Two Heads of Household?!

[Janitor Bob]

two of my clients (each previously filed HOH with one dependent)...all was good....but then in early 2008, they moved in together in her house....Now, of course, they both expected to file HOH as in the past......Am I correct that there can only be one HOH for any given address? Both incomes are similar, but since she owns the home, I'm thinking the HOH would go to her and he would get Single....correct?

Its gonna cost him $1,221....So I want to be sure I'm thinking straight here.

[Kea]

You are correct. I hope you wear protective gear when you tell him about his reduced refund.

[OldJack]

The guy is the one that always pays! :(

[joanmcq]

But think of how much he saved by moving in with her! Bet it was more than $1,221!!!!

[Virtual Managed Solutions]

He won't think that way though, he'll only think about the present moment and the losing of $1,221.

[RitaB]

they moved in together in her house....Now, of course, they both expected to file HOH as in the past

One of my clients is HoH, and I'm thinking her live-in BF is going somewhere else and claiming HoH, too. I hope they get caught, but they won't, will they?

On a happier note, had a client last year, (HAD being the key word), that overdid it on the cheating thing. Brought in his stuff, I could see he had a loss (yeah, right), kept telling me his daughter lived with him "all year." Well, on the way out, "Oh yea, I forgot to tell you my mileage." His "mileage log" was on the back of a deposit slip. Mileage made his loss even greater, like (30,000).

When he picked up return, was furious that he didn't get "that there unearned income credit."

On the way out, I said, "Be sure and let next year's preparer see my return. You have a NOL you want to take advantage of."

[RitaB]

This just in (literally).

Non-custodial parent dropped off stuff: "Remember, I claim child this year."

Oh, yes, and how long did she live with you?

"She lives with my ex for six months and with me for six months."

Exactly six months each? She doesn't live with one of you more than the other?

"Yes, exactly six months each."

Comes in to pick up return: "Did you file me as HoH?"

No, you don't qualify if dependant didn't live with you for more than six months.

"Oh, I didn't know how that worked."

Obviously.

[Terry D EA]

I had one that was announcing her marriage last year. I asked where her husband was and the response I got was he was at home and had already filed his taxes with another preparer and filed HOH. This is a young hispanic couple and I tried to prevent them from getting in trouble with the IRS. She said she would get her husband and bring in his return for me to amend. She did ask what would have happened if she wouldn't have told me she was married. So, I gave her the script. You would have lied to me, I would have processed the return, you would have received a large refund that you were not entitled to. You would have enjoyed this refund until the IRS catches your lies and tells you to pay back the money plus interest you weren't entitled to and will kick you out of the EIC program for 10 years for committing fraud. I haven't seen her since. I think we all can guess what she did.

Terry D.

[kcjenkins]

Yes, and sadly, the IRS knows this goes on and does almost nothing to stop it, or punish it. And frankly, it's hard on us when we have to tell them 'no' and we all know that they will just go somewhere else and use what we told them to lie better to the next one they go to. But hey, all we can do is live up to our own standards, right?

[joanmcq]

But at my job I see the ones that got caught...and it aint pretty.

[jainen]

>>I think we all can guess what she did.<<

My guess is she brought her husband down to amend the return, just like she said. Except that she found a new preparer, one who didn't start squawking about lies and fraud when the question was simply how to file correctly.

[Chowdahead]

One of my clients is HoH, and I'm thinking her live-in BF is going somewhere else and claiming HoH, too. I hope they get caught, but they won't, will they?

Doubtful. The IRS quit address-matching years ago. It became to complex.

Now they have their hands full trying to track down the people claiming kids as nieces and nephews for the EIC.

What I will say about the EIC is that under the current rules it discourages marriage because a couple filing each as Head of Household will get double they would get if they were married. There are so many problems with the EIC program it's ridiculous.