Nanny Tax Calculator 2026
Estimate the household-employer taxes on wages paid to a nanny, caregiver, or housekeeper: Social Security and Medicare once cash wages reach $3,000 for 2026, federal unemployment tax on the first $7,000, your all-in cost as the employer, and your employee’s take-home pay.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
Cash wages only — Pub 926 excludes the value of meals and lodging provided for your convenience, and wages to a spouse, your child under 21, your parent, or an employee under 18 are generally not counted.
State unemployment tax and, in many states, workers’ compensation are additional and not included here. File Schedule H (Form 1040) with your 2026 federal income tax return by April 15, 2027.
Verified 2026-07-31 against Publication 926 (2026), Household Employer's Tax Guide (effective 2026-01-01)
Estimate only — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Only IRS can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: IRS Publication 926 — Household Employer’s Tax Guide ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
An estimator for what it costs to employ someone in your home — a nanny, caregiver, or housekeeper — once federal household-employment taxes are added to the wage itself, and what the employee keeps after their share comes out.
How it works
Publication 926 (2026) sets a $3,000 cash-wage threshold: once you pay a household employee that much in the year, Social Security (6.2% each side) and Medicare (1.45% each side) apply to those wages. Federal unemployment tax is triggered by paying $1,000 in any calendar quarter and applies at an effective 0.6% on the first $7,000 of wages when the state credit is available.
Getting the most from it
- Enter the hourly rate, weekly hours, and weeks per year to get annual cash wages.
- Choose whether you withhold the employee half or absorb it yourself.
- Check the total-cost line — that is the real budget figure, not the wage.
- Open the step-by-step math to see which thresholds were crossed.
Reading your result
Two numbers matter: your all-in cost and the employee take-home. The gap between them is the tax that a household employer is responsible for reporting on Schedule H with their own return. Income-tax withholding is optional for household employees and is not included in the take-home figure.
What it can't tell you
Federal taxes only. State unemployment tax, state income-tax withholding, and workers-compensation insurance vary by state and are additional. It does not model overtime rules, the value of meals and lodging, or wages that are exempt because of a family relationship.
Frequently asked questions
Publication 926 (2026) sets the household-employee cash-wage threshold at $3,000. Once you pay a household employee that much in the year, Social Security and Medicare taxes apply to those wages — 6.2% and 1.45% from each side. A separate $1,000-in-a-calendar-quarter test triggers federal unemployment tax.
Annual update alerts — new tax and benefit figures the week they drop
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