help in the home

[oceanlovin'ea]

This question is for me personally.......
My 95 year old mother fell and broke her hip on March 21st. Bad timing!! lol. She is in rehab and doing ok. But when she comes home for the first month she is home, I want to have someone with her 24/7. I don't know what she will be able to do and don't want her to fall again.

I know household employees have to be paid on a W-2. But these people that I might pay a few hundred dollars to will be temporary help. Some people will just offer to come and sit with her because they are her friends and want to help us out. But some might actually be in need of work so I will offer to pay them.

How do I handle this expense?

Thanks for your help. This is really very stressful

Linda, EA

[ATSMAN]

Linda, I completely sympathize with your situation. My 85 year old mother with Dementia and a bad hip is in a similar situation. We have had to hire 2 people to cover her 24/7 in shifts and they are being paid as household employees on a W2. We have to do this until we can find a nursing home for her. These people are not our friends or relatives so I could not even discuss the concept of 1099-Misc income payments.

You situation may be a bit different because the help are your mother's friends and they may be willing to get paid without a W2 or some other type of compensation.

[Lion]

W-2, Schedule H, and whatever your state requires. You can pay the FICA/Medicare if you choose and then gross up the Box 1 wages. That seems to be the method when low pay or short term and the home healthcare worker otherwise does not require any withholding. (My state - CT - does not require an EIN for a household employer; a SSN can be used on the paper work. But, CT wants their quarterly filings just like from any other employer.) My experience with this topic is not very current.

[taxea]

See whether they can be hired by an in-home care business and be assigned strictly to your mom. the agency will handle all the employee issues and you pay a fee for their services.

[Gretel]

I believe Schedule H is only required if you pay $1,900 or more. I do not know if this also means no W-2 but I have interpreted it this way.

[Burke]

The 2016 instructions for W-2's indicate it is $2,000 or more.

[FEDUKE404]

Schedule H dollar lilmit NOT just annual amount

The 2016 instructions for W-2's indicate it is $2,000 or more.

I think it is worth noting that Schedule H carries a separate dollar limit aside from the total of all wages paid within a year.

For 2015, that limit was if you paid more than $1,000 in wages in any one quarter of the year to all employees. If so, a Schedule H and other tax paperwork headaches then come into play.

As an example, if you paid Jane Doe $1,500 in a single quarter (and yet still stayed below the annual dollar limit) you would need to file a Schedule H because of the quarterly income limit guidelines.

(I do not know what the 2016 rules are, but I'm sure the concept remains.)

FE

[TAXNJ]

Taxea reply

TAXEA reply post may make most sense. Reason:

By hiring a reputable "in home" service may provide the best benefits to you since they handle payroll taxes (care assistant is employee of in home service), in home service is self insured (big factor) and most of all it allows you to spend more quality time with your family member by not worrying about tax and liability insurance issues.

[ATSMAN]

Average pay between $10 to $15 per Hour

At an average pay of $10 to $15 per hour for a home health care aide you will blow through those filing limits in a hurry. So just be prepared for all the paperwork that goes along for a household employee and Sch H. Unless you are hiring from an agency that does the I-9 check, you got to run that too.

[Burke]

TAXEA reply post may make most sense. Reason:

By hiring a reputable "in home" service may provide the best benefits to you since they handle payroll taxes (care assistant is employee of in home service), in home service is self insured (big factor) and most of all it allows you to spend more quality time with your family member by not worrying about tax and liability insurance issues.

But the cost is phenomenal, esp for 24/7 care. Plan on $7K-$10K per month.

[TAXNJ]

Depends

But the cost is phenomenal, esp for 24/7 care. Plan on $7K-$10K per month.

Depends on geographical area but it could be what you say or less.

Have heard stories of people using less expensive care without background checks, non trained health care aides, major insurance issues and some lawsuits which also turned out to be expensive.

Tough financially but requires careful and best consideration and care for a family member.

[Rapid Robert]

Depends

Depends [...] Tough financially but requires careful and best consideration and care for a family member.

When I saw the title on the sub-thread, I thought it was going to make reference to the cost of Depend® incontinence products.

[Terry]

Stress

I can't help you with your question, but just wanted to say I'm sorry about your stressful situation, but glad your mom is doing ok. Praying everything works out well for you all.

This question is for me personally.......
My 95 year old mother fell and broke her hip on March 21st. Bad timing!! lol. She is in rehab and doing ok. But when she comes home for the first month she is home, I want to have someone with her 24/7. I don't know what she will be able to do and don't want her to fall again.

I know household employees have to be paid on a W-2. But these people that I might pay a few hundred dollars to will be temporary help. Some people will just offer to come and sit with her because they are her friends and want to help us out. But some might actually be in need of work so I will offer to pay them.

How do I handle this expense?

Thanks for your help. This is really very stressful

Linda, EA

[TAXNJ]

Are you SERIOUS

Originally Posted by RAPID ROBERT: When I saw the title on the sub-thread, I thought it was going to make reference to the cost of Depend® incontinence products.


A serious post and yet you respond with a bloviating and incontinence reply as usual. think you may have it confused with your User Name.

[oceanlovin'ea]

Thanks

I appreciate all of your responses. She will be in rehab for a couple more weeks. I just want to make sure we have her covered for the first 2 or 3 weeks she is home so we can see what she can and can't do. She might be ok at night and she might not.
I will probably have to do some of both, individual people and in home service. She is very healthy so it is not a matter of needing someone with nursing experience to be with her. It is mostly sitting with her and fixing her meals and keeping her company.

My reason for the question was mainly because for some of these people they may only come a few days. Others might be a longer period of time. It was these very short term people I wondered about.

I will let you all know how it goes.

Linda EA