The Household Employer

Housekeeper Payroll Taxes: The Same Rules, Different Math

Last updated September 28, 2026

General information, not advice: this page covers tax and employment topics in general terms. It is not tax or legal advice, and reading it does not create a CPA–client relationship. Tax and labor rules vary by state and situation — consult a qualified professional for your circumstances.

Everything in the household employer tax guide applies to housekeepers, in-home caregivers, and gardeners — not just nannies. The $3,000 FICA threshold, Schedule H, W-2s, the FUTA trigger: none of it cares about the job title. What changes is the math (part-time schedules live near the thresholds) and the classification (cleaning services and gardeners are where contractor confusion lives). This guide covers both.

The rules are the same

If you direct when and how the work is done, the worker is your household employee, and:

The title on the door doesn’t matter. “Housekeeper,” “caregiver,” “mother’s helper,” “groundskeeper” — the IRS test is control, not vocabulary.

Part-time threshold math: the boundary cases

Nannies blow past the thresholds by February. Part-time housekeepers live on them, so do the math before assuming you’re exempt:

The practical rule: if someone cleans your house regularly, assume you’re a household employer and verify with the math rather than assuming the reverse. The families who get surprised are the ones who thought “it’s just a few hours a week” without multiplying by 52.

Take the household employer quiz if you want the decision tree version of this.

Multiple employers each file separately

Your housekeeper probably cleans other people’s houses. That doesn’t change your obligation one bit: each employer applies the thresholds to the wages they pay. You don’t combine what you pay with what her other clients pay. If you pay her $4,000 and another family pays her $4,000, you each owe FICA on your $4,000 — and she owes nothing extra for the combination (her total Social Security wages are just reported across two W-2s).

This also means you can’t dodge the threshold by reasoning “she makes plenty overall, my share is small.” Your share is the only share the IRS looks at.

Agency-employed cleaners are NOT your employees

If you book through a cleaning company that sends different people, sets their schedules, and pays them — the company is the employer, not you. You have no Schedule H obligation, no W-2, no FICA. You’re a customer.

The gray zone is the “agency” that’s really a referral service: they introduce you to a cleaner, you set the schedule, you pay the cleaner directly, the agency takes a finder’s fee. In that structure, you’re likely the employer regardless of what the agency calls itself. Labels don’t determine employment status; control does.

The independent contractor test that actually matters

The most common — and most expensive — misclassification in household work is calling an employee a contractor and issuing a 1099. Here’s the test, reduced to what matters for household roles:

A true independent contractor typically all of the following:

  1. Sets their own schedule — they tell you when they’re available; you take it or leave it.
  2. Brings their own supplies and equipment — their vacuum, their products, their tools.
  3. Has multiple clients and markets their services as a business.
  4. Controls how the work is done — you specify the result (“clean the house”), not the method, order, and process.

Your weekly housekeeper who arrives when you tell her, uses your Dyson and your cleaning products, and follows your room-by-room checklist? Employee. The IRS and state agencies apply this test aggressively, and “but we agreed she’s a contractor” is not a defense — nor is issuing a 1099.

Gardeners and groundskeepers are the closest call. The typical mow-and-blow crew that services twenty houses on their own route, with their own truck and equipment, on a schedule they set: usually contractors. The gardener who works only for you, three days a week, using your tools, doing exactly what you direct each morning: employee. Control over the daily work is the deciding factor, not the type of work.

Caregivers: same rules, higher stakes

In-home caregivers (elder care, special-needs care) follow the identical tax rules — but two things raise the stakes:

  1. Hours are often high. Live-in or near-live-in caregivers blow past every threshold immediately and trigger overtime rules — including state overlays. Budget accordingly.
  2. Agency vs. direct hire matters enormously. Caregivers placed by a home-care agency are typically the agency’s employees (and since 2015, agencies can’t claim the FLSA exemptions). Caregivers you hire directly are your employees with the full Schedule H path.

What to do this week

The unifying principle: regularity creates employment. The occasional gutter cleaner is a contractor; the person who shows up every Tuesday is your employee. When the schedule is regular, do the threshold math — it takes two minutes and it’s the difference between compliant and exposed.

Three worked scenarios

Scenario 1: The weekly housekeeper. Maria comes every Friday, 9am–1pm, at $30/hr ($120/week), 50 weeks a year. Annual pay: $6,000 — over the $3,000 FICA threshold. Quarterly: $1,560 — over the $1,000 FUTA trigger. You use your supplies and set the checklist. Verdict: household employee. You owe employer FICA ($459), FUTA ($42), state UI registration and quarterly reports, a W-2 by January 31, and Schedule H. This is the single most common surprise in household employment — “just a few hours a week” that clears every threshold.

Scenario 2: The mow-and-blow crew. A two-person crew comes every other Tuesday, $65/visit, with their own truck, mowers, and edgers. They service twenty other houses on a route they designed. You text “skip this week” sometimes and they adjust. Verdict: contractors. They control the schedule, equipment, method, and client base. No Schedule H, no W-2 — keep your payment records.

Scenario 3: The after-school sitter. Your neighbor’s 17-year-old watches the kids Tuesday and Thursday, 3–6pm (6 hrs/week), at $18/hr during the 27-week school stretch. Annual pay: $108/week × 27 = $2,916. Under the $3,000 FICA threshold — and she’s under 18 with school as her principal occupation (doubly exempt from FICA). But $108/week × 13 weeks = $1,404/quarter — over the $1,000 FUTA trigger. Verdict: FUTA applies, FICA doesn’t. You file Schedule H for the FUTA, register with your state, and re-check the math if her hours grow or she turns 18 and keeps working.

Notice what the scenarios have in common: the answer was never “it depends on what we call it.” It depended on control and arithmetic. Run both, in that order, for every worker — then file accordingly.