Catalog Number 35108X www.irs.gov
Form 886-H-HOH (Rev. 10-2020)
Form 886-H-HOH
(October 2020)
Department of the Treasury – Internal Revenue Service
Supporting Documents to Prove Head of Household Filing Status
You may qualify for Head of Household filing status if you meet the following three tests:
Marriage Test, Qualifying Person Test, and Cost of Keeping up a Home Test.
Name of Taxpayer Taxpayer Identification Number Tax Period Ending
If You Are:
Then send photocopies of the following documents for tax
year 2020
Single Go to the Qualifying Person Test and Cost of Keeping up a Home Test.
Marriage Test
Divorced or legally separated
Entire divorce decree, separate maintenance decree, or separation
agreement.
Married, but your spouse did not live with you during the last 6 months
of tax year 2020
Documents verifying your spouse did not live with you during the last 6
months of the year, such as a lease agreement, utility bills, a letter from a
clergy member, or a letter from social services.
If the Person Is: And
Then send photocopies of the following documents for tax
year 2020
Qualifying Person
Test
(If your relationship with
the child is not in this
listing, please see
Publication 501,
Dependents, Standard
Deduction, and Filing
Information for more
information).
Your child (including an adopted
child, or a pending adoption),
Your brother or sister, stepbrother
or stepsister, or any of their
descendants (for example,
grandchild, niece, or nephew),
Your eligible foster child (a child
placed in your home by an
authorized placement agency or
by a court order).
You can claim a dependency
exemption for the child.
The child lived in your home for
more than half of 2020 (temporary
absences away from home, such
as time spent at school, count as
time lived at home).
Note—A married child must be
your dependent.
Birth certificates or other official documents of birth, marriage certificates,
letter from an authorized adoption agency, letter from the authorized
placement agency, or applicable court document that verify your
relationship to the child (send these documents only for a qualifying child
who is not your natural or adopted child).
To show both you and your child lived together for more than half of
2020, send:
• School, medical, daycare, or social service records
• A letter on the official letterhead from a school, medical provider, social
service agency, or place of worship that shows names, common
address and dates. (If you send a letter from a relative who provides
your daycare, you MUST send at least one additional letter.)
Send as many documents as necessary to show that the child lived with
you for more than half of the year.
Cost of Keeping
If: And
Then send photocopies of the following documents for tax
year 2020
up a Home Test
You pass both the marriage test
and the qualifying person test,
You paid more than half the cost
of keeping up your home for 2019.
Rent receipts, utility bills, grocery receipts, property tax bills, mortgage
interest statement, upkeep and repair bills, property insurance statement,
and other household bills.
