Paying Sitter with credit card?

[Anonymous]

Good point about taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The form of payment has a lot to do with taxes, if both parties are not on the same page about the issue.

We are talking about a occasional babysitter though, not a specific 1-2+ day schedule every week. An occasional sitter generally won't go over the yearly limit on earnings where taxes then need to be paid. If it is $20/hr for 7 hours, once a month, you are not going over that limit.

If you are going to be employing someone more often than that, then you need to figure out taxes, and that has nothing to do with whether you are paying cash, credit/debit, or check. That is why I am saying the form of payment has nothing to do with taxes. The taxes are an issue depending on the AMOUNT that is paid over a year, BUT regardless of how the money is payed. Just because you pay me by check, that doesn't mean taxes will be done on it if I am not working enough to go over the annual limit. But it *is* easier for the IRS to catch people that should be paying taxes.

It is easy to be on the same page. You mention that you follow the law and things will be on the books if you go over the federal limit. You will pay your taxes owed from that point. It will be up to them to pay theirs, and if they don't want to, then they will have to deal with it if they get into trouble.