The Small Business Tax Help Blog

Posts Tagged ‘allowance’

Question: Can I file head of household & claim my fiance as dependent on 2007 tax return ?

in 2007, He has bought and sold some stock & made $1700 in his traditional ira, earn $1007 interest on certificate deposit in his traditional ira, he cashed in US saving bonds & earn $1245.60 interest. He lives with me all year long. I claim federal Tax Withholding as 2, same as state on my paid check. Can I file as head of household and claim him as dependent on my tax return this year 2007 ?

Answer: You can't file as head of household. To file as head of household, you have to have a dependent who is closely related by blood or marriage, and your fiance doesn't qualify there.

You might be able to claim him as a dependent though. To qualify, he has to had lived with you all year, his gross income has to have been under $3400 for 2007, he can't have been anyone else's qualifying child or filed a joint return with anyone else, and you have to have provided over half of his support.

The money he made in his traditional IRA's doesn't count unless he took it out, so if your question lists all of his income for the year, and he didn't take out any of his IRA money, his income would just be the savings bond interest and would be well under the $3400 limit.

As for providing half of his support, you'd have to calculate that. There is a form on page 32 of the 2006 publication 17 for figuring support. It will likely come down to how much the bonds were that he cashed, and what other money he might have had that he used for his own support. If you didn't provide over half of his own support you can't claim him.

There's one other requirement that could keep you from claiming him, and it depends on where you live. If there is a law or ordinance where you live that makes your relationship illegal, you can't claim him. Believe it or not, some areas still have laws prohibiting cohabitation by unmarried couples. Even if they are no longer enforced, but are still on the books, you couldn't claim him.

So whether or not you can claim him depends on the above issues.

New Laws Effective January 1, 2010

The following legislation will take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2010.

The Other Donald Duck Tax Propaganda Film

Coal gets big tax breaks in Kentucky

FRANKFORT — This winter, before the General Assembly decides how much further it may have to

Bill English talks to Bernard Hickey about tax reform, interest rates and the government guarantee