Head of Household Tax Credit

[Mantle2600]

I figured I would ask here since this is such a knowledgeable community.

Me and my girlfriend live together and we rent a the downstairs of a duplex. We had a kid in April. She only worked about 5 months this year and made about $5,500 and I worked all year and made about $30,000. I wanted to see if anyone knows if I can file as Head of Household or if I should go see a tax preparer. I usually do my own taxes but i'm a little confused on this issue. The difference from filing single or HoH is about $800 so it might be worth it to see someone but i'm just not sure.

Thoughts?

[gstelmack]

Buy TurboTax for these tricky questions, as it usually includes all the IRS info you need to determine if you qualify.

Head of Household (http://www.irs.gov/applications/wh/helpdocs/hoh.html) says:

Head of Household Generally, you may claim head of household filing status on your tax return only if you are unmarried and pay more than 50% of the costs of keeping up a home for yourself and your dependent(s) or other qualifying individuals.

The key I guess is are they dependents, or "other qualifying individuals"? The kid may be the key, but I'd just be guessing.

[Taur]

I thought TurboTax was free this year?

[Honolulu Blue]

Quick answers; see your friendly neighborhood tax expert for more details:

* Yes, you're eligible to file for Head of Household
* Yes, you can claim the child as a dependent
* You're also eligible for the Earned Income Credit (EIC), so be sure to pick up those forms and instructions
* You can't claim your girlfriend as a dependent
* Your girlfriend can't claim the child as a dependent
* Your girlfriend should file as Single
* Based on her income, she should get all the (federal) money back that was withheld
* You should get a nice sized refund, depending on how much you had withheld

As far as whether you should get a preparer, that's up to you. A preparer will likely charge at least $200 to do your return (your girlfriend should be able to do her own with no problem). Doing it yourself will cost less, but you need to know what to look for.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

[flere-imsaho]

Agree with Greg & HB's advice. If the thought of reading through the tax material TurboTax will offer you doesn't scare you too much, I'd probably go that route, since TT is usually pretty good in giving you the right information to make the right choices, and then automating a lot of stuff from there. Given that you should stand to get a lot of money back, the investment of whatever TT costs these days will certainly pay back.

If you're unsure, I'd go with an accountant over a tax preparer, especially if you can get a good recommendation. We've had an accountant do ours ever since ours got complicated and I think we pay $250. But we're in a very different situation from you. I think, though, and this is just my own bias showing, that a good accountant will find more of the loopholes for you than a tax preparer will.

Having said that, maybe this is something even H&R Block might be able to knock out of the park, I haven't used them, though.

[Ramzavail]

Quick answers; see your friendly neighborhood tax expert for more details:

* Yes, you're eligible to file for Head of Household
* Yes, you can claim the child as a dependent
* You're also eligible for the Earned Income Credit (EIC), so be sure to pick up those forms and instructions
* You can't claim your girlfriend as a dependent
* Your girlfriend can't claim the child as a dependent
* Your girlfriend should file as Single
* Based on her income, she should get all the (federal) money back that was withheld
* You should get a nice sized refund, depending on how much you had withheld

As far as whether you should get a preparer, that's up to you. A preparer will likely charge at least $200 to do your return (your girlfriend should be able to do her own with no problem). Doing it yourself will cost less, but you need to know what to look for.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

Spot on, I am studying for the regulation part of the CPA Exam and all of these are spot on.

Main explaination points just so you know:

You can't claim her b/c she makes *over* the exemption amount, which is 3,500 (assuming that the 5,000 mark you claimed is *taxable* income)

She can't claim the child as a dependent b/c odds are, you supported more than 50% of the support for the child. Therefore, you get the dependent. And even if it was 50/50%, you both can't claim the claim as a dependent.

You can claim HOH b/c:

1. You are not married
2. You maintained a household for more than half of the taxable year for your child.

[CU Tiger]

Turbo tax is free, go to the web and input data, they charge you only when you file.

You can input all its info review your forms and copy it down manually and not pay a dime; if you aare that cheap....and you sill get all the explanations

[Mantle2600]

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.