Nanny Tax Cheating Hurts the Nannies and Housekeepers - and the US Treasury.

Finally, someone gets it! In an editorial published Friday, June 5, Niger Innis of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) takes on the real harm caused by nanny tax cheating.

Failure to pay the nanny taxes costs the US Treasury $5 Billion a year in uncollected revenues - revenues desperately needed to advance President Obama's ambitious agenda, including universal health care.

Brought down to the individual nanny or housekeeper's level, according to Mr. Innis:

Failure to pay the employment taxes for nannies, housekeepers and other domestic workers means those who are trusted to care for our children, our elderly and our homes are cheated from the full protections of America's social safety net. Many of these workers are minorities. When a domestic worker's unemployment tax is not paid, the worker will have trouble collecting unemployment insurance benefits if he or she is laid off. If the tax is not paid for a domestic worker who serves a family for his or her entire lifetime, the worker cannot collect full Social Security and Medicare benefits in retirement. It is sad that a person entrusted to raise children or care for the aged would be left unprotected and vulnerable because of ignorance or greed.

He isn't kidding - HomeWork Solutions has worked with attorneys and Trust Companies in the past to catch up on years of back "nanny taxes" brought to light when the retiring housekeeper finds out there are no Social Security wage credits for the past 10, 15, 20 years or more. This can make a difference of many hundreds of dollars each month in Social Security benefits - you bet the retiring worker doesn't hesitate to blow the whistle when they find that out!

Mr. Innis concludes:

By abandoning their "nanny tax" responsibilities, the rich and powerful leave the working poor to pay the price. It's Robin Hood in reverse.

HomeWork Solutions is proud to work with families who are voluntarily complying with nanny tax rules - even though it is expensive, even when they don't want to. Nanny tax compliance can be confusing and time consuming - yet our clients do it anyway because it is the right thing to do.