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5. You paid more than half the cost of keep- ing up a home for the year. See Keeping Up a Home, earlier, under Head of House- hold. Example. A's spouse died in 2020. A hasn’t remarried. A has continued during 2021 and 2022 to keep up a home for A and A’s child who lives with A and whom A can claim as a de- pendent. For 2020, A was entitled to file a joint return for A and A’s deceased spouse. For 2021 and 2022, A can file as a qualifying surviving spouse. After 2022, A can file as head of household if A qualifies. Death or birth. You may be eligible to file as a qualifying surviving spouse if the child who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year. You must have provided more than half of the cost of keeping up a home that was the child's main home during the entire part of the year the child was alive. Adopted child. You may be eligible to file as a qualifying surviving spouse if the child who qualifies you for this filing status you adopted in 2022 or was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption by you in 2022. The child is consid- ered to have lived with you for all of 2022 if your main home was this child's main home for the entire time since this child was adopted or placed with you in 2022. Kidnapped child. You may be eligible to file as a qualifying surviving spouse even if the child who qualifies you for this filing status has been kidnapped. You can claim qualifying sur- viving spouse filing status if all the following statements are true. 1. The child is presumed by law enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who isn't a member of your fam- ily or the child's family. 2. In the year of the kidnapping, the child lived with you for more than half the part of the year before the kidnapping. 3. In the year of the child’s return, the child lived with you for more than half the part of the year following the date of the child’s return. 4. You would have qualified for qualifying surviving spouse filing status if the child had not been kidnapped. As mentioned earlier, this filing status is available for only 2 years following the year your spouse died. CAUTION ! Who Is a Qualifying Person Qualifying You To File as Head of Household?1 CAUTION ! See the text of this publication for the other requirements you must meet to claim head of household filing status. IF the person is your . . . AND . . . THEN that person is . . . qualifying child (such as a son, daughter, or grandchild who lived with you more than half the year and meets certain other tests)2 the child is single a qualifying person, whether or not the child meets the Citizen or Resident Test. the child is married and you can claim the child as a dependent a qualifying person. the child is married and you can't claim the child as a dependent not a qualifying person.3 qualifying relative4 who is your father or mother you can claim your parent as a dependent5 a qualifying person.6 you can't claim your parent as a dependent not a qualifying person. qualifying relative4 other than your father or mother (such as a grandparent, brother, or sister who meets certain tests) your relative lived with you more than half the year, and your relative is related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who don't have to live with you, later, and you can claim your relative as a dependent5 a qualifying person. your relative didn't live with you more than half the year not a qualifying person. your relative isn't related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who don't have to live with you, later, and is your qualifying relative only because your relative lived with you all year as a member of your household not a qualifying person. you can't claim your relative as a dependent not a qualifying person. 1 A person can't qualify more than one taxpayer to use the head of household filing status for the year. 2 The term “qualifying child” is defined under Dependents, later. Note: If you are a noncustodial parent, the term “qualifying child” for head of household filing status doesn't include a child who is your qualifying child only because of the rules described under Children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart) under Qualifying Child, later. If you are the custodial parent and those rules apply, the child is generally your qualifying child for head of household filing status even though the child isn't a qualifying child you can claim as a dependent. 3 This person is a qualifying person if the only reason you can't claim the person as a dependent is that you, or your spouse if filing jointly, can be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer's return. 4 The term “qualifying relative” is defined under Dependents, later. 5 If you can claim a person as a dependent only because of a multiple support agreement, that person isn't a qualifying person. See Multiple Support Agreement, later. 6 See Special rule for parent, earlier. Table 4. Page 10 Publication 501 (2022)