Your submitting standing is the spine of your tax return, and checking the mistaken field might be pricey. But many filers nonetheless confuse single and head of family, monetary consultants say.
“Most individuals aren’t totally conscious of the variations,” mentioned Rose Swanger, an authorized monetary planner and enrolled agent at Advise Finance in Knoxville, Tennessee.
You possibly can select the one submitting standing when you’re not married. However when you’re financially supporting a dependent, it’s possible you’ll qualify for head of household with vital tax advantages.
Advantages of head of family
For divorced mother and father, it is all the time higher to file as head of family, mentioned Linda Farinola, a CFP and accomplice at Princeton Monetary Group in Plainsboro, New Jersey.
One motive is there are wider tax brackets, which means it takes extra revenue to succeed in every fee. For instance, single filers could attain the highest of the 12% bracket with $40,525, whereas heads of family could have as much as $54,200.
And with a bigger customary deduction — $18,800 in contrast with $12,550 for single filers in 2021— your taxable revenue could also be decrease.
You might also qualify for different write-offs sooner, such because the third stimulus payment, the improved child tax credit or boosted earned income tax credit for 2021.
“There are a slew of tax advantages that change into a bargaining chip in divorce negotiations,” Swanger mentioned.
Qualifying for head of family
Whereas there are clear advantages for heads of family, there are strict eligibility necessities. “That is one space the place the IRS is scrupulous,” mentioned Swanger.
To qualify for head of family, you should be single or dwelling individually out of your partner for at the least the final six months of the yr. A brief absence like college or work would not depend.
It’s essential to pay for greater than half of the price of sustaining a house, equivalent to lease, mortgage curiosity, property taxes, utilities, repairs and meals at house.
And you could have a “qualifying particular person,” equivalent to a baby, grandchild or different relations, dwelling with you for greater than half of the yr. A dependent father or mother would not must reside in your house when you cowl greater than half of their value of dwelling.
Each mother and father could qualify for head of family with two or extra youngsters, so long as one little one lives with every father or mother for greater than half of the yr, offering greater than half the monetary assist, mentioned Sallie Mullins Thompson, a Washington, D.C.-based CFP and CPA on the agency along with her title.
Nevertheless, if there’s just one little one, mother and father could alternate claiming the top of family submitting standing every year.
“Should you plan forward, each mother and father can get monetary savings and keep away from errors,” Swanger added.