Head of Household

You can check the “Head of household” box in the Filing Status section on page 1 of Form 1040 or 1040-SR if you are unmarried and provide a home for certain other persons. You are considered unmarried for this purpose if any of the following applies.

You were legally separated according to your state law under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance at the end of 2025. But if, at the end of 2025, your divorce wasn’t final (an interlocutory decree), you are considered married.

You are married but lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of 2025 and you meet the other rules under Married persons who live apart , later.

You are married and your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and the election to treat the alien spouse as a resident alien is not made. See Nonresident aliens and dual-status aliens , earlier.

Test 1.

You paid over half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for all of 2025 of your parent whom you can claim as a dependent, except under a multiple support agreement (see Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , later). Your parent didn’t have to live with you.

Test 2.

You paid over half the cost of keeping up a home in which you lived and in which one of the following also lived for more than half of the year (if half or less, see Exception to time lived with you , later).

Any person whom you can claim as a dependent. But don’t include: Your child whom you claim as your dependent because of the rule for Children of divorced or separated parents under Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , later; Any person who is your dependent only because the person lived with you for all of 2025; or Any person you claimed as a dependent under a multiple support agreement. See Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , later.

Your unmarried qualifying child who isn’t your dependent.

Your married qualifying child who isn’t your dependent only because you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s 2025 return.

Your qualifying child who, even though you are the custodial parent, isn’t your dependent because of the rule for Children of divorced or separated parents under Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , later. If the child isn’t claimed as your dependent, enter the child’s name in the entry space below qualifying surviving spouse. If you don’t enter the name, it will take us longer to process your return.

Qualifying child.

To find out if someone is your qualifying child, see Step 1 under Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , later.

Dependent.

To find out if someone is your dependent, see Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , later.

The dependents you claim are those you list by name and SSN in the Dependents section on Form 1040 or 1040-SR.

Exception to time lived with you.

Temporary absences by you or the other person for special circumstances, such as school, vacation, business, medical care, military service, or detention in a juvenile facility, count as time lived in the home. Also see Kidnapped child , later, under Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , if applicable.

If the person for whom you kept up a home was born or died in 2025, you still may be able to file as head of household. If the person is your qualifying child, the child must have lived with you for more than half the part of the year the child was alive. If the person is anyone else, see Pub. 501. Similarly, if you adopted the person for whom you kept up a home in 2025, the person was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption by you in 2025, or the person was an eligible foster child placed with you during 2025, the person is considered to have lived with you for more than half of 2025 if your main home was this person’s main home for more than half the time since the person was adopted or placed with you in 2025.

Keeping up a home.

To find out what is included in the cost of keeping up a home, see Pub. 501.

Married persons who live apart.

Even if you weren’t divorced or legally separated at the end of 2025, you are considered unmarried if all of the following apply.

You lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of 2025. Temporary absences for special circumstances, such as for business, medical care, school, or military service, count as time lived in the home.

You file a separate return from your spouse.

You paid over half the cost of keeping up your home for 2025.

Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half of 2025 (if half or less, see Exception to time lived with you , earlier).

You can claim this child as your dependent or could claim the child except that the child’s other parent can claim the child under the rule for Children of divorced or separated parents under Who Qualifies as Your Dependent , later.