EA Part 1 Filing Status: Head of Household Rules and Dependent Tests

Filing status determines a taxpayer's standard deduction, tax bracket thresholds, and eligibility for certain credits. EA Part 1 tests filing status heavily because the rules require layering multiple tests — and a single disqualifying fact changes the entire answer.

The Five Filing Statuses

Single applies to taxpayers who are unmarried, legally separated, or divorced on the last day of the tax year and who don't qualify for a more favorable status.

Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) is available when two taxpayers are legally married on December 31 of the tax year (or when a spouse died during the year). Both spouses report all income and deductions on one return and are jointly and severally liable for the tax.

Married Filing Separately (MFS) is available to married taxpayers who choose not to file jointly. MFS is generally the least favorable status: phaseouts are harsher, certain credits are disallowed entirely (EITC, education credits, child and dependent care credit), and the standard deduction is cut in half relative to MFJ.

Head of Household (HOH) is available to unmarried (or considered unmarried) taxpayers who maintain a home for a qualifying person. It offers a larger standard deduction and lower tax rates than Single.

Qualifying Surviving Spouse (QSS) — formerly called Qualifying Widow(er) — applies for up to two years after a spouse's death if the taxpayer has a dependent child and maintains the qualifying child's home.

Head of Household: The Full Test

HOH is the most frequently tested status because it requires satisfying three distinct requirements.

Requirement 1: Unmarried or Considered Unmarried

A taxpayer is considered unmarried for HOH purposes if they meet all of the following on the last day of the year:

• They file a separate return from their spouse
• They paid more than half the cost of maintaining their home
• Their spouse did not live in the home during the last 6 months of the year
• The home was the principal residence of a qualifying child for more than half the year
• The taxpayer can claim the child as a dependent (or would be able to but for a written declaration releasing the exemption to the other parent)

Requirement 2: Maintained a Home for More Than Half the Year

The taxpayer must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home. Qualifying costs include rent or mortgage interest, property taxes, utilities, repairs, and food eaten in the home. They do not include clothing, medical expenses, or vacation costs.

Requirement 3: A Qualifying Person Lived in the Home

The qualifying person for HOH purposes is broader than just a qualifying child:

• A qualifying child of the taxpayer (even if someone else claims the dependency exemption, the non-custodial parent rule does NOT transfer HOH status)
• A qualifying relative who is the taxpayer's parent (the parent does not need to live with the taxpayer — maintaining the parent's separate home qualifies)
• A qualifying relative who lived with the taxpayer for more than half the year

Qualifying Child vs. Qualifying Relative

These two dependency definitions appear throughout Part 1. Know the five tests for each.

Qualifying Child (five tests)

1. Relationship — child, stepchild, foster child, sibling, stepsibling, or a descendant of any of these
2. Age — under 19 at year-end; or under 24 and a full-time student; or permanently and totally disabled at any age
3. Residency — lived with the taxpayer for more than half the year
4. Support — did not provide more than half of their own support
5. Joint return — did not file a joint return with a spouse (except to claim a refund)

No gross income test applies to a qualifying child.

Qualifying Relative (four tests)

1. Not a qualifying child — the person cannot qualify as a qualifying child of any other taxpayer
2. Member of household or relationship — must either live with the taxpayer all year or be a specified relative (parent, sibling, in-law, aunt, uncle, etc.)
3. Gross income — gross income must be less than the exemption amount ($5,050 for 2024)
4. Support — the taxpayer must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year

Tiebreaker Rules for Qualifying Child

When more than one taxpayer could claim the same child as a qualifying child, the IRS applies tiebreaker rules in this order:

1. The parent always wins over a non-parent
2. If both claimants are parents, the parent with whom the child lived longer during the year wins
3. If the child lived equally with both parents, the parent with the higher AGI wins
4. If neither claimant is a parent, the person with the higher AGI wins

Key Exam Traps

Trap 1: A legally married taxpayer generally cannot file HOH — they must satisfy the "considered unmarried" rules first.

Trap 2: A non-custodial parent who receives Form 8332 from the custodial parent can claim the dependency exemption (and the Child Tax Credit), but cannot use that child to qualify for HOH status. HOH stays with the custodial parent.

Trap 3: For Qualifying Surviving Spouse, the taxpayer must have been eligible to file MFJ in the year the spouse died. The QSS status is available only for the two tax years following the year of death, not the year of death itself.

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