Do you give your cleaning person a w2?

[Anonymous]

I feel like I am the only person who withholds SS / FICA and gives a w2 to their cleaning person.

Am I missing something? My manager told me yoy only need to withhold if you pay more than $1200 a qtr. I did not want to go into an in depth conversation that I really thought you needed to do an i9 / withhold.

Can anyone provide clarification.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that if they offer their services to others, they are not your employee, so no need to withhold. Does she only work for you?

[Anonymous]

http://www.4nannytaxes.com/news/EEorContractor.cfm

[Anonymous]

You are also not required to pay employment taxes for a household worker if the total cash wages paid does not reach the annual wage threshold, currently $1700 per year. (2010) Just to keep it interesting, a 1099 form is due to the employee when earnings are between $600 and $1699!

from the above link

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You are also not required to pay employment taxes for a household worker if the total cash wages paid does not reach the annual wage threshold, currently $1700 per year. (2010) Just to keep it interesting, a 1099 form is due to the employee when earnings are between $600 and $1699!

from the above link

Thanks for this info -

So - does anyone else give a w2?

[Anonymous]

Nope. Just write a check for our weekly cleanings. We do give one to our nanny, though.

[Anonymous]

no

[Anonymous]

We only get our housekeeper to come once a month, so she makes $90 a month plus $10 in tips. We don't reach the $1700 threshold so no, we don't.

[Anonymous]

Given that so many people are concerned about clearances and pay their nanny "on the books" why don't those who reach the threshold do the same for their cleaning person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given that so many people are concerned about clearances and pay their nanny "on the books" why don't those who reach the threshold do the same for their cleaning person?

I don't have a nanny. We have a twice a month housekeeper. He fee is 90 but we have always paid her 100. This puts us well over the threshhold but I worry that she is not reporting her income. I know that she is flat-out and doesn't have a ton of money. She lost her home in the mortgage mess a few years ago and lives paycheck to paycheck. We don't have enough money to pay her so much that tax withholding wouldn't hurt. I guess that is our reasoning for it. I wonder if any of her other clients withhold taxes?

I also didn't realize we had to withhold in this instance. I thought she was a business, so as such we were her client, not her employer? Reading all of this, I'm afraid we are now going to get in trouble and should start withholding tax.

[Anonymous]

We do. We treat her just like the nanny for payroll and tax reporting purposes. She comes every week. I just have the nanny payroll service do her stuff, tooo. So, OP, at least there are two of us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that if they offer their services to others, they are not your employee, so no need to withhold. Does she only work for you?

You need to read IRS Pub 926 (I hope that's right. It's 926 or 526) about household employees. There is more to it than whether she works for other people, too. Does she bring all her own stuff? Does she control when she comes or does ashe have to come at times/days you specify? There are a lot of factors. Ours is an employee, even though she works for other people.

[Anonymous]

I don't know the legality of it all, but it would seem to depend on whether they are your "employee" or simple someone whose services you contract. You don't put a W2 out for your mechanic no matter how much work he does for you. He doesn't work for you. If you have a full- or even part-time housekeeper, that would seem to qualify them as an "employee" (even if they work for someone else... lots of people hold multiple jobs). If they come once a week or something and are working on other houses, then they should be considered either self-employed or they work for a larger agency, in which case I don't think you ought to give them a W2.

Note: As I stated at the outset, this isn't necessarily intended to be a legal statement, but more one of ethics.