Nanny Payroll Taxes Calculator

Wage starting point:

The sample models one unrelated adult nanny paid for a full year.

Annual cash wages:

Use cash paid by check, transfer, cash, or another cash-equivalent method.

$/ year

Pay frequency:

Choose the household payroll cadence.

Paychecks in 2026:

Use a whole number from 1 through 366.

checks

Worker tax category:

Most nanny arrangements use unrelated adult household employee.

Employee FICA handling:

This choice changes net pay and household outlay, not the employee-share tax amount.

Highest-quarter household cash wages:

FUTA is triggered at $1,000 or more in any 2025 or 2026 calendar quarter.

$highest quarter

FUTA credit treatment:

Verify the available credit against state unemployment contributions.

Custom net FUTA rate:

The shipped 0.6% value matches the full-credit estimate.

Agreed federal income-tax withholding:

Enter an already-determined amount per paycheck, or keep 0.

$/ check

State unemployment estimate:

Set the rate to 0 for a federal-only estimate.

State taxable wage base:

Keep 0 with a 0% rate for a federal-only estimate.

Prior same-year cash wages:

Keep 0 when the primary wage amount already covers the full year.

$already paid

Payroll note:

Optional and local to this browser session/share state.

Measure	Annual	Per check	Planning meaning	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ row.annual }}	{{ row.perCheck }}	{{ row.detail }}

Tax item	Taxable basis	Employee withholding	Household outlay	Rule	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ row.basis }}	{{ row.employee }}	{{ row.employer }}	{{ row.rule }}

Checkpoint	When it matters	Next action	Copy
{{ row.checkpoint }}	{{ row.when }}	{{ row.action }}

Paying a nanny creates two separate money flows. The worker receives wages after any withholding, while the household must also fund its own payroll taxes and send both shares to the appropriate agencies. Budgeting only the agreed cash wage can therefore leave a household short when deposits or annual filings are due.

United States household-employment rules start with worker classification. A nanny is generally a household employee when the household controls not only what work is done but how it is done. A genuinely independent business that controls its own methods is different. The label in an agreement does not settle that question, and a payroll estimate should not be used to decide it.

For 2026, Social Security and Medicare taxes generally apply when an eligible household employee receives at least $3,000 in cash wages during the year. Social Security and Medicare each have an employee share and an employer share. Federal unemployment tax (FUTA) uses a different trigger: at least $1,000 in total household cash wages in any calendar quarter of 2025 or 2026. Family relationships and the occupation of a worker under 18 can change which federal taxes apply.

Household payroll amounts and who funds them
Amount	Normally funded by	What changes it
Employee FICA share	Employee withholding, unless the employer pays it	Cash-wage threshold, worker category, Social Security wage base
Employer FICA share	Household employer	The same FICA eligibility rules and wage bases
FUTA	Household employer	Quarterly household-wage trigger, worker category, state-credit treatment
State unemployment	Usually household employer	State rate, wage base, registration, and local rules
Federal income-tax withholding	Employee wages	Only when the employee asks and the employer agrees, using Form W-4

Cash wages include payment by cash, check, transfer, or another cash equivalent. Some noncash benefits follow different tax rules. The annual threshold is not a deduction: once the 2026 FICA threshold is met, eligible cash wages for the year become subject to the applicable Social Security and Medicare rules, up to the Social Security wage base where relevant.

Payroll taxes are only part of the employment cost. Overtime, paid leave, workers' compensation, disability insurance, local payroll charges, agency fees, and labor-law obligations may add to the budget. This estimate does not calculate overtime premiums, and its state unemployment line is only as accurate as the rate and wage base entered.

Use the result for planning and cash reserves, then confirm classification, withholding, deposit timing, state registration, and filing duties with current official guidance or a qualified payroll or tax professional. It is not tax or legal advice.

How to Use This Tool:

Start with cash wages for the 2026 calendar year, then choose the worker and tax treatments that match the real household arrangement.

Choose Hourly cash wage when the schedule is known, or Annual cash wages when you already have the year's wage plan. Hourly wages are multiplied by paid hours and paid weeks; overtime premiums are not added separately.
Select the actual Pay frequency and enter any Prior same-year cash wages. Prior wages affect annual tax thresholds, while per-check figures remain averages over the planned paychecks.
Choose the Worker tax category only after confirming the relationship and any parent or under-18 exception. This choice can turn FICA or FUTA on or off.
Set Employee FICA handling, the highest-quarter household wages, and the FUTA credit treatment. Use the custom FUTA rate when a credit-reduction state or another documented rule changes the net rate.
Enter the state unemployment rate and wage base from the applicable state account. Add federal income-tax withholding per paycheck only when the worker requested it and the household agreed.
Use the payroll plan for wage and reserve budgeting, then compare the tax breakdown and filing checklist with the household's actual state and federal obligations.

Interpreting Results:

Employer outlay is the household-funded tax estimate above cash wages. Employee withholding is money held back from wages. Remittance reserve combines both amounts because both may need to be sent to tax agencies even though they come from different parties.

Per-check values are budgeting averages. They are not a substitute for a payroll register that applies year-to-date wage bases and the worker's Form W-4 each pay period. When prior same-year wages are entered, the annual taxes include those wages but the displayed per-check averages still divide by the planned paycheck count.

A zero tax line can be legitimate because a threshold or family-category exclusion applies, but it can also mean that state unemployment inputs were left at zero. Review the warning and filing checklist before treating zero as no obligation.

Technical Details:

The calculation models a 2026 United States household employee. Planned wages come from the selected wage method, while prior same-year wages are added for annual federal and state tax bases. Federal income-tax withholding is an entered per-check amount, not a reconstructed Form W-4 calculation.

Formula Core

Hourly wages are annualized first. Each tax then uses its own eligibility rule, rate, and wage base.

W_{planned} = r \times h \times w

T_{SS, each share} = 0.062 \times \min (W_{total}, 184500)

T_{Medicare, each share} = 0.0145 \times W_{total}

T_{additional Medicare} = 0.009 \times \max (0, W_{total} - 200000)

T_{FUTA} = r_{FUTA} \times \min (W_{total}, 7000)

r is the hourly cash wage, h is paid hours per week, and w is paid weeks. Total cash wages equal planned wages plus prior same-year wages. The FICA equations apply only when the worker category is eligible and total cash wages are at least $3,000. The FUTA equation applies only when the category is eligible and highest-quarter household cash wages are at least $1,000.

2026 federal household payroll rules used in the estimate
Rule	Boundary or rate	Application
FICA wage trigger	Total cash wages ≥ $3,000	Eligible worker's annual cash wages
Social Security	6.2% employee and 6.2% employer	Up to $184,500
Medicare	1.45% employee and 1.45% employer	No wage-base cap in this model
Additional Medicare	0.9% employee-only above $200,000	Amount strictly over the threshold
FUTA trigger	Highest quarter ≥ $1,000	Total household cash wages in any 2025 or 2026 quarter
FUTA wage base	First $7,000 per eligible employee	6.0% gross, 0.6% with full 5.4% credit, or entered custom rate

Rule Core

Relationship rules are evaluated before the wage thresholds. They determine whether a category is eligible for FICA, FUTA, both, or neither.

Worker-category tax eligibility modeled by the calculator
Worker category	FICA	FUTA
Unrelated adult	Eligible	Eligible
Employer's spouse	Excluded	Excluded
Employer's child under 21	Excluded	Excluded
Employer's parent, general rule	Excluded	Excluded
Employer's parent, FICA exception	Eligible	Excluded
Worker under 18, household work not principal occupation	Excluded	Eligible
Worker under 18, household work is principal occupation	Eligible	Eligible

State unemployment equals the smaller of total cash wages and the entered state wage base, multiplied by the entered state rate. Employer payroll tax is employer Social Security plus employer Medicare, FUTA, and state unemployment. If the employer pays the employee's ordinary FICA share, that share moves from employee withholding into employer outlay.

Money values retain full calculation precision and are formatted as currency for display. No pay-period tax deposit schedule or statutory per-paycheck rounding method is modeled.

Accuracy and Privacy Notes:

This is an educational estimate for the 2026 federal rules represented above. State and local requirements, credit-reduction states, overtime, paid-leave programs, workers' compensation, and later law changes can alter the actual cost. Confirm the current rules before filing or funding payroll.

Worker classification and parent or under-18 exceptions require facts the calculation cannot verify.
Federal withholding must come from the employee's current Form W-4 and an accepted payroll method; the entered amount is only a planning input.
Calculations run in the browser, but entered values can be reflected in the page address and browser history. Do not put names, tax numbers, or other sensitive identifiers in the payroll note.

Worked Examples:

Full-year weekly payroll

A nanny paid $25 for 40 hours over 52 paid weeks has $52,000 of planned cash wages and $1,000 gross pay across 52 weekly paychecks. With an unrelated adult worker, employee FICA withheld, a full FUTA credit, and state unemployment at 2.7% on the first $7,000, the modeled employer payroll tax is $4,209. Employee withholding is $3,978 before any federal income-tax withholding, so the combined annual remittance reserve is $8,187.

Exactly at both federal triggers

An eligible worker with $3,000 in annual cash wages and a $1,000 highest quarter meets both boundaries because the comparisons are inclusive. With the full FUTA credit and no state unemployment amount entered, Social Security wages, Medicare wages, and FUTA wages all begin at the applicable annual amounts rather than only the dollars above the thresholds.

References:

Publication 926 (2026), Household Employer's Tax Guide, Internal Revenue Service, 2026.
Topic No. 756, Employment Taxes for Household Employees, Internal Revenue Service.
Contribution and Benefit Base, Social Security Administration, 2026.
Fact Sheet #79D: Hours Worked Applicable to Domestic Service Employment Under the FLSA, U.S. Department of Labor.