Can I claim head of household?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 10, 2025
2 replies
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My husband only gets social security and VA compensation and is not required to file taxes. How do I go about getting all the credits still? He owes child support, so I do not want to file jointly.

Best answer by VolvoGirl

If you are married you can't claim Head of Household. You need to be Single or live apart from him the last 6 months of the year and have a qualifying child. Do you have any income yourself? If you file Married Filing Separately you can not get most credit like the

EITC Earned Income Tax Credit

Child Care Credit

Educational Deductions and Credits

You can file Joint and file an Injured spouse form 8379 with your return to protect your part of any refund.

VolvoGirlAnswer

Employee

EITC Earned Income Tax Credit

Child Care Credit

Educational Deductions and Credits

You can file Joint and file an Injured spouse form 8379 with your return to protect your part of any refund.

xmasbaby0

Employee

If you file a joint return you do not enter VA benefits he receives since they are not taxable, but his SSA1099 for Social Security must be entered----and even if you file separately, then he would have to file MFS also and enter the SSA1099 on his own return--just not the VA benefits.

You cannot file as HOH if you have lived together all year. Your filing choices are marred filing separately or married filing jointly. As VolvoGirl suggested, you could file a joint return and include the injured spouse form to protect your part of the refund. That form will delay processing.

INJURED SPOUSE

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1910698-how-do-i-file-form-8379-injured-spouse-allocation

To use Form 8379 to report Injured Spouse: Go to

Federal>Other Tax Situations>Other Tax Forms

On Miscellaneous tax forms, click start or update for Report an Innocent or Injured Spouse

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

xmasbaby0

Employee

If you were legally married at the end of 2024 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $29,200 (+ $1550 for each spouse 65 or older) for 2024. You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return.

Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states: AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

If you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice since with online, you get one return per fee.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-married-filing-jointly-vs-married-filing-separately

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901162-married-filing-separately-in-community-property-states