HOH status after marriage

[goalie127r]

What is the name of your state? CT/NY

We just got married in July 2004. I live in CT, my wife lives in NY. We each have children from previous marriages, and are maintaining 2 houses for another year until the kids graduate from their high schools. We individually pay all the costs associated with our houses, and qualified for Head of Household status prior to our marriage.

It would seem that we technically pass the tests for each being able to file as Head of Household even though we're married. However, everything I've read on the situation presumes that the reason that we live apart is because we're ending the marriage, not beginning the marriage. I haven't found any documentation on a situation similar to ours.

Your thoughts on whether or not we can each file HOH?

 

[Snipes5]

You can't. Separation is only if you intend to end the marriage, as you noted.

Also, if you spend the night together in one house or the other at any point between July and December, the IRS would disqualify it even if you were intending to divorce.

Snipes

 

[goalie127r]

The ruling often cited for "lived together even for one night" was a homeless man whose soon-to-be-ex let him sleep on the couch. That was interpreted as living under the same roof--since the husband had no other residence, there was no geographic separation. It's hard to see that's applicable here. In our case, we've maintained separate households, and there is clear geographic separation--we receive mail in and vote in different states, etc. The other case would seem to only be applicable if the "sleeping with" test outweighs everything else in terms of defining "lived with". I guess I'm looking for more clarification on what the IRS has interpreted "lived with" to mean.

And I've yet to find anything that definitively states that the provisions for HOH when married apply only to pending divorces.