Head of Household

[HelpingHands]

You can not be exactly 50:50 for overnights. It's impossible. She will spend one additional night at someone's house. 365 days divided by 2 does not equal 50/50 spilt. It's 182.5 days. Someone gets her in the morning and someone in the evening/overnight.

Usually, if you are the one paying support you are considered the non custodial parent even in joint custody arrangements and I believe you would need the additional night or the form listed above signed by the other parent.

My question is: How does head of household come in to play when you are supporting your household and she hers. Why would you not be able to claim head of household for your own home, when nobody else can claim that status for your home? There you have me lost.

[Jade]

>I'm getting close to a divorce settlement (FINALLY!). It
>would help if my stbx didn't walk out of mediation every time
>she doesn't get her way and we have to reschedule another
>session 3 weeks later after her attorney can talk her into
>coming back to the table.
>
>Anyway, I'm looking at tax issues for this year. Since I was
>the family's sole source of income for most of our marriage,
>I'm obviously going to take a huge hit in going from married
>filing jointly to single. Nothing I can do about that.
>
>The agreement we've worked out so far doesn't discuss my
>daughter's personal exemption. While I'm fairly high income
>and that exemption starts to phase out, it's still got some
>value to me. Our agreement says that she lives with each of us
>50% of the time, but I'm still paying support, so I can easily
>win the 'who provides greater than 50% of the income' test.
>Since she's at each home 50% of the time, there's a
>tie-breaker - who has the higher AGI - and I win that, so I
>should be able to get the deduction. I'm going to try to get
>it into the agreement, but if I can't, I'm pretty comfortable
>taking it based on the tie breaker rule.
>
>The problem is Head of Household. As someone corrected me a
>week or so ago, HofH requires that the child live with you
>MORE THAN 50% of the time. My dauughter is with each of us
>50%. Is there a similar tie breaker rule for HofH? If not, I'm
>gong to have to try to get the agreement to say that Katie
>gets one day a year more with me than with her mother, but
>that will be a huge battle. The value to me (difference
>between filing singly and head of household) is about $3,000
>per year.
>
>Any thoughts on getting the Head of Household status if the
>child is exactly 50% in each home?

That is a question for a tax accountant.  There may not be a way around it for either one of you.  

[Jade]

>They aren't divorced yet. So, there is no binding agreement.
>I don't know if they have a separation agreement or not.
>
>BTW - Gemini3 - Double check your post - you listed five
>statements that should be true and not four as your post
>indicated.
>
>The IRS is confusing enough!
>
>The fact is mist that whoever files first gets to make the
>claim.  
>

That is not necessarily true.  When a parent has physical custody of the child, that parent automatically gets the exemption in the abscence of a court order.

While what you are claiming may be true in the case of a true 50/50 custody situation, his just claiming the child without the consent of the other parent could very well backfire on him and anger the judge who is handling the divorce.  And the judge has the authority to give the exemption to the other parent, every single year instead of alternating it like they usually do.  

[mistoffolees]

Head of Household is a specific filing status. It's not enough to be supporting your own household. You have to meet all the other requirements.

You're right about the overnights. I guess it will automatically vary from one person to the other depending on the way the calendar works (we alternative weeks). That might be the solution to the problem - half of the time I'd have more than 50% and half the time she would.

I think I'll talk to an accountant to see if there are any other ways to work it.

Thanks.