Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
New Member
posted May 25, 2025 6:54:10 PM

We hired a nanny starting in 2025. I am withholding the taxes myself and remitting them to the federal and state institutions. Can Turbo Tax help me file quarterly?

There are a number of forms we'll need to file quarterly, plus monthly payments to both the state of CO and the IRS. I am set up to make the monthly payments but it would be great to streamline the form submission using Turbo Tax. Thanks!

0 5 3769
5 Replies
Level 15
May 25, 2025 7:46:37 PM

While TurboTax doesn’t offer that service you might look at Quickbooks or consult a bookkeeping service. 

Level 15
May 26, 2025 9:06:04 AM

schedule electronic estimated taxes ahead of time on IRS.gov or EFTPS.gov, no forms are required.

 

Your state should have similar options.

 

@ashleybellas 

New Member
May 26, 2025 9:18:25 AM

Hi fanfare, thanks for your reply. You state that no forms are required, but that seems to directly contradict what is written on this webpage: 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employment-tax-due-dates

 

For example, "Generally, employers must report wages, tips and other compensation paid to an employee by filing the required Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return".

 

Am I missing something? 

Level 15
May 26, 2025 1:18:58 PM


@ashleybellas wrote:

Hi fanfare, thanks for your reply. You state that no forms are required, but that seems to directly contradict what is written on this webpage: 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employment-tax-due-dates

 

For example, "Generally, employers must report wages, tips and other compensation paid to an employee by filing the required Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return".

 

Am I missing something? 


In General:

 

If you are a business, and you have employees, then you must file either quarterly 941 or annual 944 form.  And you must have a business tax number (EIN) that is different from your social security number, and you must follow a large number of other complicated rules.

 

However, if you are a private person just hiring a nanny, you are not a business and you do not file form 941, and you do not pay the nanny tax to the IRS on a quarterly basis.  You file a schedule H with your tax return, that calculates and pays the nanny tax as part of your overall tax return.  

 

However, Colorado seems to make it more complicated:

While I have not taken a deep dive into Colorado's tax laws, it appears that even for a nanny (household employee), you must have a state tax withholding account and remit state tax withholding quarterly.  That in turn forces you to get a federal EIN and to file form 941 quarterly as well, and make quarterly federal payments. https://tax.colorado.gov/withholding-FAQ

 

Turbotax is not designed for quarterly tax payments.  That is something included in Quickbooks, if you want online help.  There are a variety of pricing options, including a Quickbooks/Turbotax bundle. However, for only one employee, it may be easier to do it yourself.  I filed payroll for a small church for about 5 years, and although I used Quickbooks for the church's books, I did not pay the extra fee for payroll services and handled it myself.  It wasn't that complicated. 

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/

 

Level 15
May 26, 2025 2:03:29 PM

Here’s 2 articles I found.  You probably already know these things.  I don’t think Turbo Tax can help with filing the 941 payroll returns.

 

Paying household employees

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-payments/pay-taxes-pay-household-employee/L9eZxdOGo_US_en_US

 

 

Do I need to file IRS schedule H

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-forms/need-file-irs-schedule-h-2021/L4IikL0bD_US_en_US