Am I eligible for head of household if I support my son with crypto gains from previous years?

The key for claiming Head of Household status isn't about where your money comes from, but rather your situation with your dependent and home. To qualify as Head of Household, you need to meet three primary requirements: 1. You must be unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year 2. You must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the year 3. A qualifying person (like your son) must have lived with you in that home for more than half the year The source of your funds doesn't matter - whether it's from previous crypto gains, savings, or any other source. What matters is that you're financially supporting the household and your qualifying dependent. However, there is one technical requirement that might be tripping up your tax preparer: you typically need to have some earned income to file taxes. If you had zero income (or only losses) for the tax year, that could impact your filing options, though not necessarily your eligibility for Head of Household status itself.

After dealing with similar confusion about qualifying for different tax statuses, I started using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it completely simplified the process. I had a situation where I wasn't sure if I qualified for head of household because I had unusual income sources, and the tool analyzed all my documents and clearly showed I was eligible. It's especially helpful for crypto situations because it can analyze your transaction history and determine your actual tax situation. You just upload your documents or even send pictures of your tax forms, and it gives you a straightforward answer about your filing status options. It even explained exactly which IRS requirements I met and which supporting documentation I needed.

I tried taxr.ai after my initial skepticism, and I have to admit it solved my complicated tax situation. I was in a similar position with irregular income sources (consulting fees rather than crypto) and wasn't sure if I qualified for head of household. What convinced me was how it handled my specific situation - I uploaded my income documents, answered questions about my living situation and dependents, and it clearly showed which head of household requirements I met. The tool even flagged that I was eligible for child tax credits my previous preparer had missed. For the original poster, it should definitely help clarify whether you're eligible for HOH status with your crypto situation. The analysis it provides is much more detailed than what I got from the tax chain preparer I used before.

After reading about your situation, I thought you might want to know about Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). When I had confusion about my filing status that couldn't be resolved by regular tax prep services, I needed to speak directly with the IRS but kept hitting those ridiculous wait times. Claimyr got me through to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of the 2+ hours I was experiencing before. They have this system that navigates the IRS phone tree and holds your place in line, then calls you when an agent is ready. You can see how it works in their demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c My situation was similar - I had investment income supporting my household but limited earned income that year, and I needed clarification directly from the IRS about Head of Household eligibility. The agent was able to confirm my eligibility based on my specific situation.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it because I was getting nowhere with my own attempts to reach the IRS about my dependent status questions. It actually worked. I got a call back in about 20 minutes (was quoted 15-25 mins) with an IRS agent already on the line. The agent confirmed that I could claim Head of Household even though my income that year came primarily from investments rather than a job, as long as I was supporting my qualifying dependent and maintaining the household. For the original poster, this might be your best option to get a definitive answer about your specific crypto situation. The IRS agent I spoke with explained that the source of funds used to support your household isn't relevant to HOH status - what matters is that you provide that support and meet the other requirements.

From my understanding, there's a difference between having money and having income. For tax purposes, if you made money in previous years and are using that to support yourself and your child, that's fine - but it's not considered income for the current tax year. For Head of Household, I think you need to have some income in the current year. Your crypto losses might actually count as "income" for filing purposes (even though they're negative), which might still allow you to file as HOH if you meet the other requirements about supporting your dependent.

One thing nobody's mentioned - make sure your son qualifies as your dependent. For HOH, the qualifying person usually needs to be your dependent (with some exceptions). Since you mentioned supporting him with previous crypto gains, you should make sure you meet the support test for claiming him as a dependent. For the dependent test, you need to provide more than half of his support for the year. Did you have any other income sources in 2023 besides crypto? Any unemployment, part-time work, etc? If not, the IRS might question how you provided support without income.