Head of Household

[KMGAUNCE]

Can a single parent claim HOH when their adult child still lives with them but the child has a full time job and cant be claimed on parents taxes as a dependent? Of course the parent paid all of the cost of keeping up the household. I know a few years ago you could, but I was thinking last year that they had added some language so that you couldnt. This year I'm back to thinking that you can. Please set me straight.

[RoyDaleOne]

Not enough facts given, however consider:

Example 1—child.

Your unmarried son lived with you all year and was 18 years old at the end of the year. He did not provide more than half of his own support and does not meet the tests to be a qualifying child of anyone else. As a result, he is your qualifying child (see Qualifying Child, later) and, because he is single, is a qualifying person for you to claim head of household filing status.

Example 2—child who is not qualifying person.

The facts are the same as in Example 1 except your son was 25 years old at the end of the year and his gross income was $5,000. Because he does not meet the age test (explained later under Qualifying Child), your son is not your qualifying child. Because he does not meet the gross income test (explained later under Qualifying Relative), he is not your qualifying relative. As a result, he is not your qualifying person for head of household purposes.

Pub 501 IRS website.