When you hire someone to work around the house or baby-sit your children, do you need to pay tax for them? Keep reading to find out.
If you employ someone to work for you around your house, it is important to consider the tax implications of this arrangement. While many people disregard the need to pay taxes on household employees, they do so at the risk of paying stiff tax penalties down the road.
As you will see, the rules for hiring household help are quite complex, even for a relatively minor employee, and a mistake can bring on a tax headache that most of us would prefer to avoid.
Who Is a Household Employee?
Commonly referred to as the “nanny tax”, these rules apply to you only if (1) you pay someone for household work and (2) that worker is your employee.
1. Household work is work that is performed in or around your home by baby-sitters, nannies, health aides, private nurses, maids, caretakers, yard workers, and similar domestic workers.
2. A household worker is your employee if you control not only what work is done, but how it is done.
If the worker is your employee, it does not matter whether the work is full-time or part-time, or that you hired the worker through an agency or from a list provided by an agency or association. It also does not matter whether you pay the worker on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis, or by the job.
If the worker controls how the work is done, the worker is not your employee, but is self-employed. A self-employed worker usually provides his or her own tools and offers services to the general public in an independent business.
Also, if an agency provides the worker and controls what work is done and how it is done, the worker is not your employee.
Example: You pay Betty to baby-sit your child and do light housework four days a week in your home. Betty follows your specific instructions about household and child care duties. You provide the household equipment and supplies that Betty needs to do her work. Betty is your household employee.
Example: You pay John to care for your lawn. John also offers lawn care services to other homeowners in your neighborhood. He provides his own tools and supplies, and he hires and pays any helpers he needs. Neither John nor his helpers are your household employees.
Can Your Employee Legally Work in the United States?
It is unlawful for you to knowingly hire or continue to employ a person who cannot legally work in the United States.
When you hire a household employee to work for you on a regular basis, he or she must complete USCIS Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification. It is your responsibility to verify that the employee is either a U.S. citizen or an alien who can legally work and then complete the employer part of the form. Keep the completed form for your records. Do not return the form to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Tip: Two copies of Form I-9 are contained in the UCIS Employer Handbook. Visit the USCIS website or call 800-767-1833 to order the handbook, additional copies of the form, or to get more information, or give us a call.
Do You Need to Pay Employment Taxes?
If you have a household employee, you may need to withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, or you may need to pay federal unemployment tax, or both.
As you can see, tax considerations for household employees are complex. Therefore, we highly recommend professional tax guidance in these complicated matters. This is definitely an area where it’s better to be safe than sorry, so if you have any questions at all, please contact us at 727 482-0796.