First off, what does "incorrectly using 'Head of Household' mean?
Many people incorrectly file their taxes using "Head of Household." This usually occurs when only one parent earns income, and the other parent doesn't file.
However, the IRS is very clear that this is wrong:
You can only use Head of Household if you are unmarried, have at least one dependent, and pay for the majority (over 50%) of a household's costs.
If you are married, you MUST use the filing status "Married Filing Jointly" or "Married Filing Separately." You cannot use "Head of Household."
You are considered "unmarried" if:
You were never married, or
You are divorced or legally separated, or
You are in practice separated (You have lived in a different house than your spouse for 6+ months of the tax year)
Okay, so what if your parents did their 2023 taxes wrong? Now what?
When both of a dependent student’s parents file federal income tax returns as head of household, the U.S. Department of Education requires the college’s financial aid administrator to consider the tax filing status to be conflicting information. The financial aid administrator may not disburse federal student aid until the conflicting information is resolved.
So if your parents filed your tax return with an incorrect status, then they will need to file an amended tax form (IRS Form 1040X) using the correct filing status.
Ideally, you do this before completing your FAFSA®.
What if I already submitted my FAFSA®, and now I'm seeing this problem?
You likely were alerted to this problem because you saw this error on your Submission Summary
"The parents' marital status you reported... does not appear to agree with the parents' tax return filing status reported"
Your parents should still file an amended tax form with the correct filing status. You should then make a correction in your FAFSA® to reflect this.
What if there's no error?
If your parent correctly filed as "Head of Household" in 2023 because they weren't married yet at the time, but now are married, then this makes sense.
However, college financial aid officers may still flag this as possibly incorrect. In this case, all you need to do is show documentation that everything was correct (e.g. by sending them your parents' marriage certificate showing it happened after 2023, and their tax transcripts with the Head of Household filing status.)