Hi all -
When determining if someone is a qualifying relative so that someone can claim to be head of household, one of the tests is that the relative earn less money than the personal exemption amount. For this year that amount is zero. Does that pretty much do away with the qualifying relative test?
Thanks!
I understand where you are going with this. I recommend in the future, when discussing whether you can file as head of household, you use the term qualifying person. There are a variety of people who have a SPECIFIC relationship to the taxpayer that may qualify the taxpayer to file as HoH. All of them except for your parents have to live with the taxpayer for more than half the year. Qualifying relatives can only be a qualifying person for filing HoH if you can claim an exemption for them. An unmarried qualifying child is a qualifying person for filing as HoH even if you release the exemption to a noncustodial parent. A married qualifying child can only qualify you to file as HoH if you can claim the dependency exemption.
As you can see, the definitions of qualifying child and qualifying relative still exist. Congress changed the value of the personal exemption in Sec. 151 to zero for years 2018 to 2025 but only for purposes of the deduction. For all other purposes, it still exists and the value to be used for the qualifying relative gross income test is subject to inflation and has to be published by the Treasury. I believe it is $4150 in 2018.
Those who continue to meet the definition of being a qualifying child and are under age 17 trigger the CTC and possibly the ACTC. Those who are your qualifying child and over age 16 and those who continue to meet the definition of being a qualifying relative (this would include the gross income test) for the dependency exemption trigger the $500 family credit. A custodial parent who releases the exemption for a qualifying child to the noncustodial parent is surrendering the CTC and ACTC or the family credit to the noncustodial parent.
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