Filing & Paying Taxes

Quarterly estimated federal tax payments (not required, but highly recommended so you're not hit with a big tax bill at year-end). This includes taxes due for Social Security, Medicare (your portion and your nanny's portion), withheld federal income tax, and federal unemployment (FUTA) tax. Payments are due:
- Q1 (Jan 1 - Mar 31): April 18, 2022
- Q2 (Apr 1 - May 31): June 15, 2022
- Q3 (Jun 1 - Aug 31): September 15, 2022
- Q4 (Sep 1 - Dec 31): January 17, 2023
State unemployment tax return & payment - deadlines vary by state, but they are typically due 2 weeks after federal estimated taxes. View your state guide for due dates.
State income tax estimated payments - due with state unemployment taxes (some states allow you to choose annual instead of quarterly filing).
Workers compensation return, if applicable - due quarterly.

Open up your payroll account and log in
Make sure you've run all of your nanny's payrolls for the tax period in question
Click "Reports"

Under "Show Taxes," select "Federal 941" and "FUTA 940". The names of these tax types are more applicable to small businesses, but these will represent all federal taxes that are due.
Select the dates for the appropriate quarter. This example is showing Q1 2020.
Click "Run Report"

Click "Print Report" to save this report as a pdf for your tax records (you can always run it again from your payroll account if needed)
The total on this report will be the amount you pay with your 1040-ES (estimated tax payment)

Pay this with your 1040-ES

Make sure you have your "Payroll Tax Liabilities Report" handy.
If you enrolled in EFTPS, log in now. EFTPS is great because you can review previous payments, schedule upcoming payments, and have more control over how you view and pay your estimated taxes. If you haven't enrolled in EFTPS yet, I put together two quick videos (part 1 & part 2) to walk you through the enrollment process.
If you weren't able to enroll in EFTPS in time or you're still waiting on your PIN to be mailed to you, you can also make a payment via Direct Pay with the IRS.
Direct Pay steps:
- Select "Bank Account (Direct Pay)" - you can also pay via credit card, but they charge a convenience fee

Enter your personal information for verification and click "Continue"
Enter the payment amount from your Payroll Tax Liabilities Report
Enter your checking account information
Select whether or not you would like to receive an email confirmation of your payment. We recommend it!
Click Continue
Confirm payment and save a copy of the payment confirmation for your tax records

You will be prompted to log in using your social security number, NOT your EIN. If you enrolled as a business using your EIN, you won't be able to make estimated payments with the correct form for household employers. If you need to re-enroll as an individual, select the "Enroll" button on the homepage and follow the steps in the tutorial videos linked above
- Why is this the case? Household employers report wages paid to nannies and tax payments made on the Schedule H, which is a supplemental form for the 1040 individual tax return. For this reason, quarterly estimated payments must be associated with the individual tax return and not a business tax form. If you have questions about this, we're happy to provide clarification - just send us an e-mail at support@nannyfiles.com
To log in, you will also need the PIN that was mailed to you during the enrollment process. We recommend taking a photo or writing down this PIN, since you'll need to reference it each time you log in
After logging in, you'll be taken to the Tax Form Selection page. From the drop down options, select "1040 US Individual Income Tax Return"

In the "Individual Estimated Payment" section, enter the payment amount, tax period (ie "2022"), and date you'd like the payment to be made
Verify that the bank account for the payment is correct, and click "Next"
Verify your payment information, then click "Make Payment"
We recommend recording the payment information or saving a copy of the confirmation page, although EFTPS will keep a record of all payments made

Stay on the same page, uncheck the federal tax types and select all remaining tax types
Click "Run Report"

Click "Print Report" to save this report as a pdf for your tax records (you can always run it again from your payroll account if needed)
Hang onto this report for filing your state taxes. Some state tax returns require that you report hours worked by your nanny in addition to wages paid. We'll run a report now that lists quarterly hours worked by each nanny

Select the appropriate time period, the correct work location (if applicable) and your nanny's name. If you have multiple household employees, you can run separate reports or run one big report all at once.
Click "Run Report"

This report lists every pay period with paycheck details from the quarter selected. Scroll all the way to the green section at the bottom of the report to view quarterly totals. Here you'll find total number of hours worked by your nann(ies), which may come in handy when filing Workers Compensation returns or unemployment tax returns with your state.

Depending on your state, you will need to file your unemployment tax return, workers compensation return, and/or make a payment of withheld state income tax.
Use your state-specific guide to determine where and when you need to file your returns. The last section on your state's page, titled "Filing Quarterly Taxes" will tell you what to do!
Reference your state reports to enter accurate information and make payments directly through the applicable agency websites.

See our year-end guide here.