Can You Claim Head of Household If You Are Caregiver to an Elderly Parent?
The Internal Revenue Service allows taxpayers who do not qualify to itemize deductions an alternative standard deduction amount to reduce taxable income. The appropriate deduction amount directly relates to a taxpayer's filing status as either single, head of household, and married filing jointly or separately. Filing as head of household and claiming a larger standard deduction requires that you be eligible to claim another individual, such as an elderly parent, as a dependent.
Marital Status
Aside from the requirement that you claim a dependent, eligibility to file as head of household requires that you not be married on the last day of the tax year. If you are legally married, the IRS considers you as unmarried if the spouse is a nonresident alien at any time during the relevant tax year and has no obligation to file a U.S. tax return. Merely filing a separate tax return from your spouse is not sufficient to file as head of household if the spouse is a U.S. taxpayer. In this situation, the IRS requires you to file as married filing separately.
Financial Support
Eligibility to file as head of household requires that you pay more than half of the cost to maintain a home during the tax year. When determining whether you meet this requirement, you must take into account property taxes, mortgage interest, rent, utility charges, repairs and maintenance, property insurance, food you consume at home and other ordinary household expenses. If you receive any type of public assistance that subsidizes your living expenses, you cannot include any expenses you pay with those funds as support you provide to maintain the home. For example, even if your elderly parent meets all other requirements, the fact that you live rent-free with a friend may preclude you from claiming any dependents.
Elderly Parent
The fact that you are the primary caregiver for an elderly parent is not sufficient by itself to claim the parent as a dependent. The parent does not qualify as your dependent if they have taxable gross income of $3,650 or more during the year. However, the Social Security benefit a parent receives is not subject to federal taxation and therefore does not factor into the gross income amount. Although the parent need not live with you, you must provide more than half of their financial support during the year. For purposes of determining support, you must include the parent's Social Security benefits as amounts they use to support themselves. For example, if your parent's only source of income is $10,000 in Social Security benefits, the gross income test is met. However, if the parent contributes $10,000 per year towards their own support, you must provide at least $10,001 towards their support to claim them as a dependent.
Taxpayer's Dependency
Regardless of whether you and your parent meet all requirements, the IRS precludes you from claiming the parent as a dependent and filing as head of household if any other taxpayer is eligible to claim you as their own dependent. It is irrelevant whether the eligible person actually claims you on a tax return.
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