San Antonio Express-News
April 1, 2003

Head of Household on 1040

copyright 2003, Paul Premack

To claim head of household status on your 1040, you must meet these conditions set out in the tax code:

1. As of the end of the calendar year, you must not be married. You also cannot be a surviving spouse in that tax year (that is, your spouse cannot have died earlier in the year for which you are filing taxes).

2. The person who lives with you must reside in your home for at least half the year and must qualify as your dependent. There is a special exception for parents: an adult child can file as head of household even if the parent does not reside in the child’s home (whether, for instance, the parent has an apartment or lives in a nursing facility). The child must still provide support to the parent as a dependent, and must still be unmarried.

How do you know if your parent qualifies as your dependent? Your parent must meet five legal conditions imposed in the tax code:

First, your parent must be a US Citizen or resident alien.

Second, your parent must receive at least half her support from you. For example, the fair market value of the residential lodging you provide to your mother counts as part of the support. If you keep close track of your expenditures on her behalf for food, clothing, medical care, transportation, and the value of the "free rent" you provide, it will be easier to show you provide half her support.

Third, dependency is only allowed for someone related to you or someone who is a member of your household. Fortunately, the tax code follows common sense here by recognizing that your mother is related to you.

Fourth, your parent’s annual income cannot exceed $3,050. You don’t say how much income your mother actually had, so I cannot tell if she passes this test. However, her gross income does not include the tax-free part of her social security.

Fifth, your parent cannot file a joint return for any year in which you claim her as a dependent. It sounds like your mother is not married, so filing a joint return is not a problem for her. But if her spouse died last year, she could legally file a joint return. You would need to balance any money she saves by filing jointly against any money you save by claiming her as a dependent, and then do the thing that saves the most.

If your mother passes all five of these conditions, and if you are unmarried, then you can file your own 1040 as head of household. The benefit to you can be substantial. For instance, if your taxable income was $77,000 in 2002, the tax due when filing singly is $17,423 -- but the tax due when filing as head of household is $15,803. That is a $1,620 savings.