Need Au Pair SSN for FSA

[Anonymous]

Our Au Pair was with us 2018-2019. Since she returned to her country last summer, we have not had any significant childcare expenses because DH is now home from overseas and we’ve been able to make it work without aftercare, etc. Thus, our only significant expenses for 2019 were stipends paid to our au pair.

I know I should have paid better attention to this earlier, but we are now getting ready to submit for reimbursement from FSA and I do not have our AP’s taxpayer ID number. I mentioned it in a friendly email to her, but she is away at university now and thinks she has the number at home, where she won’t be returning until late February. I’m a bit nervous about waiting that long only for her not to be able to find it.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Anonymous]

Tell her it's important and to please have her family check for her.

[Anonymous]

We always give the agency’s number, not the au pair’s social.

[Anonymous]

We give both the agency's number and her number on our tax returns, since they are different places on the tax form. If she paid taxes for part of 2018, it would be on the return she filed last year,so if she filed electronically, she might be able to access it - of course, it should be on your return, too...

[Anonymous]

We had other FSA expenses in 2018 so she was not on our return that year... whoops, should she have been, for some reason?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had other FSA expenses in 2018 so she was not on our return that year... whoops, should she have been, for some reason?

We always list out every childcare worker, even if we meet the cap for the deduction. Our accountant said we needed to, I think it's everyone above a certain floor amount (maybe $600).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We always give the agency’s number, not the au pair’s social.

This is what we have been doing, too. Are you sure you need your AP's social?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We always give the agency’s number, not the au pair’s social.

This is what we have been doing, too. Are you sure you need your AP's social?

I think you are supposed to so that the IRS can match up the income she is reporting on her return. Anyone who provides a service to you over a certain amount every year should be on your return, so that when they file their own return - the IRS can match up their returns.

[Anonymous]

This is just for our FSA. We only need this to submit to DH’s employer. I’ll try it without her SSN and we will see what happens.

[Anonymous]

We just include the agency's number. Not our AP's social.

[Anonymous]

For the FSA, I always just put the agency information. I believe because it maxed out with the agency fee, and the payments to her didn't matter for the FSA since it's capped.

[Anonymous]

I would imagine the company you hired her through could provide it?

[Anonymous]

Where do you find the agencies number? (I’m with APIA)

Or what Type of “number” should I tell my agency that I need for FSA?

[Anonymous]

For APIA, use their tax ID number: https://www.aupairinamerica.com/resources/host_family_tips/taxqa.asp