@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/
