Several factors will determine if you're eligible to file as Head of Household:
- You were either unmarried or considered unmarried (see below) on the last day of the year.
- A qualifying person lived in your home for more than half the year.
- You contributed more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the year.
If a person is your qualifying child, he or she is a qualifying person even if you can't claim the exemption for that child. But if the child is married, the child is not a qualifying person unless you can claim an exemption for the child. Any other person is a qualifying person only if you can claim the exemption for that person. See
IRS Publication 501 for more detail about the rules for a person who is not your qualifying child.
To be considered unmarried, you must file a separate tax return; you and your spouse must not have lived together during the last 6 months of the tax year; you must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up your
home for the year; your home must have been the main home of your child, stepchild or eligible foster child for more than half the year; and you must be able to claim an exemption for the child. But if the noncustodial parent is claiming an exemption for the child because you signed
Form 8332, you still meet the last requirement.
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