same address.

Both years, head of household, unless the two families are trying to mix incomes and share household expenses, and live as one family.

The filing status is more about how you conduct your household, rather than what address you have and whether or not you share addresses with others. So for both years, it would still be head of household. They should remain filing as they did before the 2 people moved in.

Answer 3

For 2008, you have to run the numbers.  Using pub 501, add up the total costs of housing for each part of the year (and it's not the rent for part 2--they are sharing the house, so it's the total cost of the house) and then compare to the amount the parent is paying.  Either they paid more than half and can prove it or they didn't.

For 2009, it's doubtful as the rent probably isn't more than half the cost of the house.

For extra credit, discuss whether or not the home-owning relative actually declared the rental income.