my x-husband and i have THREE biological children. we are LEGALLY divorced and have been for OVER a year. however, we now live in the same house. we both work and we both pay the bills. IS IT LEGAL if i claim two children and file as hoh and he claims 1 child and files as hoh? i know it would be if we lived in seperate homes, and from what i understand hoh isnt based on where you live but support of dependants...i make more so i would say i 100% support 2 children and he 100% supports 1 child....but i get different answers every time i ask someone... so if you know the actual truth and are not just guessing PLEASE clue me in.... and if the answer is no we shouldnt file that way, then how should we file? we CANT file joint cause we are not married....
??? so confused!!!

[quote=brookslane26;13822]my x-husband and i have THREE biological children. we are LEGALLY divorced and have been for OVER a year. however, we now live in the same house. we both work and we both pay the bills. IS IT LEGAL if i claim two children and file as hoh and he claims 1 child and files as hoh? {QUOTE}

I do not think so.Only if there are two separate living units at the address, such as a multi-family house, and each person lives with their qualifying person in a separate unit and pays more than half of the cost of maintaining their respective homes. However, as it is mathematically impossible for two people to both pay more the 50% of the household expenses, there can really be only one Head of Household. As you have children with your former spouse, only one of you can claim the children as dependents. However, if your former spouse doesn't agree to let you take the exemption and vice versa, the IRS allows the parent with the higher AGI to claim the children as dependents. You can't BOTH file HOH if living in same household as only one of you is paying MORE than half the cost of maintaining the household. And to file HOH, each of you need a dependent--not same dependent. What you CANNOT do is both claim HH by
using the same child(ren) as your Qualifying person. Ypu can contact the IRS for more info in detail.

of course we cant both claim the same kids, but he can claim one and i can claim 2....i know that for a fact, the question is the hoh. and if i pay exactly 50% and he plays exactly 50% of bills, but i pay for the expenses of 2 children and he pays the expenses for one child, then that makes sense, right?? i just wish i could find it in writing somewhere from the irs....

As mentioned previously, to claim your dependents as HOH filer, you MUST pay MORE the 50% of the household expenses(I mean to pay for MORE than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year) , it is mathematically impossible for two people to both pay MORE the 50% of the household expenses.

You can contact a CPA/ an IRS EA in your local area for more info in detail.