Today's families want to assist their aging loved ones to safely age in place, and increasingly hiring senior caregivers to provide care and support is the ideal solution.  There are many misunderstandings and misconceptions about the relationship with the caregiver and their payroll deductions. Many people think that their caregiver is not an actual “employee” and that they can just pay them in cash and call it good. Hiring a caregiver, for your aging loved one, whether they are an live-in caregiver, or one that works a set number of hours per day, means that you will need to understand the importance of senior care payroll deductions. Here are some must-knows about paying your senior caregiver.

At some point, your aging parents will need help that you cannot provide. Whether it’s a full-time person to live with them that provides meals and administers medication, or someone that stops in daily to provide basic caregiving, a senior caregiver plays an important role helping mom or dad stay healthy and as independent as possible in their own home.

The City of Philadelphia joins 10 states and two other cities with legislation known as a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. This legislation is part of a decade long community level movement nationwide to establish basic worker protections to the growing domestic services industry. While the numbers of nannies and housekeepers remains stable, the in-home senior care component of the domestic services field continues to experience vigorous growth as aging baby boomers overwhelmingly prefer to "age in place," therefore requiring senior caregivers to help them remain safe and independent.

The health insurance marketplace continues to change, and starting 1 January 2020 employers of nannies, senior caregivers, and other household employees will have a new choice for assisting or supporting their employees with their health insurance and other health care expenses.

All employers in the U.S. have to pay unemployment tax. There are two versions – Federal and State. Federal unemployment tax (FUTA) is charged at a rate of 6% on the first $7000 in wages paid to an employee, in most cases though that rate is decreased to 0.6% (explained more below). State unemployment tax (SUTA) is handled in a similar way but each state controls their own rate and wage threshold.

According to the IRS, thousands of people have had money and personal information stolen through tax-related scams. Scammers are getting more refined, making it harder than ever to separate real correspondence from fake. Here are two of the more popular tax-related scams the IRS has seen this year.

Jury duty: some people dread getting called, others welcome the chance to do their civic duty and experience a bit of change of pace from their regular workday. However, when your household employee gets called to jury duty, it can be a strain on your home, and you may need to adjust schedules in order to cover your employee’s absence. When it comes to payment, you might be wondering if they need to be paid while they are on jury duty. Here are the details you should know.

The following is a guest post from professional Nanny, Cate Matijevich. The views in this article are hers alone. 

National Nanny Recognition Week is Sept. 22nd - 28th, a great time to use the advice below!

Preface:
A household employee’s role is to fit seamlessly into a private household, perform their duties independently, proactively and often invisibly. It is easy to understand why in the daily hustle and bustle of life, commending a job well done can be overlooked.

Once you find a wonderful nanny that works well with your family and that your kids love, it is easy to be protective of her and want her to be available all the time. But nannies have lives of their own and many of them want to have their own families. So, it’s important to be prepared for that fact and plan accordingly when your nanny announces that she is pregnant and will want to take maternity leave.