Household Employment Tax is the employer's portion of the Medicare and Social Security Tax on the wages paid to a household employee. This amount is added to your tax return.
Who is a household employee?
If you hired someone to do household work and you had the ability to control the details of what and how the work was performed, you had a household employee. Household work is work completed in or around your home. Examples include:
- Babysitters/Nannies
- Cooks
- Maids/Butlers/Housekeepers
- Drivers
- Health Aides/Private Nurses
- Yard Workers
Am I required to file a Schedule H?
You must file a Schedule H if you employ a household worker, whether the work is part-time or full-time, or if you hired the worker through an agency or not. It does not matter if the wages paid are for work completed on a daily, hourly, or weekly, or per job basis.
You must pay household employment taxes for 2021 if:
- You paid an individual household employee $2,400 or more in 2022
- For all household employees you paid total cash wages of $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter of 2020 or 2021
When you file Schedule H with your return, you will pay both the employment and income taxes to the United States Treasury.
How do I file a Schedule H?
Add Schedule H to your tax return:
- Federal Section
- Other Taxes
- Household Employment Taxes
If you are not filing a current year tax return, you must file Schedule H by itself and mail it to the IRS. Do not file Schedule H if you file Form 941, 943 or 944.