Can I file as "Head Of Household"?

My girlfriend and I had a baby (boy!) on December 10, 2007. We live together, I work full time and (my) total income for 2007 was just under 53k. We moved in together to the townhouse we have now in August, she stopped working in October and stays home with the baby now and does not work at all. I pay for all food, medical, insurance and expenses for her and the baby. Can I file as head of household? There seems to be a really big difference between filing single and head of household when I do the rough calculations-roughly a $1500 refund single and over $7000 as head of household? My girlfriend did work during 2007 and had a total income of just under $15,000

You can not claim your girlfriend for 2007 because of her income. But if she doesn't earned more than $3,500 and no else is claiming her, you can for 2008. Your girlfiend will be filing as "Single" for 2007. You can file as Head of Household for 2007. By the way if you lived in one of the following seven states, cohabitation is illegal and you can not claim your girlfriend. Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.

It appears you would qualify as Head of Household. Your GF would not.

According to what you have said...you should be able to claim HOH.

However, I have huge doubts that your math is correct on the calculations of the tax. It isn't going to make that big of a difference.

I agree his numbers are waaay off.

He'll see his refund go up by around $3300 by claiming the child and filing as HOH. She'll see her her refund drop by $2700. Net savings is only around $600.... (The total refunds go up either way with the birth of the child since there's now another exemption and child tax credit.)

Note to poster, the IRS lets parents choose who will claim the child. You really need to do the taxes both ways (you claim the child/HOH vs her claiming the child and EIC) and compare the total of the refunds across both returns.

Yes, you can - you can claim the baby as a dependent and file as head of household. You can't claim your girlfriend as a dependent though - she'll have to file her own return, as single.

Check your numbers though - something is wrong. Even counting the tax advantages of the baby, your tax would probably change from around $7480 filing as single and not claiming the baby to $5564 minus the $1000 child tax credit, or $4564, claiming the baby and head of household - that's a little under $3000 difference, not over $7000.