Hiring a household employee is a personal decision that requires a lot of consideration. Whether it’s a housekeeper, a nanny, or senior caregiver, hiring an experienced worker in your home is important. Did you know that as soon as you hire someone ,you become a household employer? That means you will need to pay them as an employee – not off the books. Here’s why you should never evade “nanny taxes.”

Topics: nanny tax audit, nanny payroll tax, household payroll, childcare, employment compliance

 

The historic 2016 US Presidential Election will bring sweeping change to Washington DC, and an expected 4,500 jobs will be staffed by the incoming president in the next two months as he establishes his team. The Presidential Transition Team is already vetting nominees for Cabinet positions and political appointees in various senior-level agency and ambassadorial posts.

If you are being considered for any of these positions, you’ll be required to answer questionnaires as part of the vetting process that includes references to household employment and the “nanny tax”. Questions might be something like:

Topics: nanny tax audit, nanny taxes

Generally, in life, it pays to do things right the first time. Your nanny payroll taxes are no exception to the rule: while it may be tempting to evade these pesky taxes, in the long run, you will be thankful that you managed your household employment taxes well. It will cost much more of your money, time, and patience to deal with the consequences of tax fraud than to file your payroll taxes correctly the first time around!

Topics: nanny tax audit, nanny tax statute of limitations, nanny tax, nanny taxes, caregiver, nanny tax case study

California is striving to shine a light on its underground economy.  At the end of 2011, the LA Times reported that employers who pay their workers under the table - to avoid payroll taxes, workers’ compensation insurance and other government mandates - cost the state about $7 billion annually in lost tax revenues.  Last week, California’s Labor Enforcement Task Force set up a public hotline for workers and employers to call in complaints and provide enforcement tips.  Employers who are playing by the rules want to create a level playing field by "ratting out" their competitors who cheat.  One state official notes, “The hotline will be a valuable tool to gather information and bring into compliance those employers who treat workplace safety and wage and hour laws as a nuisance”. 

Topics: nanny tax audit, domestic employer legal responsibilities, payroll tax enforcement, california household employment

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and 11 states, as we reported in October 2011, have entered into information sharing agreements for purposes of employment tax enforcement. Virginia, apparently, is making a concerted effort to collect state unemployment taxes from employers known to the IRS, but not to the state.

Topics: nanny tax audit, nanny tax statute of limitations, worker misclassification independent contractor, payroll tax enforcement, nanny tax compliance

In today's economy nannies are finding that good jobs take longer to secure. The household who let's their off-the-books nanny go, for whatever reason, should be seriously concerned about their former nanny filing an unemployment claim. The nanny who was perfectly content to receive tax fee income experiences a reality check when they have no income for weeks, or months. Suddenly, filing an unemployment claim seems the only option to avoid eviction or to put food on the table. Once that claim has been filed, the whistle is blown on the former household employer. Since state unemployment systems share this information with the IRS, everyone is on notice that the family employed the nanny and that there are no tax returns on file.

Topics: nanny tax audit