Persons Living Apart

However, you are considered unmarried for purposes of claiming the credit if your filing status is married filing separately and all of the following apply:

you are married;

you file a separate return;

you maintained as your home a household that is the principal abode of a qualifying individual for more than one-half of the tax year;

you furnished over one-half of the cost of maintaining that household during the tax year; and

your spouse is not a member of that household during the last six months of that tax year.

If you meet all of the requirements to be treated as unmarried, you can generally take the credit. However, if you do not meet all of the requirements to be treated as unmarried, you cannot generally take the credit.