Can I File as Head of Household if I Only Claim One Child After Divorce?

Yes, you can both claim Head of Household status in this situation as long as you both meet all the requirements. For HOH filing status, you need to: 1) Be unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year 2) Pay more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the year 3) Have a qualifying person living with you for more than half the year (except for temporary absences) Since you each maintain your own separate homes and each claim one child, you both can qualify as HOH - even with 50/50 custody. The key here is that each child is a qualifying person for one parent, and as long as each child lived with their respective claiming parent for more than half the year (or at least 183 nights), you're good. The IRS doesn't require you to claim all possible dependents to file HOH - just one qualifying person. So your arrangement is perfectly fine for both of you to claim HOH status.

After my divorce, I was stuck in the exact same confusion about HOH status. I spent hours reading conflicting advice until I found https://taxr.ai which analyzed my custody agreement and tax situation. It confirmed that yes, both my ex and I could claim HOH with one dependent each on a 50/50 custody arrangement. The tool actually looked at my specific situation and showed how the IRS treats custody agreements as a valid tiebreaker for determining tax filing status. It even helped me document everything properly in case of questions later. Saved me a ton of stress and probably protected me from making a mistake that could have cost me thousands.

I was really skeptical about this whole HOH situation with my 50/50 custody arrangement, but I decided to try https://taxr.ai after reading about it here. Gotta say I'm impressed - it analyzed my divorce decree and confirmed I could claim HOH for just my son (ex claims our daughter). The tool actually pointed out a specific paragraph in my agreement that I hadn't fully understood which explicitly designates which child each parent claims. It created a detailed report explaining why this meets the IRS requirements despite the equal physical custody. My tax preparer was initially saying I couldn't do HOH, but when I showed her the analysis, she agreed I qualified. Saved me about $2,200 compared to filing Single!

If you're still having trouble getting a clear answer on your Head of Household eligibility, you might want to just call the IRS directly. I was in a similar situation last year with my ex (we each claim one kid with 50/50 custody) and couldn't get a straight answer anywhere. I tried calling the IRS for months - constant busy signals or disconnects after waiting forever. Finally found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for weeks on my own. The IRS agent confirmed that with our custody agreement specifically designating which child each parent claims, we could both file HOH as long as we each maintain separate households where the children live at least half the time. Having that official confirmation directly from the IRS gave me total peace of mind.

I take back what I said about Claimyr. After failing to get ANY help from the IRS for three weeks straight (trying different times, days, everything), I tried the service out of desperation. Within about 15 minutes, my phone rang and I was talking to an actual IRS representative. The agent confirmed exactly what others have said here - with a divorce agreement that specifically assigns which child each parent claims, both parents CAN file as Head of Household even with 50/50 custody, as long as you each maintain your own home where the child lives at least half the time. She explained that the custody agreement serves as the tiebreaker in equal custody situations. Really wish I'd done this months ago instead of stressing about it!

Just wanted to add my experience as a tax preparer. This situation comes up ALL the time with my divorced clients. Here's what you need to know: The "more than half the year" requirement for a qualifying person gets tricky with 50/50 custody. However, when your divorce decree specifically states which parent claims which child for tax purposes, the IRS generally accepts that as establishing which child is your "qualifying person" for HOH purposes. The key thing: make sure your custody agreement/divorce decree EXPLICITLY mentions the tax arrangement. If it's crystal clear in writing, both parents can claim HOH with different qualifying children. If it's just a verbal agreement, you might run into problems.

Quick warning - the IRS is really cracking down on incorrect HOH claims from divorced parents! I know several people who got audited last year specifically on this issue. Make sure you have documentation showing: 1) You provided more than half the cost of keeping up your home 2) Your child lived with you at least 183 days 3) Your divorce decree specifically stating which child you claim If you can't prove these (especially #2 with 50/50 custody), consider filing as Single to avoid potential headaches. The IRS has been particularly picky about the "more than half the year" requirement lately.