My boyfriend and I have been living together since the last tax year. We welcomed a baby in 2024, also bought a home and are unsure what would be the best status to file?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
December 7, 2024
1 reply
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I’m a salary based employee and he earns hourly wages.

Best answer by Opus 17

@MIMI98-NR wrote:

Thank you for your reply @DoninGA.

He and I make about the same amount of money and have shared the cost of the home equally. Is there a way of determining who would be better suited filing head of household? We also have two additional kids from a previous marriage, which I claim on my return each year. Does it matter whose return our infant is filed on?

To claim head household status, one of you must pay more than half the household expenses. It only has to be $1 more than half. But if you pay exactly half, then neither one can file as head of household, because exactly half is not more than half.

Generally, the parent who earns more money should claim head of household status and the child dependent, and the other parent should file as single with no dependents. However, this gets more complicated if you are in the income range to qualify for EIC, and the only way to know which way to file is best is to try some different scenarios before you decide on one. Once turbotax online opens for the season, you can create multiple accounts with different user names and passwords, and test different combinations (the web site is "free to start" and you only pay when you are ready to file). Just be sure that when you are ready to actually file, you file one return each that contains the correct information, and that you don't get your real return mixed up with your practice returns.

If you are not legally married and you current boyfriend is not a legal parent of the other two children (by marriage, blood, state foster placement or adoption) then only you can claim those two children. The only way to know the best way to claim the infant is to test different combinations. It really depends on your exact income, deductions, and other tax items and there is no one size fits all answer.

As far as housing expenses is concerned (mortgage interest and property taxes), it will usually be better for one person to deduct them all, and not split them. Usually the person with higher income, but not always. You can say that partner A pays the mortgage and taxes, while partner B pays the utilities, food, and other household expenses.

DoninGA

Employee

Since you are not legally married you can only file your tax returns as Single.

However, depending on who provided over one-half the cost to maintain the home, they may be able to have Head of Household filing status if they claim the child on their tax return.

See this for head of household - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-filing-status/qualify-head-household-2021/L0NxUtVc2_US_en_US?uid=m4ecikxd

MIMI98-NRAuthor

Thank you for your reply @DoninGA.

He and I make about the same amount of money and have shared the cost of the home equally. Is there a way of determining who would be better suited filing head of household? We also have two additional kids from a previous marriage, which I claim on my return each year. Does it matter whose return our infant is filed on?

DoninGA

Employee

The children can be claimed by either of you or split between both of you. Only the child that is a biological relation to the taxpayer claiming them on their return can have HOH filing status.

Since you both have income and both are able to claim a biological child on their tax return, you need to do two tax returns to see which one gives the best outcome. Only one of you can have Head of Household filing status since you are both living in the same household.