d employee contact your state unemployment tax agency. You'll also need to determine whether you need to pay or collect other state employment taxes or carry workers' compensation insurance.
Note: If you do not need to pay Social Security, Medicare, or federal unemployment tax and do not choose to withhold federal income tax, the rest of this publication does not apply to you.
Note: As of January 1, 2013, the employee social security tax rate is 6.2%. The Medicare rate remains unchanged at 1.45%; however, beginning January 1, 2013, Additional Medicare Tax applies to an individual's Medicare wages that exceed a threshold amount based on the taxpayer's filing status. Employers are responsible for withholding the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on an individual's wages paid in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year. An employer is required to begin withholding Additional Medicare Tax in the pay period in which it pays wages in excess of $200,000 to an employee. There is no employer match for Additional Medicare Tax.
Both you and your household employee may owe social security and Medicare taxes. Your share is 7.65% (6.2% for social security tax and 1.45% for Medicare tax) of the employee's social security and Medicare wages. Your employee's share is 6.2% for social security tax and 1.45% for Medicare tax for wages below the Additional Medicare Tax threshold (see above).
You are responsible for payment of your employee's share of the taxes as well as your own. You can either withhold your employee's share from the employee's wages or pay it from your own funds.
Social Security and Medicare Wages
You figure Social Security and Medicare taxes on the Social Security and Medicare wages you pay your employee. If you pay your household employee cash wages of $1,900 or more in 2014, all cash wages you pay to that employee in 2014 (regardless of when the wages were earned) up to $117,000 are social security wages and all cash wages are Medicare wages. However, any non-cash wages (food, lodging, clothing, and other non-cash items) you pay do not count as social security and Medicare wages. If you pay the employee less than $1,900 in cash wages in 2014, none of the wages you pay the employee are Social Security and Medicare wages, and neither you nor your employee will owe Social Security or Medicare tax.
Wages Not Counted
Do not count wages you pay to any of the following individuals as Social Security and Medicare wages:
- Your spouse.
- Your child who is under age 21.
- Your parent.
- An employee who is under age 18 at any time during the year.
Note: However, you should count wages to your parent if both of the following apply: (a) your child lives with you and is either under age 18 or has a physical or mental condition that requires the personal care of an adult for at least 4 continuous weeks in a calendar quarter, and (b) you are divorced and have not remarried, or you are a widow or widower, or you are married to and living with a person whose physical or mental condition prevents him or her from caring for your child for at least 4 continuous weeks in a calendar quarter.
Note: However, you should count these wages to an employee under 18 if providing household services is the employee's principal occupation. If the employee is a student, providing household services is not considered to be his or her principal occupation.
Also, if your employee's Social Security and Medicare wages reach $117,000 in 2014, do not count any wages you pay that employee during the rest of the year as Social Security wages to figure Social Security tax. (But continue to count the employee's cash wages as Medicare wages to figure Medicare tax.)
You figure federal income tax withholding on both cash and non-cash wages (based on their value). However, do not count as wages any of the following items:
- Meals provided at your home for your convenience.
- Lodging provided at your home for your convenience and as a condition of employment.
- $130 a month in 2014 for transit passes that you give your employee or, in some cases, for cash reimbursement you make