Consumption and Real Estate
Can I claim Head of household if my BF claims the mortgage interest and Property taxes? I pay more than 50%.?
Question : Can I claim Head of household if my BF claims the mortgage interest and Property taxes? I pay more than 50%.?
I have 3 kids full time, he has 1. He owns the house. I pay all utilities, all groceries, and I pay the insurance on the contents of the house which totals more than 50% of our annual living costs (and more than the Mort int and Prop taxes). I want to file HOH with no itemizations, he would file single and take the itemizations for the mortgage interest and property taxes only. Can we do that?
I am not on the title or the loan. Just want to make sure there’s no conflict. If I claim HOH, he would not. However, he would take the deduction for interest and property taxes. I would not claim either of those.
household contents insurance
Best answer:
Answer by tro
ordinarily two people cannot file hoh at the same address and you indicate you are going to file the hoh with the children and he is filing single, what is the question?
if you feel you are providing at least 50% or more toward the household(includes the mortgage, utilities, insurance, taxes, food,clothing, repairs, transportation and entertainment for you and the children) then file hoh
but utilities and groceries isn’t 50%
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#2 written by the tax lady 1 year ago
As Judy said, the calculations for the IRS vary, but she got this one wrong.
From Pub 501:
The dependency support test uses rental value.
The HOH test *does* use mortgage interest expense.As for mortgage interest and property taxes, if you are NOT on the title or loan, yes you can do this.
Keeping Up a Home
To qualify for head of household status, you must pay more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the year. You can determine whether you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home by using the following worksheet.Cost of Keeping Up a Home
Amount
You
Paid Total
Cost
Property taxes $ $
Mortgage interest expense
Rent
Utility charges
Repairs/maintenance
Property insurance
Food consumed
on the premises
Other household expenses
Totals $ $Minus total amount you paid ( )
Amount others paid $
If the total amount you paid is more than the amount others paid, you meet the requirement of paying more than half the cost of keeping up the home.
Costs you include. Include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home.
If you used payments you received under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or other public assistance programs to pay part of the cost of keeping up your home, you cannot count them as money you paid. However, you must include them in the total cost of keeping up your home to figure if you paid over half the cost.
Costs you do not include. Do not include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as clothing, education, medical treatment, vacations, life insurance, or transportation. Also, do not include the rental value of a home you own or the value of your services or those of a member of your household.
Also do not include any government or charitable assistance you received because of your temporary relocation due to the storms, tornadoes, or flooding in a Midwestern disaster area.
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Yes, you can file Head of Household and yes you can do the standard deduction and he can itemize and use the mortgage interest and property tax (called Real Estate tax on the tax forms).
You two aren’t married, so it doesn’t matter if he itemizes or not. When it would really matter on how you two would itemize or not is if you two were married and were filing Married Filing Separate, Then you both would either itemize or both take the standard deduction.
I know it can be a bit confusing to read, but Publication 17 from the IRS is what you can use to answer a lot of tax questions, or call up a tax prep place like H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt. A tax preparer will answer your questions for you, or if they are all busy at the time you call, one will call you back.