If the person is your qualifying relative who
is your father or mother and you can claim an exemption for him
or her, they are a qualifying person that can qualify you for
the dependent exemption and head of household filing status. On
the other hand, if you cannot claim an exemption for him or her,
then they are not to be considered a qualifying person.
Qualifying relatives other than your father or
mother who lived with you for more than half the year and he or
she is related to you in one of the ways for relatives who do
not have to live with you, and you can claim an exemption for
him or her, are qualifying persons for the head of household
filing status. These qualifying relatives are your grandparents,
your brothers or sisters who also have to meet certain other
tests. Of course if they did not live with you for more than
half of the year, they are not a qualifying person. These are
very basic tax concepts that you will too eventually have
ingrained in your memory.
If your qualifying relative is not related to
you in one of the ways for relatives who do not have to live
with you, and they are a qualifying relative only because he or
she lived with you all year as a member of your household, then
they are not a qualifying person for you to use the head of
household filing status. Almost in all cases, if you cannot take
an exemption for a qualifying relative, they cannot be a
qualifying person for you to benefit from the head of household
filing status or their dependent exemption.
Get familiar with the terms qualifying child
and qualifying child as they have different tests and
requirements that you must meet for the different credits or
deductions to take on your tax return. A person, qualifying
child or qualifying relative cannot qualify more than one
taxpayer for the head of household status in a single year. A
child does not qualify you for the head of household filing if
he or she is your qualifying child for exemption purposes only
as is sometime the case with divorced, legally separated parents
or custodial parents. In certain circumstances, the child can be
your qualifying child to claim an exemption and for head of
household purposes and not be your child for whom you can claim
an exemption. Additionally, if you can claim an exemption for a
person only because of a multiple support agreement, that
individual is not a qualifying person who can qualify you for
the head of household filing status.
Furthermore, to claim the head of household
filing status, there are five test that you must meet for a
child to be your qualifying child and these are the same test to
be able to claim an exemption for the dependent. First, you must
pass the relationship test. To meet this test, your must be your
son, daughter, stepchild, foster-child, or a descendent of these
individuals such as your grandchild. You can also meet the
requirement in the same if you have other dependents such as
your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother,
stepsister or a descendent of these individuals such as your
niece or nephew.
Your child must also meet the age test to
claim his or her exemption and for the head of household filing
status. For the age test, your child must be under age 19 at the
end of the year and younger than you or your younger than your
spouse if your married and filing jointly. To meet the age test,
your qualifying child can be a student under the age of 24 at
the end of the year and younger than you or your spouse if you
are married filing jointly. The age does not matter if the child
is permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year
and this child would also meet the age test to claim the
dependent exemption
