Can I file as head of household while living with my parents?

But how do you calculate if you're paying "more than half" of household expenses when you're living in someone else's home? Like if the parents own the house outright and don't have a mortgage payment, but OP is buying groceries and paying some utilities?

Great question! When you're living in someone else's home, you need to focus on the expenses related to maintaining the portion of the home that you and your qualifying person (your son) occupy. Think of it as if you're "renting" that portion of the home, even if no formal arrangement exists. You would consider the fair rental value of your space plus the actual expenses you pay for the entire household. So if you're buying groceries for yourself and your son, paying utilities, contributing to household repairs, or paying any sort of rent to your parents, these all count toward your "keeping up a home" expenses. If the total of your contributions exceeds half of what it costs to maintain the space for you and your son, then you meet the "keeping up a home" requirement. The IRS doesn't expect you to pay the mortgage or property taxes when you don't own the home - they just want to ensure you're financially responsible for your household unit within the larger home.

Does this actually work? Like will it actually tell me which filing status is right for my specific situation? I'm in a similar boat but my mom owns the house and I pay her $400/month plus utilities to live there with my kid.

I'm skeptical about these online tools. How does it actually verify that you're paying for more than half of household expenses? Couldn't anyone just say they are?

Yes, it actually does work! It asks specific questions about your living arrangement, how much you contribute to various expenses, and the details about your dependents. It then applies the IRS guidelines to your specific situation. In your case with paying $400/month plus utilities, it would factor that in along with your other contributions toward your child's expenses to determine if you meet the requirements. For verification, the tool doesn't just take your word for it - it asks for documentation details that support your claims, similar to what you would need if you were audited. It helps you understand what records you should keep (receipts, bank statements, etc.) to substantiate your filing status if questioned. It doesn't prevent anyone from lying, but it helps honest people understand if they truly qualify based on their real situation.

How does this even work? The IRS phone lines are notoriously jammed. Are you saying this service somehow jumps the queue?

This sounds like a scam honestly. No way some random service can get you through to the IRS faster than everyone else waiting. And even if they could, the IRS gives different answers depending on who you talk to anyway.

It's not about jumping the queue - the service uses an automated system that continually redials the IRS until it gets through, then calls you when it has an agent on the line. It's basically doing the waiting for you so you don't have to sit with a phone to your ear for hours. It's the same as if you called yourself, just without the wait time. The advice you get does depend somewhat on the agent you speak with, that's true of any phone service. But I found getting a direct answer from an IRS representative was much more reassuring than just guessing or relying on internet advice. In my case, the agent referred directly to IRS publications while explaining my situation, and I took notes about everything they told me. Having that documentation has given me peace of mind about my filing.

Thank you for mentioning this! I hadn't even thought about keeping proof of my contributions. What kind of records would work best? I usually pay for groceries in cash and give my parents some money each month for utilities but it's not always the same amount and I don't always get a receipt.

Start using your debit or credit card for groceries instead of cash - that gives you an automatic record. For the money you give your parents, either write a check each month (even if it's different amounts) or use a payment app like Venmo or Zelle that records the transaction. If you have to use cash, at least get an ATM receipt when you withdraw the money, then maybe create a simple spreadsheet noting when you gave them money and how much. Even better, have your parents give you a simple handwritten receipt. It sounds formal, but if you ever get audited, you'll be glad you have some kind of paper trail. The IRS mainly wants to see that you're consistently contributing to the household expenses throughout the year.

I haven't personally been audited, but I've helped clients through this exact situation. The IRS is primarily concerned with whether the facts support your filing status claim, not how formal the arrangement is.

This is super helpful to hear from someone who actually went through it! I'm curious - when they asked for proof of paying "more than half" of household expenses, did they give you a specific dollar amount you needed to reach, or was it more about showing a pattern of consistent contributions? I'm trying to figure out if there's like a magic number I should be hitting each month or if it's more about demonstrating ongoing financial responsibility for my portion of the household.

Great question! The auditor didn't give me a specific dollar threshold to meet. Instead, they calculated what it would cost to maintain the portion of the household that my kids and I occupied, then compared that to what I was actually contributing. Here's how they broke it down: They estimated the fair rental value of the bedrooms we used plus our share of common areas (like if we were 3 out of 5 people in the house, we'd use 60% of common spaces). Then they added up actual household expenses - utilities, groceries, maintenance, etc. In my case, my $600 monthly payments plus utilities and groceries totaled more than half of what they calculated as "our portion" of the household costs. The key wasn't hitting a magic number, but showing that my contributions covered more than half of the actual cost of maintaining a home for me and my dependents. The auditor emphasized that it's about demonstrating you're the primary financial provider for your household unit within the larger home. So focus on consistent, documented contributions rather than trying to hit a specific monthly amount. As long as your total contributions exceed half of what it realistically costs to house and support you and your kids, you should be fine.

This is such a great point about state vs federal requirements! I hadn't even considered that there might be differences. Do you happen to know if there's an easy way to check what your specific state requires, or did you have to find out the hard way during your audit? I'm in California and just want to make sure I'm covering all my bases. The federal requirements seem pretty clear from everyone's explanations here, but now I'm wondering if I should be doing anything different for my state return. Thanks for bringing this up - it's definitely something I wouldn't have thought to research on my own!