work issue

marie_travel

Registered Users (C)
I have been offered a job as a nanny for a family. They said they would pay me cash each week. How do I go about reporting that as my income? Is there any papers to fill out? How do I take taxes out of that? I don't want to do anything wrong because I will be filing for citizenship in September. Would I be self employed? Any help?
 
I have been offered a job as a nanny for a family. They said they would pay me cash each week. How do I go about reporting that as my income? Is there any papers to fill out? How do I take taxes out of that? I don't want to do anything wrong because I will be filing for citizenship in September. Would I be self employed? Any help?

To make it perfect is obligation of both employer and employees. I am not sure the employer of a nanny has obligation of paying half of
SS taxes or not If your employer just give you cash, then you should consider yourself self-employed. you pay income tax and self-employment
tax.
 
You need to ask the family whether they will be employing you as a W2 employee or not. If they are then they are responsible for collecting taxes etc. and it is no different from any other job. On the other hand, if they just give you a 1099 at the end of the year then you are on your own and responsible for everything including quarterly estimated tax payments.
 
If it is casual nanny job, the employer may not be responsible for nanny's work eligbility, tax etc. I'll say in real life many
peopel doing this do not even pay taxes and I won't blame them. I doubt an avrage citizen is that honest and I do not
expect him to be. It is common aknoledgement that most of people leave somthing out in taxes whether they are born citizens,
naturlalized citizens, PR, or non PR alien, or undocuymented aliens.
 
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It would be a full time job 40 hours a week. I understand I am responsible for taxes, but how do I go about paying my own taxes? What paperwork is there to fill out?
 
It would be a full time job 40 hours a week. I understand I am responsible for taxes, but how do I go about paying my own taxes? What paperwork is there to fill out?

It won't be different from other jobs.

If self-employed, For 1040, file schedule C and follow 1040 instruction for both incoem tax and self-employment taxes.

If employed by that family, they should give your W2 and contribute half of yoru SS taxes.

If self-employed or emploed by that family but they do not withhold tax for you, then you may need
to file quaertly estimated taxes youtrself fro both income and SS taxes plus even state tax.

Go to a public library and they have tons of such information
 
It will be. If the employer pays a nanny more than $1,900 a year, then they cannot 1099 her/him. They must pay their FICA share.

What I meant is whether it is W2 or 1099, it would not be different from other W2 or 1099 given by other employers. If
they can not 1099, then this W 2 is not different from other W 2.
 
It would be a full time job 40 hours a week. I understand I am responsible for taxes, but how do I go about paying my own taxes? What paperwork is there to fill out?
Get a one-time consultation with a tax accountant to have them explain all the papers you and your employer need to file.

Or get advice from another self-employed person who handles their own taxes.
 
It will be. If the employer pays a nanny more than $1,900 a year, then they cannot 1099 her/him. They must pay their FICA share.

In real world not all people are that law abiding. If that family, the potential employer of the OP, decide to just give the OP cash,
then technically there is a problem. I doubt the IO is that meticulous but let's assume the IO are that meticupus then this can happen.

The OP receive the cash payment and report it on her tax form and present tax form during teh interview. The IO may ask
the following questions:
(1) Did your employer do I-9 for you
(2) Did they pay yoru W2 or 1099
(3) Did they pay half of your SS taxes

The OP may answer: They only give me cash and it is not my fault if it is unlawful. If the IO OK that, then there is no problem.
If the IO think it is both employer and employees's mutual responsbibility then the OP may get a problem.

and the OP can not push this family to follow everything by the book. This family may tell her: "if you
don't want this deal, we'll find another one".
 
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Get a one-time consultation with a tax accountant to have them explain all the papers you and your employer need to file.

Or get advice from another self-employed person who handles their own taxes.

Her poetnttial employer, i.e. that family may not want to go thru this. They may just want to pay cash themselves.
If the OP push that family, then that family may just say "we will not hire you and we'll find someone else" and the OP lose
her job opportunity. The family may just advise the OP why not just accept cash and keep to herself. If that happens,
The OP can not threaten the family saying "You must hire me and pay me by the book an dlaw and rules, otherwise
I'll go to IRS and USCIS and let them go after you". Such job arrangements are usually done thru channel of family, friends,
relative arangement. You don't want such social relationship and network to go bad.

So I don't think things will always work out as the OP wishes and as we suggest because in the real world people are not
that law abiding.

It is funny that court ruling define good moral character for citizenship purpose as as good as an average citizn in the
community. In real life community, an average person just want to avoid taxes.
 
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Her poetnttial employer, i.e. that family may not want to go thru this. They may just want to pay cash themselves.
If the OP push that family, then that family may just say "we will not hire you and we'll find someone else" and the OP lose
her job opportunity.
True, but the OP should still find out what is involved, instead of just assuming the family won't accept it. Maybe it is not too complex for the family. Or there may be other ways to work around it legally, like have the family pay an agency that does all the paperwork and tax withholding (and then pays the OP as W2) so neither the family nor the OP has to worry about it. Of course, the agency will take a fee, but it might still be worth it if the alternative is between no job at all and violating the law.
 
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WBH, are you suggesting that the OP go ahead and get themselves into a situation that could jeopardize their citizenship application? I.e. Not declare income?

OP has an option of not accepting the job and it won't make a difference to the 'social network'.

If OP really needs that job, then the right thing to do is to deal with the income as an independent contractor (1099) and pay the self-employment taxes (irrespective of the w2/1099 situation OP will be covered as 1099 taxes are higher). At the end of the day, the IRS doesn't care who pays the taxes as long as the correct amount is paid at the appropriate deadlines.

There is a possibility that when OP actually files the tax return, the IRS may try to cross-reference the income putting the Employer at risk of fines etc. but that should be the Employer's problem for not following the law.
 
The OP can not threaten the family saying "You must hire me and pay me by the book an dlaw and rules, otherwise
I'll go to IRS and USCIS and let them go after you". Such job arrangements are usually done thru channel of family, friends,
relative arangement. You don't want such social relationship and network to go bad.

No, but the OP can graciously say that if they're not going to follow the law and withhold FICA, then she isn't interested. Thanks, but no thanks. I've found that in the long run, it's better to do the right thing. I also don't know why on earth the employing family doesn't want to pay FICA. If you don't pay the FICA, you can't claim the child care credit, which ends up reducing your taxes far more than the FICA amount. Generally speaking, the only reason why child care arrangements don't pay FICA is that the nanny isn't authorized to work.

It is funny that court ruling define good moral character for citizenship purpose as as good as an average citizen in the community. In real life community, an average person just want to avoid taxes.

In a real life community, an average person wants to avoid taxes, and uses every legal means to do so. That's a minor yet critical distinction.
 
No, but the OP can graciously say that if they're not going to follow the law and withhold FICA, then she isn't interested.

OP can ask the family to reduce monthly salary from $2000 to $1850 but pay $750 SS taxes. The total cost for the family remain the same. This, of course, assume it does not violate
the minimum wage law. In fact minimum wage law may not even apply to hiring a nanny.

There are other things: does the employer has to pay unemployment insurance for the nanny.
 
Thank you all. The salary would be 1600 a month (that does not include taxes withheld). The family is willing to cooperate and withhold taxes for me, I just have not talked to them about this in detail. I absolutely want to report income, pay taxes, NOT LIE and do everything right.
 
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