If you hire a housekeeping service that employs maids, gives them their marching orders, arms them with mops and cleaning supplies and pays them directly after you pay the service, those maids are probably employees of that company.
If you hire an individual to come to your home, follow your instructions, requests and rules for cleaning, use your brooms and window cleaner, and collect her fee directly from you, that housekeeper is your employee.
That makes you an employer, and you must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for your employee if you pay her $1,700 or more a year in 2011.
If you pay her more than $1,000 in any quarter, you also will have to pay state and federal unemployment tax. You also have to give your housekeeper a W-2.
Household employees include housekeepers, nannies, companions, yard workers, babysitters (older than 18) and anyone else whom you pay to work at your house.
The IRS doesn’t allow homeowners to classify a housekeeper—or any household employee— as an independent contractor unless the worker is incorporated, bonded, licensed in the trade and follows a bunch of corporate legalities.
If you use the services of a housekeeper—even through a service—check with your tax accountant or:
Arizona Department of Economic Security
Resources for Household Employers
Additional reading:
“Nanny Tax” Rules: Frequently Asked Questions
Resources for Household Employers