Sharing nanny pay

[Anonymous]

My friend and I are going to be doing a nanny share with our infants at my house beginning this fall. The nanny will be coming 3 days per week, and will have both infants on 2 days and just my daughter on one day. The hours will be the same when it is 2 kids as it will be when it is just one. Do you think because of this situation we can offer the nanny a weekly rate instead of a per hour rate? For instance, instead of saying "we will pay $20 when there is two infants, and $16 for when there is just one" we can just say "we are paying you $300 per week" (I just made up those numbers, as examples). I do not think I need to pay the nanny the same rate for 2 kids as I do one.

Also, since we are paying the nanny more because she will be with our daughter 3 days, we were going to have our friend pay us for her share and then have us pay the nanny the weekly rate. We would like to offer the nanny the option of us taking the taxes out of her pay but are confused as to handle the tax situation if the money is coming from two sources. I wanted to see if anyone had any experiences with this before I called my accountant to ask and he charges me $50 for a phone call.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Nannies are hourly employees so a salary is out of question. Both families need to file taxes separately to avoid tax fraud. Besides any experienced nanny will refuse the share rate on one child days because you just can't afford normal nanny rate. Find someone to do the a share one day a week. The only reason shares are beneficial to nannies in the first place is because they receive a higher rate than they would a single family with two kids. You skimping out already on a less then full time position isn't going to attract many qualified candidates.

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine to advertise it the way you mentioned. So your ad can read something like "Seeking a nanny for a PT share 3 days a week, pay is $XXX total." But for the logistical reasons PP mentioned its best that after you've offered someone the job you lay out exactly who's paying what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nannies are hourly employees so a salary is out of question. Both families need to file taxes separately to avoid tax fraud. Besides any experienced nanny will refuse the share rate on one child days because you just can't afford normal nanny rate. Find someone to do the a share one day a week. The only reason shares are beneficial to nannies in the first place is because they receive a higher rate than they would a single family with two kids. You skimping out already on a less then full time position isn't going to attract many qualified candidates.

First of all, you do not know anything about or finance. Why would I pay the nanny the same rate to watch one kid as I would to watch 2 kids? Also, I am not skimping out- I am off one day per week and DH is off one day per week- our need is only for 3 days per week.

If they nanny wants to know the breakdown I will say "$22 per hour on days when you have 2, $18 per hour on the day you have one" or whatever we decide on for the rate.

[Anonymous]

Each family should pay her separately. Including whatever they are obligated to pay tax wise. It will get too complicated otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nannies are hourly employees so a salary is out of question. Both families need to file taxes separately to avoid tax fraud. Besides any experienced nanny will refuse the share rate on one child days because you just can't afford normal nanny rate. Find someone to do the a share one day a week. The only reason shares are beneficial to nannies in the first place is because they receive a higher rate than they would a single family with two kids. You skimping out already on a less then full time position isn't going to attract many qualified candidates.

First of all, you do not know anything about or finance. Why would I pay the nanny the same rate to watch one kid as I would to watch 2 kids? Also, I am not skimping out- I am off one day per week and DH is off one day per week- our need is only for 3 days per week.

If they nanny wants to know the breakdown I will say "$22 per hour on days when you have 2, $18 per hour on the day you have one" or whatever we decide on for the rate.

Not the PP, but I think what they meant was that the amount YOU are paying cannot be the same on share days as non-share days. So if your portion of the share rate was $11, it wouldn't be acceptable to pay the same amount when the nanny is watching just your child. But nor is it necessary to match the full share amount. The rates you've been throwing out (even though hypothetical) seem to acknowledge this, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Anonymous]

You can pay a nanny a "salary," but it's not a true salary because it's actually a minimum payment. You need to have the actual hourly rate (or rates) documented as well as her actual hours worked each week. If she ever works more than expected, she's entitled to the extra hourly pay (with OT if that puts her above 40 hours for the week)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nannies are hourly employees so a salary is out of question. Both families need to file taxes separately to avoid tax fraud. Besides any experienced nanny will refuse the share rate on one child days because you just can't afford normal nanny rate. Find someone to do the a share one day a week. The only reason shares are beneficial to nannies in the first place is because they receive a higher rate than they would a single family with two kids. You skimping out already on a less then full time position isn't going to attract many qualified candidates.

First of all, you do not know anything about or finance. Why would I pay the nanny the same rate to watch one kid as I would to watch 2 kids? Also, I am not skimping out- I am off one day per week and DH is off one day per week- our need is only for 3 days per week.

If they nanny wants to know the breakdown I will say "$22 per hour on days when you have 2, $18 per hour on the day you have one" or whatever we decide on for the rate.

The last part is what you need to do. You can advertise it both ways ("total pay is $xx for an xx-hour week") but legally you need to track and calculate it by the hour, so you will have a set one-child and two-child rates (and should you go into overtime, that comes into play too). You will need to do this anyway to keep track of which family owes how much, though (in your example, if you had three eight-hour days at $22/hr for two and $18 for one, you need to know that your share is $11/hr for the two days with both kids and $18/hr for the day with just your child, for instance, because you will need to report that independently of the other family reporting what they are paying).

In our share, the one-child rate is $17/hour and it's $22 for two kids.