Knowledge Center

Financial Professionals

• Household Employment: Schedule H vs. 941

  Household employers file and pay the exact same employment taxes as commercial employers do. The IRS established the Form 1040 Schedule H in 1995 to simplify and streamline the household payroll tax reporting. Often times, however, the household employer or their CPA are confused about the proper reporting and begin filing quarterly Forms 941 for… Read more »

• Are you a household employer?

  What Your Family Needs to Know... At HWS, we are experts on the tax and labor laws surrounding household employment, so you don't have to be. Let's first determine whether YOU are a household employer. Our knowledge center goes into much more depth on the details, here it is short and simple. Our lives are busy,... Read more »

• Senior Caregiver Hiring: Employee or Independent Contractor

  The IRS is increasing its focus on improperly classified domestic workers, including those hired as senior home care professionals. As an employer of a household employee, you must be aware of these changes for tax season. An adult over 18 years of age who works in your private home and to whom you pay more than... Read more »

• Hotline Set Up in New York to Help Nannies and Housekeepers File for Unpaid Overtime

  Efforts by workers’ rights groups to educate about New York’s Domestic Workers Bill of Rights have resulted in a big uptick in unpaid overtime claims filed against household employers. Advocacy groups are actively canvassing New York City neighborhoods – in playgrounds and grocery stores and other places where nannies and other household employees are likely… Read more »

• Emergency Nanny Income During a Pandemic (Old – Redirected)

  17 March 2020 Summary Over the last several days, attempts to contain and slow the spread of the novel coronavirus are severely disrupting everyday life in the USA. Worries are running the gamut from, “Where can I find toilet paper?” to “I can’t work, I’m not being paid, how can I pay for toilet paper?”… Read more »

• 4 Common Errors: The Nanny or Senior Caregiver Compensation Offer

  You have a new baby in the house, you are not sleeping well, and you need to line up a great nanny before you return to work. Or mom is declining and you have to hire a senior caregiver to stay with her while you are working because she just is not safe alone any… Read more »

• G-5 Employee Workers’ Compensation Insurance

  Workers’ Compensation is insurance protection mandated under state law for a worker and his or her dependents against injury and death occurring in the course of employment. It is not health insurance, and it is not intended to compensate for a disability other than disability caused by injury arising out of employment. If your employee,… Read more »

• Senior Care and Nanny Misclassification Enforcement Steps Up

  The US Department of Labor’s Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, David Weil, clearly stated on July 15, 2015 that most workers are considered employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, as he issued new guidelines aimed at limiting the misclassification of workers as independent contractors.

• Outsourcing Schedule H to a Household Payroll Specialist

  Busy tax preparation firms always encounter a few clients who come to them during busy season with household payroll that has not been attended to throughout the prior year. The client is most interested in fast turnaround of a W-2 form for their nanny or housekeeper, under pressure from their employee to get things together and… Read more »

• Payroll Tax Enforcement Efforts Accelerate

  The trend towards stepped up enforcement is pervasive. The California hotline targets businesses and household employers and workers. (Last week I reported that a new hotline was set up in New York specifically to educate in-home workers about their rights, and to assist workers in filing complaints against employers.)