Updated October 28, 2026. Quick answer: Worksheet 2-1 in Publication 17 is the IRS’s own check for one head of household requirement: that you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home. You list each household cost, what you paid and the total, subtract your share from the total to get what others paid, and compare the two.
What this worksheet is for
Head of household is a filing status with several requirements. One of them reads “You paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the year.” The publication then says “You can determine whether you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home by using Worksheet 2-1.” Publication 501 prints the same worksheet under a different number: “You can determine whether you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home by using Worksheet 1.” The worksheet does not decide the other requirements, such as who your qualifying person is. For the support question about a relative, chapter 3 of the publication uses a different worksheet, Worksheet 3-1.
Which costs go on it
“Include in the cost of keeping up a home expenses, such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home.” “Don’t include the costs of clothing, education, medical treatment, vacations, life insurance, or transportation. Also don’t include the value of your services or those of a member of your household.”
The rows and columns
The worksheet has two money columns, headed Amount You Paid and Total Cost. The rows are Property taxes, Mortgage interest expense, Rent, Utility charges, Repairs/Maintenance, Property insurance, Food eaten in the home and Other household expenses, then a Totals row. Below the totals the worksheet says Minus total amount you paid, and the result is Amount others paid.
How it ends
“If the total amount you paid is more than the amount others paid, you meet the requirement of paying more than half of the cost of keeping up the home.” If your total is not larger than what others paid, this requirement is not met.
An example with invented numbers
Illustration, not an IRS example. A parent shares a rented home with an adult relative who pays part of the costs. Only three rows have entries.
| Row | Amount you paid | Total cost |
|---|---|---|
| Rent (invented inputs for the computation) | $7,800 | $12,000 |
| Utility charges | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Food eaten in the home | $3,000 | $6,000 |
| Totals (computed) | $12,800 (computed) | $21,000 (computed) |
| Minus total amount you paid (computed: 21,000 minus 12,800) | $8,200 (computed) |
The total cost is $21,000 and you paid $12,800. That leaves $8,200 paid by others. Because $12,800 is the larger number, this requirement is met. The test is a comparison of your total with what others paid, not a comparison with a fixed dollar amount.
Edition
This page reads Publication 17 (2025), the file irs.gov served on 2026-10-28 (sha256 in the kit data). It covers the 2025 return, filed in 2026. Check the tax year printed on the worksheet in your own copy and use that year’s line numbers and dollar amounts, because a different year’s worksheet can word its lines differently.
Common mistakes
- Counting clothing, medical bills, vacations, life insurance or transportation. The publication excludes them from the cost of keeping up a home.
- Valuing your own work around the house. The publication says not to include the value of your services or those of a member of your household.
- Treating this as the whole head of household test. It answers one requirement; the marital status and qualifying person requirements are separate.
- Leaving out costs other people paid. The comparison needs the total cost of every row, not only your payments.
Related: head of household with a parent, Worksheet for Determining Support, filing status in the year of divorce, and Publication 501.
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Answer againSources
- Publication 17 (2025), Your Federal Income Tax: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
- Publication 501 (2025), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 28, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.