<prompt> Human: So my roommate did not have a job last year. As such, I payed his rent and utilities all year and he is not filing any state or federal taxes this year. My question is this:1 Am I correct in understanding that I can claim my roommate as a dependent since he did not have any income and I covered the majority of his living expenses for the year?2 Can I Should I file as head of household? There are four of us on the lease. It is a group lease meaning we are all individually and severally responsible for the rent. It is one lease with all four of our signatures as well as the landlords. Two roommates paid their rent, and I paid rent and utilities for me and my unemployed friend. All the utility bills are also in my name, so even though were all equally responsible to the landlord, Im the one who collects money from my roommates and then pays the utility bills and writes a rent check for the landlord.Assistant: 1 Am I correct in understanding that I can claim my roommate as a dependent since he did not have any income and I covered the majority of his living expenses for the year?Maybe. 2 Can I file as head of household? Probably not.Who Can I Claim as a Dependent? and What Is My Filing Status? at IRS.gov.Human: I guess Im confused by the rules for Head of Household...If the bills are in my name and I paid more than half the costs of rent and utilities in the house...  <response>: To file Head of Household your dependent must be a qualifying person. In order to be a qualifying person, that person must be related to you. So even though you can probably claim your freeloader roommate as a dependent you do not qualify for head of household. 