Employment Tax Responsibilities for Employers of Household WorkersHousehold employees are workers you hire for “domestic services,” i.e., those services performed in and about your home. Duties of cooks, butlers, housekeepers, governesses, maids, valets, babysitters, caretakers, gardeners, janitors, or personal chauffeurs all can qualify as “domestic services.” Not everyone you hire for work at your home is considered a household employee, though. For example, a self-employed gardener may take care of your lawn and several others in your neighborhood, providing all his own tools and job assistants and setting his own work schedule. That gardener probably won’t be considered your household employee because he is running an independent operation over which you have no “say-so.” You see, a worker at your home becomes an employee when you control what work that person is to do AND how and when the work is to be done. If you qualify as a household employer, you may have to pay certain federal payroll taxes, including social security and Medicare taxes and unemployment taxes. You withhold some of these taxes from your employee’s wages; others you must pay from your own funds. (Some states require certain taxes too, so be sure to check with the state employment department in your area.) Taxes You Withhold From WagesSocial Security and Medicare Taxes: If you pay cash wages in excess of a specified threshold amount during the year to a given employee, you must withhold social security and Medicare taxes from the employee’s wages. This threshold amount $2,100 for 2019 will vary from year to year and applies to each separate household employee you hire. Call for amounts applicable to other years. Example: This year, Jane hired Louise, a housekeeper, and Rose, a babysitter. She withheld social security and Medicare taxes from their wages. Over the course of the entire year, however, she paid Louise only $500 and Rose $800. Since neither worker’s yearly wage equaled the threshold amount, Jane owes no social security or Medicare tax for them. That being the case, she must repay to the workers the taxes she already had withheld from their wages.Federal Income Tax: Household employees may also ask you to withhold income tax from their wages; you aren’t required to agree to the request. If you choose to withhold, however, you must collect the income tax from the employee’s wages (the IRS publishes tables to let you know how much to withhold) and you pay the amount withheld to the government. Additional Taxes You Must PayEmployer’s Share of Social Security and Medicare Taxes: As an employer, you must match the amount of social security and Medicare tax you withhold from your employee’s wages. For instance, if you withheld $50 in social security from your housekeeper’s wages, you would be required to pay to the government $100 (the $50 withheld from your employee, plus another $50 from your own funds). Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA): You are also responsible for FUTA taxes if you paid a total of $1,000 (2018, call this office for other years) or more in household employee wages during any calendar quarter of the current year or the previous year. FUTA tax isn’t a withholding tax but is paid by you alone on behalf of your employees. (Certain states also assess unemployment taxes – check with the appropriate agency in your area.) Paying the TaxYou report and pay the required federal payroll taxes for your household employees along with your regular individual income tax return. Schedule H, Household Employment Taxes, is used to figure the amount of the tax that you owe. Reporting Wages to EmployeesYou need to give your household employees Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, to report wages and tax withholding for the year. The W-2 is due to the employee by Jan. 31 of the year following the year in which you paid the wages. You must also file a copy of the W-2 with the Social Security Administration by January 31, too. To accurately prepare W-2s, you need certain information from your employee, including his/her name, address, and social security number. So that you have all the necessary information available for timely filing, you may want to have your workers fill out Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, when you hire them. That way you will have data on file to complete W-2s when the time comes. Other Paperwork ChoresForm SS–4: If you have household employees, you will need to obtain an employer identification number (EIN) for yourself. This number is not the same as your Social Security Number. The IRS issues the EIN and prefers that you apply online at their website – www.IRS.gov (type EIN in the search box) – or by filling out and faxing or mailing Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, to the IRS. The IRS does not charge for an EIN; beware of web sites on the Internet that charge for this service. Employee Form W–4: If you agree to withhold income tax for an employee, ask him/her to complete Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. The information on this form will help you determine the correct amount of income tax to withhold. Payroll Journal: You should record in a journal each payday the wages and withholding of household employees. Set up a separate record for each employee with room for the following information: