Taking care of my mother’s affairs has stretched me in many areas.  This week, it’s figuring out how to file Social Security and Medicare taxes, pay Unemployment Compensation and get a Federal Tax Payer ID.  First, you have to calculate the year’s payments to the sitter if it’s over $600.  You should have  Form I-9 , Employment Eligibility Verification and a W-9 Form, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification filled out when you hired them.  Now don’t give up, you’re just getting started.  I know this is all foreign but you just have to learn as you go.

It’s not as bad as you may think.  Working this all out on the computer makes it pretty easy if you can navigate electronically, which you can, since you are reading this.  I went to efileforbusiness.com to fill out the W-2 Form which costs $3.95 per form. If you want to know the percentages for the taxes and what to put in which box, comment after this post and I’ll help you.   Next I went to the Alabama Dept of Labor to register and begin to pay quarterly payments for Unemployment Compensation.  Yes, there is a fee if you are late with the payments, but we’ll know better next time.  Apparently, you now have to have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) which is gotten at IRS.gov at no cost.  Anyway, by starting now, you can get this all figured out before the January 31 deadline.   And you would be smart if you start with getting the EIN first, so you can use it when you file the W-2 Form.

I know it’s not unusual to pay private sitter “under the table” but if you’re ready to join the other millions of taxpayers that finance this great country of ours, this is how you do it.