It is
specifically stated in the California head of household rules that in order
to qualify for the head of household filing status and you are married or in
a registered domestic partnership, you must not have lived with your spouse
at any time during the last six months of the year. The qualification
stipulations for the head of household filing status are very clear. They
specifically disallow claiming the head of household filing status if the
couple lived together at any time during the last six months of the tax
year.
You are
considered to have chosen to treat your nonresident alien spouse/RDP as a
resident alien if you and your nonresident alien spouse/RDP filed as joint
return in a previous year. You are also considered to have made this choice
if you chose to treat your nonresident alien spouse/RDP as a resident so you
could file the joint tax return. Furthermore, you are considered to have
chosen to treat your nonresident alien spouse as a resident alien if you
have not revoked the choice to treat your nonresident alien spouse as a
resident by the extended due date for filing the return at issue.
The Head of
Household (HOH) filing status gives you the benefit of a lower tax and a
higher standard deduction than that of a Single or Married Filing separate
filing status.
Sometimes you
have a choice of filing status. Many times you don't have a choice. The five
filing status options are single, married filing jointly, married filing
separately, head of household, and qualifying widow or widower. Each filing
status gives you a different standard deduction amount on your federal tax
return and at two different standard deduction amounts on your California
tax return. If you are single and qualify for the head of household filing
status, your standard deduction for California is $7,984 which is the
married filing jointly standard deduction amount. This amount is better than
the $3,992 amount for a single or married filing jointly taxpayer for 2014.
The head of household filing status gives you a better tax rate and this
filing status also allows you to claim some credit or deductions which are
not allowed if you choose the married filing separate filing status.
Therefore, for California it is worth the extra effort to gather the
qualification requirements for the head of household filing status.
For same sex
couples, you are in a domestic partnership if you have entered into a
registered domestic partnership. You are also in a domestic partnership if
you have not filed a notice of termination of domestic partnership with the
Secretary of State and the six month waiting period for the notice to become
final has passed. If your registered domestic partnership was not annulled
or you have entered into another registered domestic partnership after the
annulment.
The same sex
domestic partnership law is part of the California Family Code section 297
which provides benefits which are customarily beneficial to married
taxpayers. This California law provides for taxpayers who live together as
partners to be able to file their tax returns are married filing jointly
taxpayers. Just as a marriage can be dissolved, the partnership can be
dissolved. Just like with married individual, individuals involved in a
domestic partnership can be considered not in a domestic partnership for
head of household purposes. The rules to do are similar as those of married
taxpayers.
Effective for
taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2007, RDPs under California
law must file their California income tax returns using either the married/RDP
filing jointly or married/RDP filing separately filing status. If you are in
a registered domestic partnership, you may qualify to use the head of
household filing status if you are in the process of ending your
relationship or you meet the requirements to be considered not in a
registered domestic partnership.
You must meet
the same head of household requirements that married individuals meet to be
considered head of household for tax purposes or to be considered not in a
registered domestic partnership. These requirements include not having lived
with your partner at any time during the last six months of the year. You
must have a
