{"id":325,"date":"2025-12-05T21:39:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T21:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/s37407.p1377.sites.pressdns.com\/homepay\/how-to-pay-nanny-taxes-yourself\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T21:39:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T21:39:51","slug":"how-to-pay-nanny-taxes-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/how-to-pay-nanny-taxes-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"How to pay nanny taxes yourself: Guide for parents and families"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If&nbsp;you pay your nanny or child care provider at least $3,000 in the 2026&nbsp;calendar year, the IRS expects you to pay what&rsquo;s known as the &ldquo;nanny tax.&rdquo; This year-round process is completed in four basic steps, and while many families choose to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/homepay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Care.com HomePay<\/a> do everything for them, it is possible to tackle these items and pay nanny taxes yourself.&nbsp;<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\"><h2>Table of contents<\/h2><ul><li><a href=\"#h-steps-for-paying-nanny-taxes-yourself\" data-level=\"2\">Steps for paying nanny taxes yourself<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#h-1-complete-some-initial-paperwork\" data-level=\"3\">1. Complete some initial paperwork<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-2-accurately-calculate-payroll-each-pay-period\" data-level=\"3\">2. Accurately calculate payroll each pay period<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-3-send-tax-payments-and-returns-to-the-irs-and-the-state\" data-level=\"3\">3. Send tax payments and returns to the IRS and the state<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-4-prepare-your-year-end-tax-documents\" data-level=\"3\">4. Prepare your year-end tax documents<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/homepay\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/08\/300x250-V2-1.png\" alt=\"Cross nanny taxes off your to-do list forever\" class=\"wp-image-3084\"><\/a><\/figure><\/div><div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-steps-for-paying-nanny-taxes-yourself\">Steps for paying nanny taxes yourself <\/h2><p>Before you dive in, it&rsquo;s a good idea to understand all these steps, so here&rsquo;s a general idea of what you can expect to do if you choose to pay nanny taxes yourself:<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-complete-some-initial-paperwork\"><strong><a id=\"stepone\" name=\"stepone\"><\/a>1. Complete some initial paperwork<\/strong><\/h3><p>You can&rsquo;t begin calculating payroll for your nanny without knowing how much in taxes to withhold. To do this, you&rsquo;ll need your nanny to fill out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/nanny-tax-forms\">Form W-4 and a state withholding form<\/a> (if your state collects income taxes).<\/p><p>Because you are, technically, the employer of your nanny, you&rsquo;ll also need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/businesses\/small-businesses-self-employed\/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">apply for a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN)<\/a> with the IRS, as well as state tax identification numbers with the agencies that handle collection of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/nanny-taxes-by-state\/\">state taxes<\/a>. These tax IDs identify you as a household employer and are required for sending in tax returns. You should apply for you tax IDs once you&rsquo;ve made the decision to hire a nanny.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-accurately-calculate-payroll-each-pay-period\"><strong><a id=\"steptwo\" name=\"steptwo\"><\/a>2. Accurately calculate payroll each pay period<\/strong><\/h3><p>You&rsquo;ll need to keep track of the hours your nanny works, apply their hourly rate and add any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/do-nannies-get-overtime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overtime pay<\/a> to get to the gross (before taxes) amount. From there, you&rsquo;ll need to withhold the correct amount of Social Security &amp; Medicare taxes, income taxes and any other state or local taxes that may apply. After these deductions, you&rsquo;ll know how much your nanny&rsquo;s net, or take-home, pay will be.<\/p><p class=\"has-text-align-left\">See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/nanny-pay-rates-how-much-should-i-pay-my-nanny\">how much a nanny costs<\/a>&nbsp;where you live.<\/p><p>You&rsquo;ll also need to calculate how much in Social Security &amp; Medicare taxes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/unemployment-insurance\">unemployment insurance taxes<\/a> and any other miscellaneous state taxes you have accumulated as a household employer. These household employment taxes will generally be about 10% of the gross wages paid to your nanny, but can vary depending on where you live.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-send-tax-payments-and-returns-to-the-irs-and-the-state\"><strong><a id=\"stepthree\" name=\"stepthree\"><\/a>3. Send tax payments and returns to the IRS and the state<\/strong><\/h3><p>Your state requires you to send in tax returns &mdash; generally on a quarterly basis &mdash; for unemployment insurance taxes and income taxes. You&rsquo;ll need to keep track of when these returns are due and send the appropriate amount of taxes to the correct agency. Some states have a different filing schedule so check <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/nanny-taxes-by-state\">your state&rsquo;s requirements<\/a> for more details.<\/p><p>Additionally, it&rsquo;s recommended to send in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/what-household-employers-need-to-know-about-estimated-tax-payments\">estimated tax payments<\/a> to the IRS four times per year to account for the Social Security &amp; Medicare taxes you&rsquo;re withholding from your nanny and accumulating for yourself. Waiting until you file your personal income tax return in April can result in underpayment penalties.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-prepare-your-year-end-tax-documents\"><strong><a id=\"stepfour\" name=\"stepfour\"><\/a>4. Prepare your year-end tax documents<\/strong><\/h3><p>After the year ends, you&rsquo;ll need to prepare several documents to wrap up your annual nanny tax requirements:<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><p dir=\"ltr\">Form W-2 for your nanny, so they can file their personal income tax return.<\/p><\/li><li><p dir=\"ltr\">W-2 Copy A and Form W-3 to be filed with the Social Security Administration.<\/p><\/li><li><p dir=\"ltr\">A state Annual Reconciliation Form if your state requires it.<\/p><\/li><li><p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/file-a-schedule-h-with-your-2021-tax-return-if-you-hire-a-household-employee\">Schedule H<\/a> for you to attach to your personal income tax return.<\/p><\/li><\/ul><p>The IRS estimates this work will take the average family 50-55 hours per year to administer. If you&rsquo;d like to have those hours back in your life and enjoy the peace of mind of having an expert handle it all for you, give HomePay a call at <strong>(888) 273-3356<\/strong>. We&rsquo;ve helped families with these requirements since 1992 and can make the process a breeze.<\/p><div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div><p><strong>Next Steps:<\/strong><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/nanny-pay-rates-how-much-should-i-pay-my-nanny\">Find out how much to pay a nanny in your area<\/a>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/homepay\/nanny-tax-calculator\">Use our nanny tax calculator to estimate your tax costs<\/a>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.care.com\/homepay\">See a demo of the HomePay nanny tax service<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><p><a id=\"getstarted\" name=\"getstarted\"><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you pay your nanny or caregiver more than $2,800 in a calendar year, you need to learn about your nanny tax responsibilities and how to pay them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1301,"featured_media":3375,"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":"2025-12-05T21:39:45.995Z","last_update":"2025-12-05","view_count":21964,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"member-type":[2],"vertical":[3,366],"platform":[11],"class_list":["post-325","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":"2018-03-20","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325","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\/1301"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4018,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/4018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"member-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/member-type?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"platform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/hp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/platform?post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}