Do you plan to pay a cleaning person, cook, gardener, babysitter, or other household worker at least $2,300 in 2021? This amount includes any cash you pay for your household employee’s transportation, meals, and housing. If you will pay at least $2,300 to one person, you have some additional financial responsibilities.

When you pay at least $2,300 in wages to a household worker, you must do all of the following:

— Deduct Social Security and Medicare taxes from those wages;

— Pay these taxes to the Internal Revenue Service;

— Report the wages to Social Security.

For every $2,300 in wages, most household employees earn credits toward Social Security benefits and Medicare coverage. Generally, people need 10 years of work to qualify for:

— Retirement benefits (as early as age 62);

— Disability benefits for the worker and the worker’s dependents;

— Survivors benefits for the worker’s family;

— Medicare benefits.

You can learn more about reporting household worker income by reading Household Workers at www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10021.pdf.