Does a dependent in a HH file for returns?

[Jaaade]

I am filing Head of Household this year with my brother being the dependent. Is he able to file for his own return as he always did. he normally files single and uses the ez 1040 online efile. simple and just one W2 return.

I was on hold with IRS for 1 hr and 30 min and STILL couldn’t get a straight answer from them. I can’t believe they can’t give me a definite answer and I”m having to resort to outside opinions. Also, the software I’m using, taxact at the moment (free for my situation), will not respond to my emails sent since over a couple of weeks.

Any opinions, thoughts and past experience input is much appreciated. thank you.

[Jaaade]

ok guys. this whole thing has a grey area that is not addressed at all by the IRS. just spoke with the irs advocate line. they said i do not qualify for an appoitnemtn with them but they had a designated department for status questions. according to the agent’s opinion BOTH scenarios are correct ( dynasty and sara .. AND renee). so the guy took me thru 3 qualifying questions. 1 HoH for myself, 2. Filing status of my brother, 3. Dependent qualification of my brother. Answers are 1. Yes I qualify. 2. He would file single and check dependent because he did not pay more than 50% of household expenses. 3. he does NOT qualify as dependent because he made more than the 4K. the agent said the best scenario is if the software lets you file as H0H without asking for dependent, you can file as HoH. and my bro will NOT check the dependent box.

what a darn mess lol

[Jaaade]

Renee. the link to the irs tool is not working. would you be able to tell me what page to go to to find it? i tried some of the keywords in the hyperlink but didn’t work.

[Jaaade]

Renee you completely have my scenario down. exactly how I understood it. Thank you for that worksheet! Very helpful. So Sarah and Dynasty, I hope you can chime in. It looks like Renee will be doing HoH even with a dependent with income over 4k. Any thoughts?

Amber, that was also my other question if I decided to claim HoH. thank you.

Man what a headache lol.

[LCB]

Did your brother make more than $4150 in 2018? If so, he can’t be your dependent AND cannot qualify you for HoH status.

[Renee]

Amber
He always says he can be claimed by someone else. I think the difference between my claim and OP’s claim is the relationship. She is trying to claim her brother while I am claiming my son in college. Although he made more than $4,150, I am eligible if I paid more than 50% of his support. If the child is over 17 yrs old you will not qualify for the Child Tax Credit, but in my situation my son qualifies as a “Other Dependent/Dependant Relative”.

[Amber]

When he files he has to put someone else claimed him as a depdent and he didn’t provide over half his own support

[Renee]

Another worksheet for dependent relative

https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf

[Renee]

I saw this conversation and did a worksheet on irs.gov to see if my son qualified. He qualified as other dependent. No questions were asked about his income.
He’s 23 yrs old
full-time student
part-time job over $4,150
I claimed head of household

He will be filing his taxes as well, but now I’m confused?
He’s a biological child
does NOT qualify for child tax credit only “other dependent”.

Link to IRS tool I used

https://apps.irs.gov/app/IPAR/investigate/IPAR_1/en-US/Attribute~Dependents~global~global/qs%24s1%40TLC_Dependents_Development_Screens_DEPLanding_xint%24global%24global?user=guest

[Sarah]

I talk to agents a lot for work and most of them do not know tax laws. They just read prompts on a computer. Sometimes you’ll get a person who does know. It’s a hit or miss. I’m sure you got the agent that didn’t know anything lol. It depends on both income and how much the person supported the other.

[Dynasty]

Sure, no problem. They def should’ve been clear. Sounds like they didnt really know themselves.

[Jaaade]

thanks again very much guys

[Jaaade]

so i guess what they could not explain was his income? they went thru a dependent qualification questionnaire and income was not among them. very interesting. so IRS seems to not know their own rules.

so the head of household not only depends on you having contributed more than 50% but also on the income of your dependent. so that was simple. why couldn’t they say that? very very strange.

thanks guys for your patience in explaining this. seems simple enough when you guys said it.. but i’m not sure why it was made so convoluted in my conversation this morning with them.

[Dynasty]

Oh okay. You started with “im filing head of household this year with my brother being the dependent” so thats why i assumed you were trying to claim him. If you google Head of household, it says you have to pay over half the household expenses as well as have at least 1 dependent who lives with you, who made less than $4150 (that you provided over half the support for).

[Sarah]

By claiming head of household you have to claim a dependent on your return. You can’t claim him because he made over the limit. If the IRS knew his income they would have told you, you do not qualify.

So no you can’t claim head of household or him as a dependent.

[Jaaade]

i’m not trying to claim him. i am trying to claim credit for paying more than 50% of household which irs is saying i can.

[Dynasty]

His income is $23,923 for 2018? If so, no you can’t claim him because he grossed more than $4,150.

[Jaaade]

thanks for the reply dynasty. no .. no other dependents. IRS told me i qualify for head of household.. what they could not tell me is if my brother which is part of the household i supported more than 50% of the time in 2018 can also file a separate tax return or is he considered a dependent because of the head of household situation i’m putting him in?

so dynasty, you are actually saying i don’t even qualify for head of household?

[Dynasty]

Hi Jade. Do you have any other people in your household with annual incone of less than $4150? To claim Head of Household you must provide more than half of household expenses as well as have at least 1 dependent. Hope that helps.

[Jaaade]

thank you lots for your reply. his income is $23923.

this is a great chart i hadn’t seen.. and this is why this is so confusing. there is a disconnect here in my head that i am not getting. when people refer to “claiming kids as dependents and getting back a refund” is that the same as being head of household? i thought head of household was a different thing entirely where you can get a tax credit for paying more of the household share while everyone else in the home continued on with their own tax filings etc.. there’s something i’m missing here. i just don’t know what it it. the IRS lady went thru questions to see if i fit the head of household scenario and i do. but according to this chart, there is a dependent disconnect because i do fit the house hold criteria but the dependent does not qualify in this criteria. i am SO confused.

thoughts?

thanks again for your reply

[Sarah]

https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/table_2_dependency_exemption_relative_4012.pdf

I am a tax preparer. Here is a link to your answer.

[Sarah]

How much did he make?

[Author]

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