Who counts as a household employee?
Updated November 6, 2026 · For 2026 · General information, not tax or legal advice
A household employee is someone you pay to do work in or around your home when you control what they do and how they do it. The IRS list in Publication 926 includes nannies, babysitters, housekeepers, maids, cooks, drivers, private nurses, health aides, caretakers, yard workers and similar roles.
The control test
What matters is whether you direct the work. You set the hours, the duties and the way they are done. It does not matter whether the job is full-time or part-time, whether you pay hourly or by the week, or whether you found the person through an agency, a friend or a job board. If you are the one paying them and telling them what to do, they are your employee.
Who is not a household employee
- Agency employees. If an agency places the worker, pays their wages and controls the work, the agency is the employer. Check your contract: some agencies only match you and leave payroll to you.
- Self-employed workers. A landscaper or cleaning service with its own business, its own tools and many clients is a contractor. You pay their invoice and nothing else.
- Occasional help below the tax threshold. The rules still apply, but no taxes are due until you pay someone $3,000 in a year (see the 2026 threshold).
Special family cases
Wages you pay to your spouse, your child under 21, or your parent are generally exempt from Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes, with a narrow exception for a parent who cares for your child while you are divorced, widowed or your spouse is disabled. Details in paying a relative to care for your child. Student babysitters under 18 are exempt from Social Security and Medicare as well.
What being a household employer means
Once an employee crosses the threshold you withhold 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare, match it, pay federal and state unemployment tax, issue a W-2 each January and file Schedule H with your 1040. Each state adds its own registration and quarterly report; pick yours in the state guides.
Frequently asked
Is a housekeeper a household employee?
Yes, if you hire them directly and control how and when the work is done. A cleaning company that sends its own staff is not; the company is the employer.
Is a caregiver for my elderly parent a household employee?
If you hire the caregiver directly, yes, and the household employer rules apply to whoever pays the wages. Caregivers placed and paid through an agency are the agency's employees.
Does a babysitter count?
A regular babysitter can. The $3,000 annual threshold decides whether taxes are due, and sitters under 18 who are students are exempt from Social Security and Medicare.
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