Caregiver wages are a common question that households have when developing a care plan for their loved one(s). You need to know roughly how much these services are going to cost, and this isn’t easy. It’s one thing if you need minimal help and you’re thinking about a home health agency with standardized rates and care plans. But especially when hiring an in home caregiver or private duty nurse, you’re bound to find a range of home care professionals with various levels of experience and credentials—not to mention different expectations for caregiver wages.
A part-time caregiver with no formal nursing degree may cost something like $12,000/year. A round-the-clock skilled nursing professional with impeccable references might command $120,000/year in total caregiver wages. It really just depends on what you’re looking for.
Private Caregiver Wages vs. Agency-Based Service Costs
Again, there’s another aspect of the care services that matter when estimating wages. Hiring an in home caregiver, especially outside the structure of a home health agency, is more than likely going to be classified as a household employee. This will require you to file W-2, W-4, I-9, and Sch H Form 1040, among other local- and state-based filing requirements. You’ll have to estimate and withhold payroll taxes and pay the employer-portion of the federally mandated FICA taxes. More than likely, you’ll want to withhold income taxes on behalf of the employee as well.
On the other hand, you’ll have much more control over the nature of the caregiving services. Home health aides undergo standardized training and are discouraged from deviating from these care protocols in any number of circumstances. As an employer, you’ll be able to use your own training and care regimen, whether you devise it on your own or under the guidance of an independent homecare professional.
The designation also comes with certain advantages that you can offer the employee. You can provide free room and board, for example, without it counting as taxable income. You can simplify the caregiver’s tax burden by paying both the employer and employee portions of the applicable payroll taxes. Put another way, you can offer several easy perks that will look appealing to an employee, while letting you plan for and keep a lid on the total payroll costs.
What AMS has to Offer
We can’t change the filing requirements or tax liabilities, but we can take the pain out of preparing, printing, and submitting your employer-based filing forms. Our software system has an intuitive, menu-driven interface and a sophisticated module interaction. This platform already provides an essential set of data management features to prepare and print information on pre-printed W-2 and 1099 forms. But you can also add other support features to make things easy on your household employment filing forms. For standalone Sch H Form 1040 and employment forms, you can look to our Forms Filer Plus. For automated payroll processing and paycheck calculations, check out AMS Payroll. You can also e-file and print out blank filing forms with our other products. Be sure to consider our entire software catalogue, and if you need help picking a personalized software suite, don’t hesitate to contact Sales and Information at (800) 536-1099.
- 1099 & W2 Software
- Forms Filer Plus
- Payroll Software
- Software-Generated Forms
- E-File Direct
- Affordable Care Act Filer
- 1042-S Filer