Can I claim head of household if living rent-free with mom as dependent?

Yes, you can absolutely claim Head of Household in your situation. The IRS doesn't require you to pay rent specifically - what matters is that you pay more than half the cost of keeping up the home. The expenses that count include property taxes, mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, repairs, and food eaten in the home. Since you're covering the property tax, home insurance, utilities, and groceries, you're meeting the requirement of paying more than half the household expenses. The fact that you're not paying rent because your uncle is letting you use the home rent-free doesn't disqualify you. For your mom to qualify as your dependent, she needs to meet the requirements for a qualifying relative: her income must be below the threshold (less than $5,000 for 2025), you must provide more than half her support, and she must live with you all year (which she does).

I was in a nearly identical situation last year with my elderly father living with me in my sister's property. I was so confused about how to file until I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my situation. I uploaded my documents and explained our living arrangement, and it confirmed I could file as Head of Household even though I wasn't paying rent since I was covering other household expenses and my dad's support. The tool walked me through exactly what documentation I needed to support my HOH status and dependent claim. It analyzed everything including the property tax payments and utility bills to confirm I was indeed covering more than half the household costs. Really took the guesswork out of my unusual living situation.

Just wanted to update that I checked out taxr.ai after asking about it here. My situation with my disabled adult son was always confusing me during tax time, but the tool actually confirmed I've been filing correctly as HOH. What I didn't realize was that I could have been claiming the Credit for Other Dependents too! The system flagged this for me after analyzing our situation and pointed out exactly where I needed to make changes in my filing. Saved me a bunch in taxes I would have otherwise missed.

If you're dealing with any IRS questions about your Head of Household status or dependent claims, getting someone on the phone at the IRS is crucial. I spent weeks trying to get clarification on a similar living arrangement last year. I finally used https://claimyr.com to get through to an IRS agent in under 45 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that paying property taxes and insurance on a rent-free home absolutely counts toward the household support test for HOH status. Having this confirmation directly from the IRS gave me confidence to file correctly, and they even noted my account so there wouldn't be issues if I got flagged for review.

I need to eat some crow here. After I called the service a scam, I was still struggling to get through to the IRS about my own HOH filing question (similar to OP's but with my elderly parent). I gave Claimyr a shot as a last resort, and I'm shocked to say it actually worked exactly as described. Got a call back in about 35 minutes with an actual IRS representative on the line who answered all my questions about my specific situation. The agent confirmed that even in a rent-free situation, paying for property taxes, insurance and utilities absolutely counts toward the household maintenance test for HOH. Saved me hours of frustration and got me the official answer I needed. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good.

I think there's still confusion here about the dependent test vs. the household test. For HOH, you need BOTH: 1) A qualifying person (your mom) 2) You paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home The qualifying person test looks different depending on if it's your parent vs. a child. Since it's your mom, she doesn't actually have to be your dependent if you're paying more than half the cost of keeping up her separate home. But since she lives with you, she would need to be your dependent.

Random question - does anyone know if the property tax payments in this situation would be deductible for OP if they itemize? Since they don't own the home but are paying the tax?

Just want to emphasize what others have said - you're definitely on solid ground for Head of Household status. The key thing the IRS looks at is whether you're paying more than half the costs to maintain the household, not whether you're paying rent specifically. Since you're covering property taxes, insurance, utilities, and groceries, you're clearly meeting that threshold. Your mom living with you rent-free actually strengthens your case because it shows you're providing her housing as part of your support. Make sure you keep good records of all these payments - receipts for property tax, insurance premiums, utility bills, grocery receipts, medical expenses you pay for her, etc. The IRS may want to see documentation that you're truly providing more than half her support and more than half the household maintenance costs. One tip: calculate the total annual household expenses (including a reasonable estimate for the rental value of the home if you had to pay market rent) and make sure your contributions exceed 50%. This will give you confidence in your filing and solid backup if questioned.

Based on everything discussed here, you're in a really strong position to file as Head of Household. The IRS cares about economic reality, not just legal titles - and the economic reality is that you're running the household and supporting your mom. One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned: make sure your mom's total income for the year is under $5,000 (the 2025 dependent income threshold). Since she's not working, this is probably a non-issue, but worth double-checking if she has any Social Security, interest, or other income. Also, consider keeping a simple spreadsheet tracking all your payments throughout the year - property tax, insurance, utilities, groceries, her medical expenses, etc. This makes tax time much easier and gives you solid documentation if the IRS ever has questions. Many people in unusual living situations get nervous about HOH status, but your situation is actually pretty straightforward once you understand that "maintaining the household" doesn't require paying rent to a landlord. You're doing the right thing taking care of your mom, and the tax code recognizes and supports family caregiving situations like yours.