Nanny Pay Stub Generator for Household Employers
If you employ someone in your home, you are an employer. Give your nanny a pay stub that shows the hours, the pay and the taxes — and keep the record you'll need at tax time.
Create Your Pay StubA nanny, caregiver or housekeeper who works in your home on your terms is your employee, not a contractor. That makes you a household employer, with your own set of payroll rules — often called the nanny tax.
A pay stub for each payday does two jobs. It shows your employee exactly how their pay was worked out, and it gives you the running totals you need for their Form W-2 and for Schedule H on your own tax return.
What a nanny pay stub shows
- You as the employer, and your employee
- The pay period and pay date
- Hours worked and the hourly rate, with overtime on its own line
- Gross pay
- Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) withheld
- Federal and state income tax, if you both agreed to withhold it
- Net pay and year-to-date totals
Household employer rules for 2026
From IRS Publication 926, the Household Employer's Tax Guide.
- Social Security and Medicare
- They apply once you pay a household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages in 2026. You withhold 7.65% from their pay and pay a matching 7.65% yourself.
- Federal income tax
- You are not required to withhold it. You withhold only if your employee asks you to and you agree; they give you a Form W-4.
- Federal unemployment tax (FUTA)
- Owed if you pay total cash wages of $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter. It is 6.0% of the first $7,000 of each employee's wages, reduced by a credit of up to 5.4% for state unemployment tax paid. You pay it; it is not withheld.
- Form W-2
- Give one to each household employee you paid $3,000 or more in Social Security and Medicare wages, or withheld income tax from, and file it with the Social Security Administration.
- Schedule H
- You report and pay the household employment taxes with your own Form 1040, on Schedule H.
- Employee, not contractor
- If you control what work is done and how it is done, the worker is your employee. A babysitter who cares for children in their own home, or a service that sends its own staff, generally isn't.
Three steps in the pay stub generator
- 1
Enter yourself as the employer
Your name and home address go where a company's would. Your nanny is the employee.
- 2
Enter hours and rate
Most household employees are paid by the hour. Add overtime as its own line when it applies.
- 3
Set the taxes that apply
Social Security and Medicare are calculated for you. If you don't withhold federal or state income tax, switch those off under the tax exemptions in the builder.
Common questions
Do I have to give my nanny a pay stub?
Federal law doesn't require pay stubs, but many states do, and their rules generally cover household employees. Even where it isn't required, a pay stub is the simplest proof for both of you of what was paid and what was withheld.
Is a nanny an employee or an independent contractor?
Almost always an employee. If you decide the schedule, the duties and how the work is done, the IRS treats you as the employer. Paying a nanny as a contractor with a 1099 to avoid payroll taxes is a misclassification.
What is the nanny tax threshold for 2026?
$3,000. If you pay a household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages during 2026, Social Security and Medicare taxes apply to all of those wages. Separately, federal unemployment tax applies if you pay $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter.
Do I have to withhold income tax from my nanny's pay?
No. Withholding federal income tax is optional for household employers — you do it only if your employee asks and you agree. Without withholding, your employee may need to make estimated tax payments on their own.
Does a nanny get overtime?
Generally yes. Most household employees are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and are owed time and a half for hours over 40 in a week. Live-in employees are exempt from the federal overtime rule, though some states require it for them too.
Guides and tools
Sources
Figures are for 2026 and were checked against these official pages. This page is general information, not tax or legal advice. See our editorial standards.