![\"Cross](\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/08\/300x250-V2-1.png\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>Checklist for Rhode Island household employers<\/strong><\/h2>We know you’re busy so here’s a quick “to-do” list with links to extra details below.<\/p>
Beginning of employment <\/strong><\/h3>- Verify caregiver’s work eligibility<\/a>.<\/li>
- Set up EIN & state tax account(s)<\/a>.<\/li>
- Obtain workers’ compensation insurance<\/a>. <\/li>
- Display employment posters<\/a>. <\/li><\/ul>
During employment <\/strong><\/h3>- File returns, remit taxes and manage correspondence.<\/a><\/li>
- Pay at least Rhode Island minimum wage<\/a>, weekly. <\/li>
- Pay overtime<\/a>, when it applies.<\/li>
- Provide unpaid sick time<\/a>.<\/li>
- Allow for paid disability leave<\/a>, when it applies.<\/li><\/ul>
Optional benefits for your employee<\/strong><\/h3>- Health insurance<\/a> <\/li>
- Mileage reimbursement<\/a> <\/li><\/ul>
Ending employment<\/strong><\/h3>- Provide a termination notice<\/a>.<\/li>
- Manage unused paid time off<\/a>. <\/li>
- Close down your state employment tax account(s)<\/a>.<\/li>
- Maintain payroll records<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>
Beginning of employment <\/strong><\/h2>Verify caregiver’s work eligibility<\/h3>
Before your employee begins to work, you need to fill out Form I-9<\/a> to verify they’re eligible to work in the U.S. The I-9 does not get sent to any government agency but must be presented to authorities if your nanny or senior caregiver’s employment eligibility is ever questioned.<\/p>Set up EIN & state tax account(s)<\/h3>
You must first apply for a EIN (Employee Identification Number)<\/a> with the IRS. This will be used as your unique ID with both state and federal tax authorities. Then you can open an account with your state taxing authority.<\/p>Workers’ compensation<\/strong><\/h3>Household employers in Rhode Island are not required to get coverage for workers’ compensation insurance<\/a>, but we recommend all families do so. These policies pay for medical expenses and lost wages if an employee has a work-related injury or illness. Obtain an instant quote and purchase a policy online<\/a>, or contact our partner, Clarke White, at 804-267-1210 or wcnanny@allrisks.com<\/a>.<\/p>Employment posters <\/strong><\/h3>Families in Rhode Island are required to notify their employee of their rights by sharing these posters<\/a>.<\/p>During employment <\/strong><\/h2>File returns, remit taxes and manage correspondence<\/h3>- File state employment tax returns throughout the year and remit state employer and employee taxes.<\/li>
- Remit federal employer and employee taxes via 1040-ES<\/a> estimated tax payment voucher four times each year.<\/li>
- Each year end, prepare Schedule H and file with Form 1040<\/a>; prepare and distribute Form W-2<\/a> to each employee; file Form W-2 Copy A\/Form W-3<\/a> with the Social Security Administration (SSA).<\/li>
- Manage ongoing alerts and notices from the state (tax rates and labor law is subject to change at any time.<\/li><\/ul>
Minimum wage rate<\/h3>
The current minimum wage in Rhode Island is $16.00\/hour.<\/p>
Pay frequency requirement<\/h3>
Generally, household employers in Rhode Island are required to pay their employees on a weekly basis.<\/p>
Rhode Island overtime requirements<\/h3>- Live-out employees must be paid 1.5x their hourly rate for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.<\/li>
- Live-in employees are not required to be paid overtime. <\/li>
- Overtime is not required to be paid when work is performed on a holiday. <\/li><\/ul>
Unpaid sick time<\/h3>
Household employers in Rhode Island are required to provide up to 40 hours of unpaid sick time to their employees per year.<\/p>
State disability insurance<\/h3>
The Rhode Island Temporary Disability Insurance Program (SDI) provides disability insurance<\/a> benefits to employees who cannot work because of sickness or injury not caused by their job. The SDI Program is funded by mandatory payroll deductions from employee wages.<\/p>Optional benefits for your employee <\/strong><\/h2>Health insurance<\/h3>
Families with only 1 employee can make contributions toward their employee’s health insurance premiums and treat the amount as non-taxable compensation. In this scenario, neither the employee nor the employer are required to pay any taxes on that portion of the compensation.<\/p>
Families with 2 or more employees have 3 options:<\/p>
- Set up an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA).<\/li>
- Set up a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA).<\/li>
- Purchase a policy through SHOP (Small Business Health Options Program). <\/li><\/ol>
Visit our health insurance page<\/a> for more information about these options. <\/p>Mileage reimbursements<\/h3>
The current federal mileage reimbursement rate for business use can be found here<\/a> and only <\/em>covers miles driven by your employee while on the job. Miles driven commuting are not eligible for reimbursement.<\/p>Ending employment <\/strong><\/h2>Termination notice requirement<\/strong><\/h3>Household employers in Rhode Island are required to provide their employee with a termination notice<\/a> when they decide to end the employment relationship.<\/p>Managing unused PTO <\/strong><\/h3>Rhode Island household employers must pay their employees for unused sick and\/or vacation time if they have worked for them for at least one year.<\/p>
Close down your state employment tax account(s)<\/h3>
The state tax agencies expect you to file timely returns for as long as your tax accounts are open — even to report $0 in wages paid.<\/p>
Maintain payroll records<\/strong><\/h3>Household employers are required to keep wage records on file for at least three years.<\/p>
<\/div>* HomePay can assist with a wide range of the above-listed household tax and payroll needs; however, some state-specific requirements may not be fully supported. Ask a HomePay representative for more information. The information contained in this article is general in nature, may not be applicable to your specific circumstances and is not intended to be a substitute for or relied upon as personalized tax or legal advice.<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Families with questions about Rhode Island nanny taxes need to look no further than this overview for all their household employment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1478,"featured_media":3785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"enable_toc":false,"care_reviewed_by":0,"care_post_updated_flag":false,"care_updated_date":"2025-12-04T22:24:47.713Z","last_update":"2025-12-04","view_count":3014,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"member-type":[2],"vertical":[3,366],"platform":[11],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","member-type-seeker","vertical-children","vertical-tax-topics-for-families","platform-homepay"],"acf":[],"created":"2016-12-21","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3992,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions\/3992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"member-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/member-type?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"platform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/platform?post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Verify caregiver’s work eligibility<\/a>.<\/li>
- Set up EIN & state tax account(s)<\/a>.<\/li>
- Obtain workers’ compensation insurance<\/a>. <\/li>
- Display employment posters<\/a>. <\/li><\/ul>
During employment <\/strong><\/h3>
- File returns, remit taxes and manage correspondence.<\/a><\/li>
- Pay at least Rhode Island minimum wage<\/a>, weekly. <\/li>
- Pay overtime<\/a>, when it applies.<\/li>
- Provide unpaid sick time<\/a>.<\/li>
- Allow for paid disability leave<\/a>, when it applies.<\/li><\/ul>
Optional benefits for your employee<\/strong><\/h3>
- Health insurance<\/a> <\/li>
- Mileage reimbursement<\/a> <\/li><\/ul>
Ending employment<\/strong><\/h3>
- Provide a termination notice<\/a>.<\/li>
- Manage unused paid time off<\/a>. <\/li>
- Close down your state employment tax account(s)<\/a>.<\/li>
- Maintain payroll records<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>
Beginning of employment <\/strong><\/h2>
Verify caregiver’s work eligibility<\/h3>
Before your employee begins to work, you need to fill out Form I-9<\/a> to verify they’re eligible to work in the U.S. The I-9 does not get sent to any government agency but must be presented to authorities if your nanny or senior caregiver’s employment eligibility is ever questioned.<\/p>
Set up EIN & state tax account(s)<\/h3>
You must first apply for a EIN (Employee Identification Number)<\/a> with the IRS. This will be used as your unique ID with both state and federal tax authorities. Then you can open an account with your state taxing authority.<\/p>
Workers’ compensation<\/strong><\/h3>
Household employers in Rhode Island are not required to get coverage for workers’ compensation insurance<\/a>, but we recommend all families do so. These policies pay for medical expenses and lost wages if an employee has a work-related injury or illness. Obtain an instant quote and purchase a policy online<\/a>, or contact our partner, Clarke White, at 804-267-1210 or wcnanny@allrisks.com<\/a>.<\/p>
Employment posters <\/strong><\/h3>
Families in Rhode Island are required to notify their employee of their rights by sharing these posters<\/a>.<\/p>
During employment <\/strong><\/h2>
File returns, remit taxes and manage correspondence<\/h3>
- File state employment tax returns throughout the year and remit state employer and employee taxes.<\/li>
- Remit federal employer and employee taxes via 1040-ES<\/a> estimated tax payment voucher four times each year.<\/li>
- Each year end, prepare Schedule H and file with Form 1040<\/a>; prepare and distribute Form W-2<\/a> to each employee; file Form W-2 Copy A\/Form W-3<\/a> with the Social Security Administration (SSA).<\/li>
- Manage ongoing alerts and notices from the state (tax rates and labor law is subject to change at any time.<\/li><\/ul>
Minimum wage rate<\/h3>
The current minimum wage in Rhode Island is $16.00\/hour.<\/p>
Pay frequency requirement<\/h3>
Generally, household employers in Rhode Island are required to pay their employees on a weekly basis.<\/p>
Rhode Island overtime requirements<\/h3>
- Live-out employees must be paid 1.5x their hourly rate for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.<\/li>
- Live-in employees are not required to be paid overtime. <\/li>
- Overtime is not required to be paid when work is performed on a holiday. <\/li><\/ul>
Unpaid sick time<\/h3>
Household employers in Rhode Island are required to provide up to 40 hours of unpaid sick time to their employees per year.<\/p>
State disability insurance<\/h3>
The Rhode Island Temporary Disability Insurance Program (SDI) provides disability insurance<\/a> benefits to employees who cannot work because of sickness or injury not caused by their job. The SDI Program is funded by mandatory payroll deductions from employee wages.<\/p>
Optional benefits for your employee <\/strong><\/h2>
Health insurance<\/h3>
Families with only 1 employee can make contributions toward their employee’s health insurance premiums and treat the amount as non-taxable compensation. In this scenario, neither the employee nor the employer are required to pay any taxes on that portion of the compensation.<\/p>
Families with 2 or more employees have 3 options:<\/p>
- Set up an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA).<\/li>
- Set up a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA).<\/li>
- Purchase a policy through SHOP (Small Business Health Options Program). <\/li><\/ol>
Visit our health insurance page<\/a> for more information about these options. <\/p>
Mileage reimbursements<\/h3>
The current federal mileage reimbursement rate for business use can be found here<\/a> and only <\/em>covers miles driven by your employee while on the job. Miles driven commuting are not eligible for reimbursement.<\/p>
Ending employment <\/strong><\/h2>
Termination notice requirement<\/strong><\/h3>
Household employers in Rhode Island are required to provide their employee with a termination notice<\/a> when they decide to end the employment relationship.<\/p>
Managing unused PTO <\/strong><\/h3>
Rhode Island household employers must pay their employees for unused sick and\/or vacation time if they have worked for them for at least one year.<\/p>
Close down your state employment tax account(s)<\/h3>
The state tax agencies expect you to file timely returns for as long as your tax accounts are open — even to report $0 in wages paid.<\/p>
Maintain payroll records<\/strong><\/h3>
Household employers are required to keep wage records on file for at least three years.<\/p>
<\/div>* HomePay can assist with a wide range of the above-listed household tax and payroll needs; however, some state-specific requirements may not be fully supported. Ask a HomePay representative for more information. The information contained in this article is general in nature, may not be applicable to your specific circumstances and is not intended to be a substitute for or relied upon as personalized tax or legal advice.<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Families with questions about Rhode Island nanny taxes need to look no further than this overview for all their household employment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1478,"featured_media":3785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"enable_toc":false,"care_reviewed_by":0,"care_post_updated_flag":false,"care_updated_date":"2025-12-04T22:24:47.713Z","last_update":"2025-12-04","view_count":3014,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"member-type":[2],"vertical":[3,366],"platform":[11],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","member-type-seeker","vertical-children","vertical-tax-topics-for-families","platform-homepay"],"acf":[],"created":"2016-12-21","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3992,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions\/3992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"member-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/member-type?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"platform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/platform?post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Each year end, prepare Schedule H and file with Form 1040<\/a>; prepare and distribute Form W-2<\/a> to each employee; file Form W-2 Copy A\/Form W-3<\/a> with the Social Security Administration (SSA).<\/li>
- Manage unused paid time off<\/a>. <\/li>
- Mileage reimbursement<\/a> <\/li><\/ul>
- Pay at least Rhode Island minimum wage<\/a>, weekly. <\/li>
- Set up EIN & state tax account(s)<\/a>.<\/li>