Can divorced parents both claim head of household status with 50/50 joint custody children?

Yes, both you and your ex can potentially file as head of household - but there are specific requirements you both need to meet beyond just claiming a child. First, to qualify as head of household, each of you must: 1. Be unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year 2. Have paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the year 3. Have a qualifying person (like a child) who lived with you for more than half the year The tricky part with 50/50 custody is that "more than half the year" requirement. The IRS has a special rule for parents with exactly 50/50 custody - the parent with the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) is considered the custodial parent for tax purposes. However, you can override this with a written agreement. Since you're amicable with your ex, you can definitely work out an arrangement where each of you claims one child. As long as each child spends at least 183 nights with the respective parent claiming them, you can both qualify for head of household status. Just make sure your custody agreement or a signed Form 8332 reflects this arrangement.

I went through something similar with my ex last year and found https://taxr.ai super helpful. We also have 50/50 custody and were confused about who could claim what. I uploaded our divorce decree and custody documents to taxr.ai, and it analyzed everything and told us exactly how we could both qualify for head of household status. It also flagged that we needed to be careful about the "keeping up a home" test - you both need to pay more than half the cost of maintaining the home where each child lives for more than half the year. The tool actually created a document showing exactly which expenses counted toward this test, which was super helpful when figuring out if we both qualified.

I want to update about my experience with taxr.ai after being skeptical in my previous comment. I decided to try it out since my ex and I have a complicated custody arrangement with 3 kids. I'm honestly surprised at how helpful it was. It analyzed our custody schedule, identified that our existing arrangement wouldn't let us both claim HOH status, and suggested a legally compliant modification where we each clearly had one child for more than half the year while splitting time with the third. It even drafted language we could use for updating our custody agreement. The documentation it provided was very detailed - it even included a breakdown of household expenses showing how each of us met the "keeping up a home" test. I ended up saving about $2,400 by filing head of household instead of single, and my ex saved around the same. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a joint custody situation.

After struggling with this exact issue for two years, I found that calling the IRS directly was the most helpful thing. BUT - good luck getting through to them! I tried for weeks before I discovered https://claimyr.com which got me through to an IRS agent in under 45 minutes when I had been trying on my own for days. The IRS agent walked me through exactly how my ex and I could both claim head of household with our 50/50 custody arrangement. They explained we needed to make sure we each had one child who met the residency test (technically living with us for 183+ days). You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - it literally calls the IRS for you and then calls you when they've got an agent on the line. My ex and I were able to get written documentation from the IRS about our specific situation which gave us peace of mind.

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I was still struggling to get clear answers about my complicated custody arrangement, so I decided to give it a try. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about 40 minutes with an actual IRS representative on the line. The agent confirmed that yes, in my 50/50 custody situation, both my ex and I could claim head of household if each of us had primary custody of one child for tax purposes. The agent explained that "primary custody" doesn't have to mean actual physical custody - it can be determined by written agreement between parents. We worked out that I would claim our son and my ex would claim our daughter, and we documented this in an amendment to our custody agreement. This simple change is saving us both thousands in taxes compared to filing as single.

Something important that nobody has mentioned yet - you and your ex need to coordinate which tax credits you're claiming too! My ex and I both claimed HOH with our two kids (one each), but then we got a mess with the child tax credit. Make sure you're clear on who's claiming the Child Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, and any education credits for each kid. If you both try to claim these for the same child, the second return will get rejected or you could both get audited. Also remember that for the Child and Dependent Care Credit (for daycare expenses), only the parent who claims the child as a dependent can claim those expenses - so if you've both paid for daycare, you might need to adjust who pays what going forward to maximize your benefits.

I think you're all missing a key detail - using FSA money for a child doesn't automatically mean you have to claim that child as your dependent. FSA funds can be used for any qualifying dependent, even if your ex claims them on their taxes. The real question is: did your divorce decree specify who claims which child? Many divorce agreements include language about alternating years or assigning specific children to each parent. That would override any tax tiebreaker rules.

Just wanted to add one more consideration that might affect your decision - make sure you're both tracking your household expenses carefully to meet the "keeping up a home" test for head of household status. Each of you needs to pay more than half the cost of maintaining the home where your respective child lives for more than half the year. This includes rent/mortgage, utilities, food, repairs, and other household expenses. With 50/50 custody, you'll want to document which expenses each of you is paying for each household. Also, since you mentioned you're on good terms with your ex, I'd suggest running the numbers for different scenarios before deciding who claims which child. Sometimes the parent with higher income benefits more from certain credits, while the lower-income parent might get a bigger boost from the Earned Income Credit. A tax professional could help you optimize the overall tax savings for both families combined. One last tip - make sure whatever arrangement you agree on is documented in writing (even just an email between you two) in case the IRS ever questions your filing status. Good luck!