Unmarried couple living together with our child - Can I claim Head of Household?

12 You're right to question this. To claim Head of Household (HoH), you need to meet three requirements: 1) be unmarried at the end of the year, 2) pay more than half the cost of keeping up your home, and 3) have a qualifying person living with you for more than half the year. The tricky part here is that for a child to be your qualifying person for HoH purposes, they generally need to be your dependent. Since your partner claims your son as a dependent, you wouldn't be able to claim HoH based on your son. Your partner likely qualifies for HoH (assuming they meet the household expense test) since they claim your child as a dependent. Both parents can't claim HoH for the same child - only the one who can claim the child as a dependent. The only way you might qualify for HoH is if you have another qualifying person (like another dependent) living with you. Otherwise, you'll need to file as Single.

7 I went through something similar last year. Have you checked out https://taxr.ai? It was actually super helpful for untangling my complicated family situation. My boyfriend and I have twins, and we'd been filing completely wrong for years without realizing it. The tool analyzes your specific situation and gives you customized advice. It walked me through all the HoH requirements and helped me figure out that we needed to alternate who claims our kids each year to maximize our refunds. The questionnaire asked about exactly who pays for what percentage of expenses and gave us a clear answer.

16 Just wanted to update - I tried https://taxr.ai after posting my skeptical comment, and it was actually really helpful! It turns out I was completely wrong about my filing status. I've been filing as Single for years when I should have been filing as HoH for my oldest child. The tool asked me detailed questions about who lives with me, for how long during the year, and the financial support I provide. It even explained the "tie-breaker rules" when both parents might qualify to claim a child. Took about 10 minutes and saved me from leaving money on the table. Apparently, I was missing out on a better tax bracket and additional credits all these years!

18 If you're having trouble getting a clear answer from the IRS about your Head of Household question, try https://claimyr.com. I tried calling the IRS myself about a similar situation for MONTHS and kept getting the "due to high call volume" message before being disconnected. I was about to give up when I found Claimyr. They basically hold your place in line with the IRS and call you when an agent is ready to talk. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. I finally got through to a real person who reviewed my specific situation and confirmed I was eligible for HoH even though my ex claimed one of our kids. The IRS agent explained all the rules about qualifying persons and household maintenance tests that online articles never make clear. Totally worth it after struggling to get answers for so long.

3 I was completely wrong about Claimyr being a scam. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it since I was desperate to talk to someone about my tax situation (similar to the original poster - unmarried with a shared child). I got a call back in about 2 hours and spoke with an IRS agent who was super helpful. She confirmed that in my situation, since I pay over half the household expenses BUT my partner claims our daughter as a dependent, I can't claim Head of Household. The agent walked me through all the requirements and even helped me understand how we could potentially reorganize our tax situation for next year to maximize our combined refund. Would have taken me weeks of trying to call on my own. Definitely wasn't a scam - just solved a problem I'd been stuck on for months.

10 Have you guys considered taking turns claiming your child each year? My girlfriend and I do this - I claim our daughter in even years, she claims her in odd years. That way we both get to file as HoH every other year. We just make sure to keep good records of what we each pay for.

2 Have your partner look into filing as HoH if they're claiming your child. That would give them a better tax break than filing as single. Also check if either of you qualify for Earned Income Credit depending on your income - that could make a big difference!

You're absolutely correct that you cannot file as Head of Household in this situation. Since your boyfriend claims your son as a dependent, you don't have a qualifying person to meet the HoH requirements, even though you may be paying a significant portion of household expenses. Your boyfriend, however, likely qualifies for HoH filing status since he claims your child as a dependent and presumably pays more than half the cost of maintaining the household (this would need to include his portion of mortgage, utilities, plus the health insurance and other expenses he covers). For next year, you might want to consider whether it makes financial sense to alternate who claims your son, but you'd need to run the numbers carefully. The person claiming the child must be providing more than half of the child's support, so you'd need to track all expenses related to your son specifically (not just household expenses) to see if this arrangement would work and benefit your family overall. Also worth noting - make sure your boyfriend is indeed filing as HoH if he qualifies, as it provides better tax rates and a higher standard deduction compared to Single filing status.