Did you know that in the U.S. there are more babies born during the summer than any other season of the year?  It’s one of the reasons that demand for professional childcare reaches a peak during the summer. So, it’s a good time to remind everyone about FSA enrollment. For families who have just given birth – or are about to welcome a new member to their household – this edition of The Legal Review will share a simple tip worth as much as $1,500. 

The Situation
A couple gave birth to their first child on April 19. In early May, they began working with a local placement agency to find a nanny so the mom could go back to work after Memorial Day. With about a week to spare, they found the perfect nanny. As the family worked with the agency to finalize the employment paperwork for their nanny, the family’s placement counselor provided them with information about their tax and payroll obligations as a household employer and shared the good news about tax breaks. The family told her that they had not enrolled in their company’s Flexible Spending Account but would do so in the subsequent year.

Having read through the Expert Advice section of our website, the counselor remembered that there were some special opportunities to enroll in the middle of the year if you just had a baby.  So, she advised the family to talk to their HR people as soon as possible.

The Law
Families with childcare expenses are entitled to tax breaks to help offset some of the costs.  There is no income restriction on the tax breaks, so all families qualify as long as their children are under age 13 and both spouses are working, looking for work or are full-time students.

The most lucrative tax break is the Dependent Care Account (also referred to as “Flexible Spending Account” or “FSA” as part of a company’s “Cafeteria Plan”). If one of the spouses has access to this benefit, the family will be able to pay for up to $5,000 of childcare expenses using pre-tax dollars. That means the family has no taxes on that portion of their income. This benefit saves most household employers between $2,100 and $2,300 per year, depending on the state they live in and their marginal tax rate.

Enrollment in the FSA is limited to once a year (most companies do open enrollment in the fall for the subsequent tax year). However, there is a 30-day window after “life-changing events” where the family can enroll mid-year and the birth of a child is one of the qualifying events. If families miss that window, they can still take advantage of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit when they file their federal income tax return. However, this tax break saves a maximum of $600 per year for families with one child or $1,200 per year for families with two or more children.

The Outcome
Upon speaking to the HR person, the family learned more about the 30-day window for life-changing events and they were able to enroll in the FSA program for the current tax year. Given the family’s marginal tax rate, they will be able to take advantage of $2,100 in tax savings for the 2013 tax year.

Without that tip from the counselor, the family would have missed the enrollment window, which would have forced them to settle for the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit’s $600 worth of tax savings. That $1,500 of additional savings will pay for a lot of diapers and baby food!

How to Ensure Families Maximize their Tax Savings
Unfortunately, it is extremely common for families to miss out on enrolling in an FSA after the birth of a child. As first-time parents become first-time employers, there is a lot of new information to process and 30 days is not a lot of time to know everything about being a household employer.

That’s why we offer a New Employer Orientation free of charge. This 10-minute, no-pressure, no-obligation phone call allows a Breedlove & Associates tax expert to assess a family’s unique situation and provide guidance on all the tax and labor law issues that will come into play for them. Whether they decide to use our comprehensive payroll, tax and HR service or not, this guidance will likely save them thousands of dollars and dozens of hours.

The summer months are right around the corner and many families are already planning their vacation schedule. For those who take their nanny along to watch the kids, this edition of The Legal Review addresses a common labor law mistake.

The Situation

The Kellogg family hired a nanny through a local placement agency to care for their three sons. The family needed someone who would be able to travel with them for at least two vacations during the summer. The agency was able to set the Kelloggs up with an ideal nanny who was eager to accept the position, in part because she had never been out of the state before and liked the idea of traveling to new places. The agency also recommended the family call Breedlove & Associates because traveling with a nanny can be tricky for families unfamiliar with labor law. The Kelloggs politely declined as Mr. Kellogg had worked in financial services his whole life and felt comfortable handling the nanny’s payroll and taxes.

The Mistake

The first family vacation was a week-long trip to Disney World. The nanny was excited to go and assumed she would have some free time of her own. To her surprise, she worked much more than normal – instead of her normal 40 hour workweek, she worked 60 hours in Orlando. However, she didn’t complain because most of her days were spent riding rides and playing games with the kids.

Upon returning from the trip, the nanny was exhausted. When she received her paycheck, she was surprised to find it was $300 less than her normal pay. When she read over her paystub, she noticed a $300 deduction for airfare. The nanny did not think this was correct, but before bringing it to Mr. Kellogg’s attention, she contacted her placement agency who referred her to Breedlove & Associates.

The Law

When accompanying an employer on a trip – whether a vacation or a business trip – an employee must be compensated for all hours worked during the trip, including the time spent traveling to the destination. If the employee’s working time exceeds 40 hours in a 7-day period, the employer must pay the employee for the overtime hours at the time-and-a-half rate. In addition to the regular and overtime pay, the employer is responsible for the employee’s traveling expenses, including airfare and hotel accommodations. These expenses are covered by the employer because the employee would not have incurred these expenses on her own.

A traveling employee does not need to be compensated during her “free time,” which is defined as time when she is not responsible for her charges and she has complete freedom to go and do whatever she pleases.

The Mess

A Breedlove & Associates consultant explained to the nanny that Mr. Kellogg had not handled her compensation for the trip correctly, but that this was a common mistake for new household employers. The consultant informed the nanny that she should have been paid for all hours worked and that Mr. Kellogg should not have deducted the expense of the flight from her paycheck.

The nanny presented this information to the Kelloggs and they were surprised and embarrassed to find out they had underpaid her. They apologized and explained to the nanny that it was never their intention to swindle her out of any additional money owed to her. Mr. Kellogg prided himself on paying the nanny “on the books,” but admitted he was not an expert in employment law.

The Outcome

Mr. Kellogg contacted Breedlove & Associates on the advice of the nanny to figure out how much he needed to pay her. We helped him calculate the additional compensation owed to the nanny for the trip and explained more about household labor law so he would be prepared for the next family vacation. The Kelloggs made a catch-up payment to the nanny right away and ultimately decided to sign up for our service so they would never risk making a similar mistake again.

How the Whole Thing Could Have Been Avoided

If the Kelloggs had called Breedlove & Associates from the beginning – as their agency recommended – we could have helped save them the embarrassment of underpaying their nanny. Luckily the employment relationship between the Kelloggs and their nanny did not suffer from this incident, but their situation illustrates how easy it is to make a mistake with payroll or labor law.

That’s why Breedlove & Associates prides itself on staying on top of any changes in the law that might affect household employers. And why we are willing to provide each and every family with a free phone consultation. It’s easier and less expensive to handle everything correctly from the beginning and we’re always here to help!

The April 15 tax filing deadline is less than a week away and many household employers are racing to get their taxes filed on time. Along with their personal 1040 and Schedule H, household employers also need to make sure they are taking advantage of the Child and Dependent Care Expenses tax credit (IRS Form 2441) if they qualify. According to the most current IRS statistics from 2010, only 7 million people file this form nationwide.

Families qualify to file Form 2441 if they had childcare expenses for a child under 13 and both spouses work or are full-time students. Unlike other tax credits, there are no restrictions based on income level. The tax credit is 20% for up to $3,000 of childcare expenses ($600) for families with one child and 20% for up to $6,000 of childcare expenses ($1,200) for families with two or more children.

Some families may not have taken advantage of this tax credit in the past because the name sounds familiar to the Child Tax Credit. However, this is a completely different credit families with children can take to reduce their federal income tax and has no bearing on whether a family is qualified to file Form 2441.

For more information about the Child and Dependent Care Expenses tax credit, or other ways to save money, visit our Expert Advice page.

Now that the IRS is processing personal income tax returns, many people are getting their tax documents in order and preparing for a (hopefully) big tax refund. But there are also many of you who may be stuck because you haven’t received your Form W-2 from your employer yet. So, what do you do?

The best thing to do is ask your employer. They’re supposed to send you your W-2 by January 31. The IRS says if they sent it by mail, it could take up to two weeks, so there’s a chance it could still be in transit.

However, if your employer says they never prepared one for you (or they provide you with a Form 1099 instead), you should remind them that you are considered a household employee and are required to have a Form W-2 from them so you can file your income tax return. If that doesn’t work, you will have to claim your wages and taxes by filing your income tax return without a W-2.

If you earned less than the FICA threshold of $1,800, report your wages on line 7 of Form 1040 along with the letters "HSH," which is the code for household employment. If you earned more than $1,800, you will have to file Form 4852 which serves as a substitute for the W-2. Finally, if you received a 1099, you need to file Form 8919 to figure and report your share of the uncollected FICA taxes due on your compensation.

Because of the potentially expensive tax problems this could create for you and your employer, we advise you to do everything you can to educate your employer on the tax process for household employers (a.k.a. the "nanny taxes")...most busy families simply are not aware of their responsibilities.  You might want to share our helpful literature and videos -- and also let them know that we're happy to provide a free personalized phone consultation if they'd like to call. We’re here to help!

As we wave good-bye to 2011, it's time to tidy up any loose ends on taxes.  If you hired someone to work in your home (i.e. nanny, nurse, housekeeper, chef, personal assistant, etc.) and paid them $1,700 or more, you have household employment tax obligations (a.k.a. "nanny taxes").  See Compliance Checklist for details.  Taking care of the reporting requirements has several benefits:

1) AUDIT & LAWSUIT PREVENTION.  Families who pay legally don't have to worry about audits, tax evasion charges or legal disputes levied by disgruntled former employees. Think of it as insurance against tax and legal problems.

2) TAX BREAKS. There is a common misperception that “nanny tax” compliance will be prohibitively expensive. The truth is most families with childcare expenses qualify for tax breaks that largely offset – sometimes even exceed – the employer tax costs. (See “Dependent Care Tax Breaks” for more details or visit our Employer Budget Calculator to get an estimate of your tax breaks).

3. PROFESSIONAL BENEFITS. When a family pays legally, the employee receives important short-term and long-term benefits, such as social security, medicare, unemployment, and an ability to obtain loans/credit. These benefits and protections have a dramatic impact on the perceived professionalism of the position and, therefore, the quality and duration of the employment relationship.

If you'd like to learn more about the Breedlove No-Work, No-Worry way to handle your obligations, watch this brief video or give us a call.  We're here to help.