Single vs. Head of Household: How Should I File My Taxes?

Picture this: You’re sitting on the couch on a quiet Sunday afternoon, catching up on your favorite show, when . . . ding-dong! . . . the doorbell rings. You open the door to find Uncle Sam’s smiling face. “Need help filing your tax return?” he asks.

Listen, folks—when Uncle Sam (er, the IRS) contacts someone, it’s usually not great news. And the Tax Man going door-to-door to “help out”? Ha! That’s a good one. It’s up to us to do our research and learn how to do our taxes. And filing your tax return the right way starts with choosing the right filing status for your tax return.

So let’s look at the difference between a single and head of household filing status, then we’ll discuss why your filing status can make a huge difference in how much you owe in taxes or how big a refund you can expect.

What Is the Head of Household Filing Status?

The head of household filing status is an alternative to filing single or married filing separately. It’s meant to give a tax break to single parents or caretakers looking after a qualified dependent by offering a higher standard deduction and lower tax rates compared to single filers.

Think of your filing status as the compass of your tax return. It points you in the right direction of your tax rate and brackets, as well as your eligibility for tax credits and deductions.

And these, in turn, affect how much you owe Uncle Sam. So, going with the wrong filing status can be costly, but how do you know if you even qualify for head of household status? Let’s take a look.

Who Can File as Head of Household?

The head of household status is designed to help single and unmarried taxpayers who are financially supporting a qualifying dependent. In some cases, that could be single, divorced, or legally separated parents with custody of their child. In other cases, you can also qualify if you support an adult dependent, like a parent or relative.

Here’s a full breakdown of the qualification requirements:

• You must be considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year.
• You must have a qualifying child or dependent (more on who qualifies as a child or dependent below).
• Your qualifying child or dependent must be related to you and have lived with you for more than half the year (more than 183 days in the year, to be exact).
• You must pay for more than half of the household expenses.

You also have to file an individual tax return and not be claimed as a dependent yourself on someone else’s return.¹

There are two main advantages to filing as a head of household over filing single or married filing separately:

• More of your taxable income falls under lower tax brackets
• Your standard deduction increases

If you qualify for head of household filing status, lower tax brackets and a higher standard deduction can make a huge impact on how much you owe in taxes.

Who Qualifies as a Child or Dependent?

Okay, but what does the IRS consider a qualifying dependent? A qualifying dependent (or tax dependent) is a person other than you and your spouse who relies on you financially and qualifies for certain tax deductions and credits on your tax return.

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Think children, elderly parents or other family members who rely on you for food, housing, medical expenses or clothing.

Claiming a Child Dependent

To claim a child as your dependent, they must meet the following qualifications:²

• Relationship: They can be your daughter, son, stepchild, adopted child, foster child or grandchild. Or they can be your brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them (aka your niece or nephew). 
• Age: They must be under the age of 19 by the end of the tax year and also be younger than you. If they are a student, they must be under the age of 24. Anyone who has a permanent disability, regardless of age, also qualifies.
• Citizenship: They must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. resident alien, a U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. 
• Residence: They must live with you for more than half the year. 
• Income: Their annual income can’t be more than half of what it costs you to support them. 
• Tax status: They can’t also file a joint return for the year. What this means is that you wouldn’t be able to claim someone who is married and filing a joint tax return. For example, let’s say you have a recently married, college-aged child. If they file a joint tax return with their spouse, you can’t claim them as a dependent—even if you supported them for most of the year.

Claiming a Relative or Adult Dependent

Figuring out if your adult relative qualifies as a dependent can be tricky. For one thing, they don’t even have to be a relative (more on that below). Let’s look at the key requirements:³

• Relationship and residence: They don’t have to be a relative—but if they aren’t, they do have to live with you for the entire year. If they’re a relative, they don’t have to live with you. 
• Age: They can be any age—your great-grandfather can be your dependent.
• Citizenship: They must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. resident alien, a U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.
• Support: You have to provide more than half of their total support for that year. 
• Income: T​heir gross income (total income before any taxes or deductions) for the year must be less than $5,050. 
• Tax status: They can’t already be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s return.

Any disabled children or adults you’re financially supporting must meet the same qualifications we listed above. But if your child is permanently and totally disabled, you can claim them as dependents no matter their age.

What Are the Tax Brackets for Head of Household?

When you file as head of household, your income falls into more generous tax brackets—especially when compared to filing single or married filing separately. That means lower taxes without taking a pay cut. Neat, right?

Here are the 2024 tax brackets and rates:

2024 Federal Income Tax Brackets and Rates for Taxable Income

Tax Rate	Single Filer	Married, Filing Jointly	Married, Filing Separately	Head of Household
10%	$0–11,600	$0–23,300	$0–11,600	$0–16,550
12%	$11,600–47,150	$23,300–94,300	$11,600–47,150	$16,550–63,100
22%	$47,150–100,525	$94,300–201,050	$47,150–100,525	$63,100–100,500
24%	$100,525–191,950	$201,050–383,900	$100,525–191,950	$100,500–191,950
32%	$191,950–243,725	$383,900–487,450	$191,950–243,725	$191,950–243,700
35%	$243,725 –609,350	$487,450–731,200	$243,725–365,600	$243,700–609,350
37%	Over $609,350	Over $731,200	Over $365,600	Over $609,3504

As you can see, the tax bracket advantage for filing head of household is that more of your taxable income falls into the 10% and 12% tax brackets. This is a pretty big deal since it helps lower the amount you owe Uncle Sam.

What Is the Standard Deduction for Heads of Households?

Another perk to filing as head of household is a larger standard deduction than single filers or those who file as married filing separately. And there’s more good news—the IRS increased the standard deduction for the 2024 and 2025 tax years because of inflation.

So, here’s where we stand: For 2024, the standard deduction is $14,600 for single filers and for those who are married filing separately. But it’s $21,900 for those filing as head of household.⁵ Cha-ching!

And for 2025? The standard deduction for heads of households is $22,500 (meanwhile, single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately have a $15,000 standard deduction).⁶

Should You File as a Head of Household?

If you meet all the requirement and qualify for the head of household filing status, then it makes sense in most cases to file that way because of the more favorable tax brackets and higher standard deduction. The math just makes sense!

Here’s how head of household stacks up against the single and married filing separately filing statuses. Let’s say you’re a single parent who made $55,000 in 2024.

If you file as single, you’ll be in the 22% tax bracket. Here’s how it would break down:

• Your first $11,600 is taxed at 10% ($11,600 x 10% = $1,160).
• Your income between $11,600–47,150 is taxed at 12% ($35,550 x 12% = $4,266).
• Your last $47,150–55,000 is taxed at 22% ($7,850 x 22% = $1,727).

So, if you were to file single, you would owe the federal government $7,153 in income tax.

Now, let’s see what happens if you file as head of household (assuming you meet the qualifications, of course). This time, you’ll be in the 12% tax bracket thanks to those more generous tax brackets:

• Your first $16,550 is taxed at 10% ($16,550 x 10% = $1,655).
• The rest, $16,550–55,000, is taxed at 12% ($38,450 x 12% = $4,614).

And that’s it. Since you choose to file as head of household, $55,000 won’t make it past the 12% tax bracket. Now, you only owe $6,269 to the IRS—that’s almost $900 in tax savings! Definitely not chump change.

Get Started on Your Taxes Today

Folks, we know worrying about taxes can be a real pain in the you-know-what. But keep in mind that your filing status can have a huge impact on how much you have to shell out to the IRS (or how big of a refund you can expect).