@odinglett It is good that a couple of sharp users here are pointing out that you may have had a household employee for whom you should have been withholding Social Security and Medicare, and for whom you may need to issue a W-2. We do not know if the childcare provider worked in your home or somewhere else---we cannot be sure if you are using the word "nanny" more casually to refer to someone who babysat in their own home or in your home.
Going forward, if you need to employ a childcare provider so that you can work, you need to have a clear understanding from the very beginning with that childcare provider. You need to make clear to them that you will be claiming the childcare credit and that they will need to report that income on their own tax return. They need to provide a Social Security number to you or if they (understandably) do not want to give out their SSN, they can get a Tax ID from the IRS to use instead if they will be working as an independent contractor in some location other than your home. What you should never do is take a childcare provider by surprise at tax time and announce suddenly that you are entering the childcare credit on your tax return and spring it on them that they will owe tax on their income. The IRS matches the amount you enter on your tax return for the credit with the income reported on the tax return filed by the childcare provider.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/individual-taxpayer-identification-number
https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/considered-household-employee/L...
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
