Learning About Your Other Obligations

Important Tax Forms and Tax Dates for Household Employers

By no later than January 30th, you are required to give a Form W-2 (“Wage and Tax Statement”) to each household employee you hired the previous year. Form W-2 consists of several lettered and numbered copies. Copies “B”, “C” and “2” are for your employee. Refer to our tax forms blog for the complete list of household employer forms. 

Remember, you are required to give each employee to whom you paid wages the previous year a Form W-2, even if they no longer work for you. If your employee leaves during the year, you can give them a W-2 at any time; you do not need to wait until the end of the year. If a former employee asks you for a W-2, give him or her a W-2 within 30 days of the request or within 30 days of your last wage payment, whichever is later.

Copy A to the Social Security Administration

You are also required to send Copy A of Form W-2 with Form W-3 (“Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements”) to the Social Security Administration by February 28th of the following year. Form W-3 aggregates all wage information from all the W-2s for the relevant tax year. You only file one Form W-3 no matter how many employees you had the previous year. Refer to either IRS Publication 926 or the SSA’s website (www.socialsecurity.gov/employer) for more information on filing Form W-3.

NannyPay and your W-2 and W-3 Forms

NannyPay2 will generate both a Form W-2 and Form W-3, suitable for filing, from the plain paper in your printer.

You should also check with your state revenue department to determine if you are required to send it a copy of your employee’s W-2. Many states have their own version of federal Form W-3, and require you to submit their form with a copy of your employee’s Form W-2. The state deadline for filing Forms W-2 may not be the same as the federal deadline, so check with your state revenue department for the relevant deadlines.