Tax Tip of the Week*

HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD

Generally speaking, the most advantageous way to file a tax return is married jointly, and the least advantageous is married filing separately. Somewhat better than the latter is single, and somewhat better than single but not quite as good as married jointly is filing as head of household. As a general comment, when going through a divorce, you are either going to file jointly (as you typically have over the years) or you are going to be filing married filing separately. However, if there are dependent children, then there is the possibility of filing as head of household – but that is only available to the custodial parent. Who is entitled to take the exemptions is not relevant to the issue of who is entitled to claim head of household. Thus, in a stereotypical situation where the children stay with the wife, she may be entitled to file head of household, but the husband would not, and would probably have to file married filing separately.