Do-it-yourself guides for hiring a nanny, paperwork, and the nanny tax.
When our child was born two years ago, we were just swamped with all the things that needed to get done. We did not have any family living close by, and both of us worked in jobs we could not easily quit for a year or two. So, childcare was, and had been for several months, very much on our minds.
As we went through the process, more and more things popped up. Did you expect that you have to open a business when you need help from a nanny? Us neither!
It was a steep learning curve for us, and we badly wanted a resource that talks about three things:
After we went through the entire process, we decided to set up this site, which accumulates our notes while going through the process.
We live in Washington state, so some of the information will be more detailed for the state of Washington -- as long as it is something state-specific.
Also, we are no tax accountants. We went through the process the hard way. You are naturally responsible for your taxes. Contact a tax accountant or other help if you are unsure about anything in this area. And the authoratative instructions are contained in the IRS documents linked throughout this site.
Would we do it the do-it-yourself way again? Probably yes. There are nanny agencies and specific nanny payroll services, and we think they can save you a lot of work. We contacted some of them, and see their value. On the other side, you will have to spend extra money, which, for us, was a constrained resource at the time.
Finally, we hope this site helps you to spend more time with what is really important: your children!