The head of household is a filing status for tax returns, typically used by unmarried taxpayers who support and house a qualifying person, such as a child or relative. To qualify as head of household, you must be unmarried and maintain a home for a qualifying person. This status allows you to have a lower tax rate and a higher standard deduction than the filing status of single
. To file as head of household, you must provide over one-half of the cost of maintaining the household for you and the qualifying person
