Classification of cleaning lady as independent contractor?
We are looking into hiring a part time cleaning lady (4-5 hr per day) for 3 days per week to help with chores now that life is busy with a new baby!
Does anyone know if such a person would be considered an Employee or an Independent contractor by the IRS?
It's the first time we are doing this so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Mar 12, 2017
Parent Replies
This is a great resource page/link below. I believe the advice applies to any type of in-home help.
As an FYI, I went with Intuit Payroll for under $40 a month versus paying a service to do the payroll for paying my in-hime care. It's not super simple, but it is moderate complexity and they have good customer service.
Also, if your home insurance policy doesn't have workers comp you will need to add it as part of California law. I had to add to my renters insurance.
https://www.care.com/homepay/nanny-tax-guide
See http://www.taxes.ca.gov/payroll_tax/household.shtml. The housekeeper is most likely an employee, which means you need to handle state and federal employment taxes.
As I understand it, the difference between an employee and a private contractor depends on who sets the hours to be worked. If I ask my housekeeper to come once a week, and she tells me she can come on Thursday mornings, then she is a private contractor because she is telling me the hours she will work, so she reports her earnings to the IRS and pays self-employment taxes, etc. If on the other hand I tell her that I need her to come on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 8-12, and she agrees, then she is my employee and I'm responsible for the withholdings and reporting. This is usually the case with nannies - you are the employer.
So I think your housekeeper would be considered your employee, and you would need to set it up with the California EDD to pay SDI, workers comp, etc. (and federal withholdings like social security). I recommend using an online payroll service such as intuit.com which should be around $20/month. They will figure it all out so you don't have to.
I'm not an expert, so google it. But I think it comes down to who dictates the hours to be worked.