Al and Janice, both U.S. Citizens lived together for the entire year but are not married to each other. Janice has no income for the year, and Al provided her entire support for the year.

Dependency Janice – For Al to claim Janice as a dependent she would have to meet the five qualifying relative tests. The first test is the relationship or member of the household test. She is not related to him, but she was a member of the household for the entire year, so she meets that test. The next test is the gross income test, which she passes since she has no income. Since he provides over half of her support and she is an unmarried U.S. Citizen, he can claim her as his dependent.

Filing Status Al – Al cannot file as head of household (HH) because the individual qualifying him for HH must be related to him. So even though Janice qualifies as his dependent, she is not a qualifying person for purposes of the HH filing status. Thus, he must file as single.