Does Paying Someone Less Than $600 Make Them an Independent Contractor?

No!

Unfortunately, many family child care providers and tax professionals make this mistake.

They assume that they can treat a person who helps them care forchildren as an independent contractor because they pay the person lessthan $600 a year. Wrong.

When you hire someone to help you care for your day care children you have an employee, not an independent contractor.

This is true even if you paid the person $50 in a year! It’s true even if you hire your grandchild!

When would you have an independent contractor? If you hired someoneto clean your home, mow your lawn, or shovel your driveway –  you havean independent contractor.

If you hire someone who does a music lesson or puppet show for thechildren, this person is also an independent contractor. This is becausethe person does not operate under your direction or control.

Note: There are two situations where you might hire someone to helpyou care for children and the person would be considered an independentcontractor.

The first situation is a person who is self-employed in the businessof providing substitute care for child care providers.  Such a personshould have a business name registered with your state and their owntaxpayer identification number. She should work for more than one childcare provider each year and use her own contract.

The second situation is when you hire a substitute through anemployment agency and you pay the agency rather than the substitute.

There is a big difference between hiring an independent contractor and an employee.

If you had an independent contractor (which you probably don’t!) you would only have to give this person (and the IRS) a Form 1099 Misc if you paid them $600 or more in a year. You are not required to file any other forms or pay any payroll taxes. You can deduct what you paid the person as a business expense.

If you have an employee you must withhold and pay Social Security/Medicare taxes, pay federal and state unemployment taxes, perhaps purchase workers’ compensation, and file a lot of federal and state tax forms.

I hear from many child care providers each year who have been improperly treating their employees as independent contractors. I knowhow frustrating it can be to hear the bad news that you must treat childcare assistants or substitutes as employees.

I wish it was simpler!

If you have been issuing Form 1099 in the past, you can apply to participate in an IRS program that will forgive you for not paying past payroll taxes, for a small fee. It’s called the Voluntary Classification Settlement Program.

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For more information on your responsibilities as an employer, with examples of how to fill out all federal tax forms, see my Family Child Care Tax Workbook and Organizer.