Phil Marti wrote:
- quote -

[Possibly aside:] Interesting, but one caveat based on the
occupation: Did the child live at the trucker's home base -
and the reason why the 6-month rule wasn't literally met was
because the trucker was on the road? If so, it still might
have been met if the trucker can establish that he is not an
itinerate worker and has a "tax home" at his home base.....

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- quote -

... qualifying person must be the CHILD of the person
claiming HoH, not nephew or other relationship if claiming
HoH with non-dependent.

....if claiming HoH with a dependent, be aware the INCOME of
the dependent if not a child must be less than $3050 for
2003 taxes.

In one case this week, client made $100K. Her mother worked
at Wal-Mart, made $3400. Therefore mother was not a
dependent and also could not make t/p be HoH with
non-dependent. Mom is non-existent....thems the rules.

exhaustedly yours,

Cindy

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"Sassy Baskets" <sassybaskets[at]hotmail.com> wrote:
- quote -

Thank you for pointing these situations out.

- quote -

This woman worked for a tax preparation service, but was
charging the fee off the books. It went to her pocket.

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tweety wrote:

- quote -

Head of household? Yes.
Dependent? Only as per the agreement.

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patel227[at]yahoo.com (tweety) writes:

- quote -

You can file as Head of Household every year. You can claim
your son as a dependent unless you release the exemption to
your ex. It sounds like you have released it in alternating
years, so you'll claim the exemption in alternating years.
Details are in IRS Publication 501.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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"Roger R." <jayray21remove[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

I have a question on this. My son lives with me 365 days a
year. His dad pays child support but I signed a form to let
him take excemption every other year (he said he was going
to see my son every weekend..- NOT. Can I claim Head of
household and claim my son as a dependent?

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Roger R. wrote:

- quote -

The qualifying person for HOH does not necessarily have to
be a dependent of the taxpayer. E.g., an unmarried child
would not have to be your dependent. However, the other
rule requires that this qualifying person live with you for
more than half the year.

You said the child does not live with him. (Pretty obvious
if he is paying child support to the custodial parent.) He
fails the test for HOH.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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Roger R. wrote:

- quote -

IIRC, an HoH-qualifying child must live with you. The child
DOES NOT have to be a dependent, as the tests are different,
but it doesn't seem as if your situation qualifies.

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- quote -

The criteria for HOH are:
1. Unmarried.
2. Paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home.
3. Qualifying person lived with you more than half the year.

Sounds to me like he could not possibly have met #3 and
maybe not #2.

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"Roger R." <jayray21remove[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

Your child does not have to be your dependent to be a
qualifying person for Head of Household; however, they do
have to live with you. You are correct that this person is
not Head of Household.

- quote -

In some cases, you do not have to care for a child to use
them for EIC (if the child is your child, stepchild,
grandchild, or great-grandchild). There are many cases when
it is legal to "swap" kids for EIC--for example, if three
generations lived together in one home, the grandparent
could claim the kid for EIC. But if it's a different
relationship (uncle, for example) or the relative did not
live with the child, then yeah, that would be pretty shady.

- quote -

In a case where the "swapping" was legal, I think it would
be legitimate to charge extra, not because of the increase
in refund, but for the additional work.

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"Roger R." <jayray21remove[at]hotmail.com> writes:

- quote -

The key fact here is that the child didn't live with him.
Dependency and support are not relevant. Since the child
didn't live with him for more than half the year, he's not
eligible for HofH filing status.

- quote -

Assuming the same fact pattern for 2003, no.

- quote -

Good

- quote -

Again, an unmarried child who lives with you is a qualifying
person for HofH filing status whether the child is your
dependent or not. Same goes for an EIC qualifying child.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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I did a tax return for an individual whose tax preparer last
year determined that for tax year 2002 he was Head of
Household based on his payments of child support for a child
who was NOT also his dependent. Is it possible for that
status to exist? The child does not live with him, and he is
a truck driver who spends about 330 days a year on the road.

I determined that it was not HoH, and sent his tax return in
as single. Are there any circumstances under which I could
have been wrong?

I have good reason to believe that the prior year tax
preparer has submitted a number of rather shady tax returns,
and when I could not find any basis to give the tax payer
HoH status, based my determination to some extent on the
other evidence I had of the shady nature of other returns
that individual has submitted. She was earlier this tax
season apparently arranging to trade children between family
members to obtain EIC from tax payers who had not actually
cared for the children, and she was apparently charging a
fee for that kind of increase in the tax return. She is no
longer working as a tax preparer this year, and there is an
on-going investigation of returns she worked on.

My question is strictly on the possibility of an individual
being considered head of household based on a child who is
not his dependent.

Roger R.

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