<p>I’m a 19 year old college student who works as a part-time nanny and I only made like $4k this year from that job, do I have to file income taxes on that? Next year, I will make closer to $7k, would I have to file income taxes on that? I looked on the IRS site but it’s confusing, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.</p>
<p>No you don’t</p>
<p>Unless your employer is paying you as an employee, and therefore taking out social security and medicare taxes, then yes, you have to file a return and pay those taxes. Next year, if your parents don’t claim you, you will be in the same situation. If they DO claim you, then you will owe self employment taxes plus a little bit of income tax since you will have exceeded the standard deduction amount.</p>
<p>The income cut of for federal taxes was about $5400 for 2008. If your total income was $4000 (including any other income such as the taxable part of scholarships/grants etc) then you are not required to file. If they have been deducting taxes then it is a good idea to file to get any taxes deducted back. With an income of $7,000 you will probably be required to file a tax return. There are free ones you can file online if you meet certain criteria (there are links on the IRS web site). Or you can purchase programs such as turbotax for a fairly reasonable price.</p>
<p>edit - good point about the medicare and ss taxes 3bm. I had not thought about that.</p>
<p>If money has been withheld from your paychecks, you’ll need to file your tax returns (state and federal) to get the money back. If money has not been withheld, you should file returns anyway and pay your social security taxes (which, BTW, your employer MUST also pay, if you make more than $600/quarter from the job).</p>
<p>[Grow</a> up and pay the ‘nanny tax’ if you owe it - MSN Money](<a href=“http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P43440.asp]Grow”>http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P43440.asp)</p>
<p>Hmm some of these answers are contradicting each other, I’m not sure. I haven’t made the $4k yet, I just started this job last month, but assuming I work until mid-December as planned, I should have made close to $4k. So I should file a tax return on this? i haven’t asked my employers about this, they’re paying me in cash and haven’t mentioned anything about taxes, and they definitely haven’t deducted anything from my salary.</p>
<p>Also, one of the parents is a lawyer, so I’m guessing he wouldn’t do something illegal? idk, I’ll ask him about it next time.</p>
<p>If you’re going to make $4K between now and December, and they’re not taking out social security and employment taxes, guess what, they are doing something illegal. Read the article about the nanny tax.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the laugh!</p>
<p>The Nanny tax has derailed many a political career. You’d think they’d know better by now.</p>
<p>You can file your taxes as “self-employed”. This way you will cover the social security taxes yourself. Go to IRS.gov and look for information on self-employment. The paperwork is not horribly difficult.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>“Also, one of the parents is a lawyer, so I’m guessing he wouldn’t do something illegal?”</p>
<p>First laugh of the day!</p>
<p>illegality does not equal moral wrongness</p>
<p>
My original post saying you would not have to file if your income was below $4000 was based on the assumption that your employers were paying and deducting SS taxes and medicare (which they are supposed to). If they are not then yes you are required to file in order to pay those. </p>
<p>If they were deducting them as they are supposed to, then with an income of $4000 you would not have to file a return.</p>
<p>Do you have any scholarships/grants? Any in excess of tuition and fees are taxable income so remember those also when tax filing time comes.</p>
<p>Paying your self employment tax is not hard at all – just a little coupon online to fill out. You just figure out your tax rate. Remember that these are to be paid quarterly – deadlines on the irs.gov webside.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks everyone! :)</p>
<p>Iamsounsure, I wish your first post was true, but if I remember correctly you are a HS student from the Caribbean, and not an American adult paying taxes, so I think what you said was incorrect. I guess I have to file a tax return since they haven’t been deducting as they were supposed to. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if I should bring this up in front of them though…i don’t want them to get offended.</p>
<p>haha and you’re right, I shouldn’t be trusting the lawyer of all people :P</p>
<p>Forget about gays in the military. This is the real “don’t ask don’t tell” issue.</p>
<p>How many young adults with cash income like babysitting actually file their taxes? How many adults employing people in this situation pay employment/Medicare taxes? (I’ve heard only 15%)</p>
<p>If she had to pay the 12.4% SS rate for filing, I wouldn’t go near a form. I may be interested in researching the other more important answers for Alix as a person oddly interested in taxes but not at the current moment.</p>
<p>But my inclination reading this is to advise Alix2012 s/he is on a board full of prudish parents and to get a more consensus opinion of peers or people knowledgable about enforcement.</p>
<p>My experience is that most teenagers who babysit do not pay taxes. It is an all cash affair, and thus the IRS will not know about it. Are they supposed to pay taxes, yes, but in reality, they do not pay the taxes.</p>
<p>I would say this is a board full of people who want to give Alix the correct answer about her obligations and her employers’ obligations. In reality, many people do not pay the taxes on this sort of part time casual income. The correct answer is that the employer should withhold the taxes, provide Alix with a W2 in January and Alix should file a tax return to have her withheld taxes refunded if she is below the threshold for having a tax obligation.</p>
<p>As an employer, it’s interesting to hear young people think they should get their entire wage of $8/hr in their check. When in actuality, I have to take out the employee’s share of taxes, plus pay a percentage in additition, plus pay workman’s comp for them too. I do have a payroll service because it’s all more than I want to deal with! </p>
<p>I do let them know however, that if I am paying them $8 … and they are getting maybe $7.30 or so in their check, that it’s actually costing me more like $9 …the store needs to do approximately $50-60 per employee hour to be worth keeping employees around!</p>
<p>Well, I babysat throughout HS but never filed taxes because I was under 18 and made under $2k a year, but now I’m 19 and making twice as much so it’s different. The reason I asked is because my boyfriend said it’s different if you’re under 21, but the IRS site says that rule only applies if the employer is paying their own under-21 child to babysit.</p>
<p>I made under $5400 this year so that’s below the tax obligation threshold, but it’s not like they’ve been been taking out SS/medicare taxes or whatever, and I’m not going to bother them by asking. He’s a lawyer and must know it’s illegal, so there’s no point in me bringing it up to him. I guess it’ll be refunded since i’m under the threshold anyway. thanks everyone :]</p>