Babysitter Taxes

by KYW's Amy Feldman

When do you have to pay taxes on your babysitter?

Shows like ‘Supernanny’ raise many questions—among them, why would rational people put on parade their bratty hellions and their own inability to deal with them?  This being a legal segment and not a psychology segment, we’ll answer the question: if you hire a nanny, in addition to paying wages, do you—and if yes, when do you have to pay taxes on their wages.

If you have a worker in your home and you control not only what work is done--like childcare, cleaning, etc.--but also how it is done, that worker is your employee regardless of whether she is full-time or part-time, or that you've hired her from an agency.  If you pay an employee cash wages of $1300 or more, you generally must withhold social security and Medicare taxes from all cash wages you pay.

If the worker controls how the work is done--like a lawn service that provides its own tools--then the worker is self-employed.  You do not need to withhold the taxes but should fill out a 1099 for wages over $600 paid in a year--a form you can get on the IRS website.  How you get yourself on TV to show how well or poorly you are parenting, you’ll have to research that one for yourself.