Head of household is generally for an unmarried taxpayer who paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for a qualifying person (usually a child or certain relatives) for over half the year. If you are married and lived with your spouse all year, you typically cannot file as head of household.

What ā€œhead of householdā€ means

  • It is a special filing status that gives a higher standard deduction and more favorable tax brackets than single status.
  • It is designed for people who support and house a qualifying person, such as a child or dependent relative.

Basic rules: who should file

You generally should file as head of household if all of the following are true:

  1. You are unmarried or ā€œconsidered unmarriedā€
    • You were single, divorced, or legally separated on the last day of the year, or
    • You lived apart from your spouse for the last six months and meet IRS ā€œconsidered unmarriedā€ rules.
  1. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home
    • This includes rent or mortgage, property taxes, utilities, repairs, and food eaten in the home.
 * You must cover more than 50% of these costs for the entire year.
  1. You have a qualifying person living with you (with some exceptions)
    • Usually a qualifying child: your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, or a descendant of any of them, who meets age, residency, and support tests.
 * Often must live with you for more than half the year; a key exception is a parent you support who does not have to live with you if you pay more than half of their household costs elsewhere.

Common situations where it fits

  • Single parent with kids
    • You are divorced or never married, the children lived with you more than half the year, and you paid more than half the homeā€™s costs.
  • Separated or recently divorced spouse
    • You lived apart from your spouse for the last six months of the year, support the home, and your qualifying child lived with you more than half the year.
  • Adult caring for a parent or relative
    • You are unmarried, pay more than half the cost of keeping up your parentā€™s main home (even if they live in a separate place such as assisted living), and can claim them as a dependent.

When you should NOT file head of household

  • You are married and lived with your spouse all year, and do not meet ā€œconsidered unmarriedā€ rules.
  • You did not pay more than half the cost of the homeā€™s upkeep (for example, relatives or a partner covered most bills).
  • The person living with you is not a qualifying child or qualifying relative under IRS rules, or you cannot claim them as a dependent.

Why people care about this status

  • Head of household status gives a larger standard deduction than single; for example, for 2025 returns filed in 2026, heads of household get a standard deduction of 23,625 dollars versus 15,750 dollars for singles.
  • It also uses wider, more favorable tax brackets, which can lower your total tax bill if you qualify.

TL;DR: You should file head of household if you are unmarried (or considered unmarried), you paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home, and you had a qualifying child or dependent relative in that household for more than half the year (with a special rule for parents).

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.