Miami Herald Logo

Who's paying nanny taxes? | Miami Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Site Information
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Herald Store
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

    • Sections
    • News
    • South Florida
    • Miami-Dade
    • Broward
    • Florida Keys
    • Florida
    • Politics
    • Weird News
    • Weather
    • National & World
    • Colombia
    • National
    • World
    • Americas
    • Cuba
    • Guantánamo
    • Haiti
    • Venezuela
    • Local Issues
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • In Depth
    • Issues & Ideas
    • Traffic
    • Sections
    • Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Pro & College
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Miami Heat
    • Miami Marlins
    • Florida Panthers
    • College Sports
    • University of Miami
    • Florida International
    • University of Florida
    • Florida State University
    • More Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Fighting
    • Golf
    • Horse Racing
    • Outdoors
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Youth Sports
    • Other Sports
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • Sections
    • Business
    • Business Monday
    • Banking
    • International Business
    • National Business
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate News
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Tourism & Cruises
    • Workplace
    • Business Plan Challenge
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cindy Krischer Goodman
    • The Starting Gate
    • Work/Life Balancing Act
    • Movers
    • Sections
    • Living
    • Advice
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Recipes
    • Travel
    • Wine
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dave Barry
    • Ana Veciana-Suarez
    • Flashback Miami
    • More Living
    • LGBTQ South Florida
    • Palette Magazine
    • Indulge Magazine
    • South Florida Album
    • Broward Album
    • Sections
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music & Nightlife
    • People
    • Performing Arts
    • Restaurants
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Jose Lambiet
    • Lesley Abravanel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Miami.com
    • Contests & Promotions
    • Sections
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Op-Ed
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Jim Morin
    • Letters to the Editor
    • From Our Inbox
    • Speak Up
    • Submit a Letter
    • Meet the Editorial Board
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Blog Directory
    • Columnist Directory
    • Andres Oppenheimer
    • Carl Hiaasen
    • Leonard Pitts Jr.
    • Fabiola Santiago
    • Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Place an Obituary

    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Apartments
    • Auctions/Sales
    • Automotive
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Employment
    • Garage Sales
    • Legals
    • Merchandise
    • Obituaries
    • Pets
    • Public Notices
    • Real Estate
    • Services
  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Real Estate
  • Mobile & Apps

  • el Nuevo Herald
  • Miami.com
  • Indulge

Latest News

Who's paying nanny taxes?

COLLEEN LONG

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 26, 2009 06:00 AM

It's a given among the stroller set that many of them share a secret powerful enough to bring down political careers: They don't pay taxes on their nannies.

Leslie Rubin, a lawyer who has a 5-year-old and a 9-month-old, doesn't want to name names. But she's pretty sure most of the parents in her family-friendly Brooklyn neighborhood aren't following the law.

"I am about the only person I know who pays on the books," she said. "I think the only people who do are lawyers or other government workers."

MORE ONLINE 

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Nanny tax filing service at nannytax.com. 

About 225,000 people paid taxes on household help including nannies in 2006, the latest year reported by the IRS. But the government estimates that 770,000 of the nation's 1.4 million child-care workers work for private households or are self-employed.

Nannies can make between $450 and $750 a week, not counting taxes or health insurance, which costs an additional couple of hundred dollars a week.

"People are caught in a bind. Most people I know aren't hiring a nanny because they are wealthy," Rubin said. "There are so few day-care slots available."

For public officials like Zoe Baird and Nancy Killefer, failure to pay the tax meant the end of political rise. Both women resigned as choices in top political office; Baird from President Clinton's Cabinet and more recently, Killefer as President Obama's choice for chief compliance officer.

But for everyday families, it's more about principles than a fear of getting caught, because most people don't. An IRS audit is the only source of enforcement, with fines for offenders.

Even knowing whether you are supposed to pay can be confusing. (You are responsible for paying taxes on any worker paid more than $1,600 in a calendar year.)

Kristin Smith, a lawyer with an 8-month-old son, said her nanny likes to be paid on the books, and in this uncertain economy, is relieved she could claim unemployment if she had to be laid off.

"Also, I like the idea of setting up a professional relationship with your nanny," Smith said. "Otherwise, it's kind of like you're colluding with your nanny against the government. It sets it up to say that it's OK not to tell an authority figure about what you're doing."

The term "nanny tax'' is really an umbrella for several different taxes: Social Security and Medicare taxes and the federal unemployment tax. State unemployment tax and perhaps state disability tax may be owed as well. Rubin found the tax forms incredibly difficult.

There are companies around the country, like NannyTax in New York and The Nanny Tax Co. in Chicago, that help navigate the complicated system of withholdings and taxes, but the services cost more than $500 a year.

Michelle LaRowe Conover, of the International Nanny Association, said the taxes are important to the child care workers, too.

"Without them you have no proof of work," she said. "You can't refinance your home or get good health insurance."

  Comments  

Videos

Four members of the Venezuelan military desert their post and flee toward Colombia

Four members of the Venezuelan military defect toward the Colombian border

View More Video

Trending Stories

Patriots owner Robert Kraft is among the hundreds charged in Florida sex traffic sting

February 22, 2019 12:23 PM

Trump threatens to deport Venezuelan military officials’ families that have fled to Miami

February 22, 2019 07:21 PM

It’s about to get easier for legal immigrants in Miami to get their papers. Faster, too.

February 22, 2019 03:14 PM

Government preparing to be sued in 2023, when the Keys stop issuing building permits

February 23, 2019 07:00 AM

National Guard fires tear gas amid Venezuela border tension

February 23, 2019 03:17 PM

Read Next

Four dead and at least 50 wounded in clashes over aid in Venezuela

Venezuela

Four dead and at least 50 wounded in clashes over aid in Venezuela

By Antonio Maria Delgado,

David Smiley, and

Jim Wyss

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 23, 2019 08:21 AM

Four members of Venezuela’s National Guard deserted their posts Saturday morning and solicited help from Colombia at the Simon Bolivar bridge connecting the two countries. Earlier, tear gas was fired on residents.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LATEST NEWS

R. Kelly ordered jailed on $1M bond at Chicago hearing

Latest News

R. Kelly ordered jailed on $1M bond at Chicago hearing

February 23, 2019 04:10 PM
Families of top Venezuelan generals face being expelled from the United States

Miami-Dade County

Families of top Venezuelan generals face being expelled from the United States

February 23, 2019 04:05 PM
Maduro calls Guaidó a puppet, mocks Trump and vows he’ll never surrender

Venezuela

Maduro calls Guaidó a puppet, mocks Trump and vows he’ll never surrender

February 23, 2019 02:37 PM

Latest News

Boeing 767 cargo jetliner with 3 aboard crashes near Houston

February 23, 2019 04:00 PM
A small plane crashed into a Central Florida home, FAA says. Two people were on board.

Florida

A small plane crashed into a Central Florida home, FAA says. Two people were on board.

February 23, 2019 03:13 PM
The first trucks with humanitarian aid have arrived in Venezuela

Venezuela

The first trucks with humanitarian aid have arrived in Venezuela

February 23, 2019 11:32 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Miami Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Public Insight Network
  • Reader Panel
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Media Kit
  • Commercial Printing
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story