Filing Status

• Before you claim any dependents, it’s important to choose your filing status. If you’re not married, you can choose either head of household or single. The head of household filing status is superior to the single status in terms of income limits per tax rate, but it can be claimed only by someone who has maintained a household for themselves and a dependent for more than six months. If you’re able to claim your child, your child lived with you for more than six months and you paid more than half the bills for the home, you can claim head of household. You must be unmarried to claim it.
  
  

Dependents

• Your child can be claimed as a dependent only if no one else is claiming her. Generally, the person who makes more money gets more benefit from claiming the child, but whoever provided more than half the child’s care is entitled to it. Speak to the father of the child, if available, and decide who will claim the child before filing your taxes. If two parents claim the same dependent on second returns, an audit will be triggered and only one person will be able to claim the dependent.
  
  

Benefits

• The biggest benefit of claiming your child is the head of household filing status, which includes the child tax credit of up to $1,000 per dependent child. The total amount of your credit will be reduced if your income is over $75,000. You can also qualify for the child and dependent care credit if you paid for child care so you could look for a job and your child was under age 12. The credit lets you deduct up to 35 percent of your acceptable child-care expenses from your taxable income.
  
  

Tax Tips

• Use your child’s Social Security number to claim her on your taxes. If you cannot contact the child’s father and do not know whether he will attempt to claim her on his taxes, claim her anyway, if you provided more than half her care. When the IRS investigates the situation, the person who has cared for the child and provided her support will be able to keep the credit. Your status as married or unmarried doesn’t affect claiming a child on your personal taxes at all, unless another parent has a greater tax claim.