If two single people (never married) have a child and have always lived together providing equal support for that child, can they both claim head of household status?

Only the person who paid more that half the cost of keeping up a home for the year would qualify for the head of household filing status. If both people paid exactly the same amount, neither would qualify for the head of household filing status. Please refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, for more information.

References:

• Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
• Tax Topic 353, What is your filing status

As a single parent, can I claim head of household filing status as long as I have a child living with me (no matter what the age of the child) and paid for over half the cost of keeping up a home?

As long as you meet the three requirements to qualify for head of household filing status, the age of the qualifying person is immaterial. Please refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information , for more information.

References:

• Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
• Tax Topic 353, What is your filing status

Can a person claim a girlfriend as a wife if they have a child or do they have to be married?

You are considered married if you are living together in a common law marriage that is recognized in the state where you now live or in the state where the common law marriage began. If you are considered married, then you may file as married filing jointly and claim two personal exemptions on a joint return (assuming that neither of you are qualifying dependents on another individual's return).

If you are not considered married, then you would have to file as single unless you qualify as head of household. You may not claim your girlfriend as your dependent if your relationship violates local law.

Refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, for an explanation of the five dependency tests (5).

References:

• Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information

My husband and I have provided a home for my niece and her son for the past seven months. She receives no child support from her ex-spouse, and she does not work or have any income of her own. Can I claim her and her son as dependents?

Your niece doesn't need to live with you for the entire year in order to be claimed as a dependent. She meets the first of five dependency exemption tests, which is the relationship test. She must still meet the other four dependency exemption tests.

Citizenship test.

Joint return test.

Gross income test.

Support test.

Your niece's son did not live with you for the entire year and does not meet the relationship test. Therefore, he cannot be claimed as a dependent. Refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, for more information.

References:

• Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information

If both parents want to claim the Earned Income Credit, who is entitled to it if there was no marriage?

If the child is a qualifying child of both parents, they may choose which one will claim the credit. If there are two qualifying children, each parent may claim the credit on the basis of one of the children. If both actually claim the credit on the basis of the same child or children, the parent who is entitled to the credit is the parent with whom the child lived for the longest period of time during the tax year, or the parent with the higher Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) if the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time during the year.

Refer to Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, for full discussion of the Earned Income Credit rules.

References:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EIC)