I have never known of anyone who has ever gotten "caught".

No

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I are legal when paying our nanny (a US citizen) - we pay and report taxes. However, three of our friends that have nannies pay them under the table and have no concerns about getting caught. One friend specifically said that her nanny wouldn't work for her otherwise because she wouldn't make enough money.

On one hand, I feel bad that our nanny's $19/hour salary (for 2 kids) turns into like $12-13/hour after taxes, meanwhile our friends' nannies pocket $18/hour and don't report. BUT on the other hand I would not want to get caught as we are govt employees. What would be the penalty?

Have you ever known anyone in real life to get caught doing this? It seems like everyone gets away with it. How can you lose $30+K per year (nanny salary) and not get audited by the IRS??

OP, the penalties are the failure to deposit the employment taxes plus the failure to pay the taxes when they were due plus the failure to file the returns showing the taxes. So the penalties are over 50% of the tax liability, plus you'd owe interest. I used to work for the Department of Justice Tax Division and I can assure you this issue came up, and not with famous people. The reason you might have only heard about it with famous people is because no one wants to read a story about some random family in Oklahoma, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Your nanny gets benefits beyond just the cash, as others noted. She has a salary and tax return history (which is important if she ever wants to a car or a house), and she is eligible for social security benefits. Also, if you and your husband are government employees, then know that one case I had involved a DOJ employee where this happened and she was fired. Security clearances or even the public trust level generally will not allow you to do something like this, so if you're caught, you're fired. Does everyone get caught? Obviously not, so I guess people just weigh the risk of being caught (small, given the amount of people who do this) against the effect of being caught (potentially huge). If they're in a job where they wouldn't get fired, then maybe they're willing to roll the dice on having to pay the penalties and interest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the only way you can get in trouble is if you leave any type of paper trail.

If you pay your nanny in personal checks, but still do not report it on your taxes, then that may come back to bite you in the ass, most esp. if your bank shows you wrote out these checks to a certain person on a regular basis.

Also if you have a verified written contract that is signed by both you and your nanny.

However, in reality no one really ever gets caught and thus prosecuted by the IRS for paying a nanny off the books, except those in the limelight. I.e., politicians, celebrities, athletes, etc.

Even if you were to be audited by the IRS, it would be tough for them to prove that you were paying someone under the table as a working nanny unless you has a signed contract. Just the regular personal checks would not be sufficient proof that you were paying a nanny unless you actually wrote "Childcare" on the checks themselves.

Every nanny employer creates a paper trail. What mother would never, ever text, email or leave notes for their babysitters? These parents are playing with fire, and are woefully ignorant.

Even phone logs create a trail.

Not to mention--they can ask the nanny. Regular payments + statements from the nanny + absence of any other child care arrangements = proof. Plus, once you falsely deny it, you've committed a federal offense--making a false statement. Add in phone logs, emails, and texts?

People definitely get caught. Most of the time, they aren't prosecuted--it's handled civilly, so you have to pay the taxes that you owed, plus interest and penalties (which can really add up).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the only way you can get in trouble is if you leave any type of paper trail.

If you pay your nanny in personal checks, but still do not report it on your taxes, then that may come back to bite you in the ass, most esp. if your bank shows you wrote out these checks to a certain person on a regular basis.

Also if you have a verified written contract that is signed by both you and your nanny.

However, in reality no one really ever gets caught and thus prosecuted by the IRS for paying a nanny off the books, except those in the limelight. I.e., politicians, celebrities, athletes, etc.

Even if you were to be audited by the IRS, it would be tough for them to prove that you were paying someone under the table as a working nanny unless you has a signed contract. Just the regular personal checks would not be sufficient proof that you were paying a nanny unless you actually wrote "Childcare" on the checks themselves.

Every nanny employer creates a paper trail. What mother would never, ever text, email or leave notes for their babysitters? These parents are playing with fire, and are woefully ignorant.

Even phone logs create a trail.

When the nanny gets laid off because your kids grow up and she applies for unemployment the parents will be audited and caught

Anonymous wrote:I think the only way you can get in trouble is if you leave any type of paper trail.

If you pay your nanny in personal checks, but still do not report it on your taxes, then that may come back to bite you in the ass, most esp. if your bank shows you wrote out these checks to a certain person on a regular basis.

Also if you have a verified written contract that is signed by both you and your nanny.

However, in reality no one really ever gets caught and thus prosecuted by the IRS for paying a nanny off the books, except those in the limelight. I.e., politicians, celebrities, athletes, etc.

Even if you were to be audited by the IRS, it would be tough for them to prove that you were paying someone under the table as a working nanny unless you has a signed contract. Just the regular personal checks would not be sufficient proof that you were paying a nanny unless you actually wrote "Childcare" on the checks themselves.

Every nanny employer creates a paper trail. What mother would never, ever text, email or leave notes for their babysitters? These parents are playing with fire, and are woefully ignorant.

Most of my neighborhood works for the feds and pays their nanny on the books. So do we as we’d like her to get social security and unemployment etc and we have no choice based on our jobs anyways. I was actually an employer reference for my nanny to get a mortgage on a condo so that was good for her. And at ther income she gets a lot of her taxes back.

DH is in the military and absolutely refuses to pay a nanny off the books.

Anonymous wrote:When looking at Nanny ads ............ What does DOE mean ?

can you give us context/the sentence? It probably means Depending on Experience if it's talking about salary.