Posts Tagged ‘hiring a nanny in miami’
What is a Household Manager?
While TLC for Kids has a reputation for providing care to families with younger children, they also have services for families with older kids too.
TLC for Kids has nannies available to work as household managers. Household Managers are a great fit for families with school age kids.
A household manager has a wide range of job responsibilities:
• Take the kids to school in the morning
• Clean and organize the house
• Do laundry
• Run errands (grocery shopping, dry cleaning)
• Schedule appointments (and take the kids to the appointments, if needed)
• Handle repairs and maintenance services
• Pick kids up after school, and take them to after school activities
• Care for children when sick
A household manager keeps your home and family running seamlessly. Having a household manager allows you to enjoy time with your family when you are home, and focus on work when you’re at work.
Want to know more? Call TLC for Kids today (314) 725-5660.
The Value of Back-Up Care
Fall is approaching and that means back to school time is around the corner.
Are you ready for school to start this year? For most parents the school year can be a juggling act in which organization and a dependable support system can make the difference in keeping your household stress low! Household family assistants, on-call back-up nanny care, and as needed babysitters can play a useful role in your daily life. Consider these issues to make sure you are prepared and ready to handle anything the school year sends your way:
1 Be Prepared
– Back-Up Care:
Your children, like all of us, will have their ups and downs. Throughout the school year thousands of kids will miss school due to illness and teacher work days, leaving parents in a bind. What will they do if their child can’t go to daycare or school?
A recent survey on children’s health found that nearly one third of parents in the US worry about losing pay or vacation days when they stay home to care for a sick child. Those parents said it was very difficult to find childcare for their sick child.
Parents can help to ensure a smooth school year by making sure they have a backup plan in place for these unexpected situations.
Try to be prepared for this by knowing who you can call upon for last-minute or emergency care for your kids. A good agency can help you with school days off, last-minute sick-childcare, and even a standing reservation for a regular sitter so you will always know there is relief on the horizon.
2 Get It Done
– After School Family Assistants:
After school family assistants can tutor children, help with homework, run the after school calendar, and assist with dinner. They also help with getting prepared and organized for the next school day. “Our families love the After School family assistant,” says Jessica Friedman, TLC For Kids’ Placement Counselor. “One mom told me she loves being able to come home from work and spend time with her kids instead of hustling them from one thing to another.”
Tutors can help kids get their homework done with less stress and build confidence in their abilities. They also add useful structure. Getting homework done on time and correctly can relieve children and help them to feel accomplished and in control.
3 Keep It Fun
– Babysitter roster:
Everyone needs a little grown-up time. Date-night, girls night out, the theatre, a sporting event, there is so much to do in here in Miami. Put together your list of sitters. Grandma might be first but when she is busy…or when you need a really late night on the town, you may want someone a little more experienced than the high school girl up the street. Call on a mature adult, who provides her own transportation, is CPR certified and provides extra peace of mind.
Health Insurance for Nannies
Health insurance is a big concern for nannies, especially single nannies. TLC for Kids has found that nannies are looking for health insurance as part of their full time job compensation package. Offering health insurance to a nanny is possible and a tax free benefit! Saving both the family and the nanny money!
Here is a blog from Regarding Nannies on the best practices of nanny health insurance.
Q. What does the family need to do regarding documentation to keep the health insurance non-taxable?
A. A family needs to have evidence that the nanny actually HAS health insurance in place, and that the policy cost is equal to or greater than the stipend. The easiest way to do this is for the family to write the check for the stipend directly to the insurance carrier. If that is not possible or desired, the family needs to:
1. Obtain and retain a certificate of coverage that shows the period and amount of the premium. This needs to be up to date, so you may need to do this semi-annually or annually depending on the policy.
2. Either write a separate check for the stipend with the memo clearly stating the purpose (BC/BS POLICY NUMBER July 2013 for example) OR provide a pay stub to the nanny stating gross wages, itemized deductions, net pay, and the addition of the premium contribution to the net pay as a reimbursement item.
Q. What are the tax benefits to the family?
A. The health insurance premium stipend is not taxable wages. The employer does not include this in the employee’s taxable wages on the W-2 form, and does not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes (7.65%) nor Federal or State Unemployment taxes on the premium (~3.5 – 4% depending on the situation).
Q. What are the tax benefits to the nanny?
A. Because the health insurance premium stipend is not taxable wages, the nanny does not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes (7.65%) nor income taxes (variable, estimate 15% for Federal and state) on the premium stipend.
A. Are there any audit risks involved?
Q. The biggest risk is that the family is paying the stipend and the nanny allows the policy to lapse. Retroactively this would make the premium stipend taxable, and at that point the family would be on the hook for the employer and employee Social Security and Medicare taxes (15.3% total) as well as the unemployment taxes. This is why it is a best practice to make payments directly to the carrier.
A typical health insurance plan for a healthy single nanny can run $500 or more a month. This is $6000 a year. Many families offer a partial premium benefit at time of hire, and will discuss picking up more in lieu of a raise when the compensation is reviewed.
A family who contributes $3000 a year saves approximately $330 in taxes (11% of the benefit!) and the nanny saves approximately $675 in taxes (about a week’s pay!).