Can I claim my mother as a dependent and file Head of Household status?

You've got an interesting situation here. Let me help clarify some things for you. To claim your mother as a dependent, she needs to meet the "qualifying relative" tests. The main ones are: 1) Her income must be less than $4,850 for 2023, 2) You must provide more than half her support, and 3) She generally can't file a joint return with her spouse. The tricky part here is that she's married. Even if your parents don't actually file taxes, they technically *could* file a joint return, which usually disqualifies someone from being claimed as a dependent. However, there's an exception: if they're only filing jointly to claim a refund and wouldn't otherwise be required to file. For Head of Household status, you generally need an unmarried qualifying person living with you. Since your mother is married and presumably lives with your father, this gets complicated. You might qualify if they live with you and you can claim at least one of them as a dependent. When you get married in 2024, that will change your filing options again since married couples typically file jointly or separately.

I was in a somewhat similar situation last year and found https://taxr.ai super helpful for figuring out dependent status questions. My brother lives with our mom who's on disability, and I was confused about whether I could claim either of them since I provide most financial support but don't live there. The tool analyzed my situation and clarified exactly which tests my mom met for qualifying relative status. It even explained how the gross income test worked with her social security benefits. Saved me from making a mistake that might have triggered an audit. Especially with your situation involving married parents on social security, it might help sort through the specific rules that apply to your case.

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai for my complicated family situation. I was surprised at how well it handled my questions about claiming my grandparent who lives with us part-time. It actually identified that I was misinterpreting the "support test" - I wasn't counting food stamps as support my grandparent provided for themselves, which changed the whole calculation. The explanation about social security income and how it counts toward the gross income test was super clear too. Way more helpful than when I spent an hour on the phone with a tax prep service last year and still got confusing advice. Now I'm confident about who I can legitimately claim this year.

If you're having trouble getting clear answers about your dependency situation, you might want to try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was in dependency limbo with my sister who I support financially but technically could file her own return. Tried calling the IRS directly but kept hitting the "call volume too high" message for WEEKS. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. The agent was able to look at my specific situation and confirm exactly which tests applied for claiming my sister. They also have a helpful demo video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows how it works. Since your situation involves social security income and married parents, talking directly to the IRS might give you the definitive answer you need.

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself as a last resort because I was desperate to resolve an issue with my amended return. Not only did I get connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes, but the agent was able to pull up my file and explain exactly why my amended return was delayed. They even processed an adjustment while I was on the phone. After months of stress and uncertainty, my issue was resolved in one call. I'm normally the first to call out services that seem too good to be true, but in this case, I was the one who was wrong. If you're struggling with complex dependent questions like the original poster, getting direct answers from the IRS is definitely the way to go.

Something everyone's missing here - the married status of your parents is the key issue. I went through this exact situation with my in-laws. The IRS has a specific rule: if your parent is married and files a joint return, you usually can't claim them as a dependent UNLESS they're only filing to get a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax payments. Since your parents only receive Social Security and don't file taxes at all, you might be able to claim your mom. BUT - and this is important - you'd need to verify if any of their Social Security is taxable. If their combined income is high enough, some portion could be taxable. For Head of Household, since your parents don't live with you, you'd need to pass the "qualifying person" test. A parent doesn't need to live with you to be a qualifying person, but they must be your dependent.

I don't think anyone's addressed your marriage plans for 2024. Remember that your filing status is determined by your status on December 31st of the tax year. So if you get married anytime in 2024, you'll be considered married for the entire 2024 tax year. If you're married filing jointly in 2024, you can't file as Head of Household, regardless of your parent situation. If you're married filing separately, you might qualify for HOH in very limited circumstances (like if you're considered "unmarried" because you lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of the year). For 2023 though, since you're still single, the dependent parent question is definitely worth figuring out!

Just wanted to add another perspective on this since I dealt with something very similar. My parents are also married and on Social Security only, and I was able to claim my mom as a dependent last year. The key thing that made it work was documenting exactly how much support I provided versus their total support needs. I kept detailed records of everything - mortgage payments I made for them, utilities, groceries, medical expenses, home repairs, etc. Then I calculated their total living expenses for the year and proved I paid more than 50%. For the gross income test, since Social Security was their only income and it wasn't taxable at their income level, my mom passed that test easily. The joint return test was satisfied because they didn't file any return at all. However, I couldn't qualify for Head of Household because they live in their own home, not with me. A parent can be a qualifying person for HOH even if they don't live with you, but only if you can claim them as a dependent AND you pay more than half the cost of maintaining their household as their main home. One thing to watch out for - make sure you have really solid documentation of all the support you're providing. The IRS can be pretty strict about this if they audit dependency claims.