[tueybaby31]

I am the only one who works, can I claim my fiancé and his 2 kids and get earned income tax credit? I have lived with him since oct 2008 and his kids moved in with us in feb 2009. Can I claim head of household?

[ebaines]

No - since you uare not married and neither your fiancé nor his kids are your relatives, you can not claim them as qualifying relatives. Hence you can not file as Head of Household.

[myoungii]

No - since you uare not married and neither your fiance nor his kids are your relatives, you can not claim them as qualifying relatives. Hence you can not file as Head of Household.

The requirements for filling head of household are as follows:

Beunmarried as of the last day of the tax year. Exceptions apply to individuals married to nonresidents aliens and to abandon spouses.

Not be a surviving spouse

Be a U.S. Citizen or resident.

Pay over half of the costs of maintaining as his or her home a household in which a dependent lives for more than half of the tax year. An expectation permits a taxpayer who maintains a household in which a qualifying child lives for more than half of the tax year to claim head-of-household status when the qualifying child is not the taxpayers dependent. This comes into play in the case of a divorced parent when the dependency exemption goes to the non-custodial parent as well as in the case of financially independent children. A second exception permits a taxpayer to claim head-of-household status if he or she maintains a separate household for a dependent parent. This enable the parent to continue living in his or her own home.

If all of the following stipulations are followed she should be able to at least claim head-of-household.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

You apparently extracted the citation abve from either the IRS website or on of the pertunent IRS publications. However, you need to read ALL of the guidance.

The tables in the IRS pub (Table 2-1 for IRS Pub 17) makes it clear that the qualifying person for the Head of Household filing status MUST be a relative, either by blood or marriage.

In the OP's case, the fiancé and his children are NOT related to the OP, so she will NOT qualify for HoH and CANNOT claim either the Earned Income Credit or the Child Tax Credit. She CAN claim both the fiancé and the children as her dependents, however, provided she meets the support requirements.

[ebaines]

No - since you are not married and neither your fiance nor his kids are your relatives, you can not claim them as qualifying relatives. Hence you can not file as Head of Household.

I need to correct my earlier post. I should have said "you can not claim them as qualifying persons" - hence you may not file as HoH, and you should file as Single. However, it seems your fiance MAY be a "qualifying relative" for purposes of claiming him as your dependent - as long as you provided more than half his support and his gross income was less than $3650. You may claim his kids only if they lived with you the entire year and meet these same support income and support tests.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Upon reviewing the IRS pubs, I am forced to agree with ebaines:

- The children MUST live you the entire year, so they CANNOT be claimed by you.

- You CAN claim your fiancé since he DID live with you for ALL of 2009.