Dear t: When you work for someone you can be an employee or a independent contractor.
If you are an employee you will receive a W2 with with holding documented. If you are a contract employee you are responsible for your taxes, Soc Sec and Medicare payments. You need to review the relationship of your husband to his employer.
If he was an employee and no with holding was done for him – your issue is with the former employer. You may need legal advice.
This advice was prepared based on our understanding of the tax laws in effect at the time it was written as it applies to the facts that you provided. Click on my profile to read more. Errol Quinn Enrolled Agent
The estate has probably long since been closed and so there is probably no way for anything to happen now.
Officially a personal care giver is suppose to be handled as domestic help and taxes should have been taken from the payment. Although, this is the law, most domestic help is handled as independent contractors where the caregiver receives a complete payment and is responsible for their own taxes.
- Even though the employer did not pay the taxes, your husband was still responsible for paying it. Since it doesn’t sound like he did, he needs to submit revised tax returns for the period starting 6 years ago, pay the Self Employment tax due, the income tax, and most likely a penalty.
In addition, health insurance in the US is a benefit. Employers are not required to provide it. It is very rare, for a personal caregiver to receive this benefit.
In the future, your husband should pay closer attention to his payments and handle the situation from the beginning not 6 years after it start happening.
If he was working as an independent contractor then he will have to pay the self employment tax himself. You don’t explain if he was working for a temp agency or what, but most agencies pay their people as employees and take out federal, state and social security. If he was working directly for the couple then he must have had a contract. That agreement should guide you and you could have a claim against the estate, but it seems unlikely two years later.
Didn’t you notice anything during the six years? Why are you complaining now? Did the IRS send you a letter? By the way health insurance is not a right and every employer does not have to provide it.
I think you might be confusing health insurance with unemployment insurance. If the FUTA/SUTA and worker’s comp bills weren’t being paid, you are simply out of luck.
As for the other taxes, with the exception of the 7.65% employer share of fica/mc, all other money was money that would have been withheld from your husband’s pay. Since it wasn’t withheld, he got it paid to him and was responsible for doing his own taxes at the end of the year.
While you could conceivably submit a form SS-8 to the IRS, it doesn’t guarantee the IRS will agree with you. (The statute date is 3 years from the due date or when the original return was filed.) If they do, you don’t have to pay the 7.65% the employer would have paid. It’s not like your husband bothered to do this when the couple would have had a chance to reply to his complaint.
There is no legal right for your husband to get health insurance provided by his employer. But he should most likely have been treated as a household employee with taxes withheld. He should have filed an IRS form SS-8 asking for a determination of his status. But if the couple has been dead for 2 years, probably not much could be done now. Did your husband pay taxes as an independent contractor for those years? If yes, he paid more than he should have. If no, then HE has a major tax problem.
If his former employer is the dead couple, then he’s frankly SOL, as their estate has probably been closed for awhile now. If it was an agency that he worked for, then everyone is right, you need to review whether he was working as an independent contractor or not.
I find it odd that he didn’t complain about taxes not being paid at the time, but now that he’s in trouble, it’s someone else’s fault….
all those years he worked for them how did he file his taxes? or did he?
usually caregivers are considered independent contractors and as such the caregiver files Sch’s C and SE each year
he pays his own self employment tax(approx 15.3% of the Sch C ‘net’)
the people the caregiver is taking care of are not r’qd to pay health insurance, this would have been arranged at the outset of the employment
it is possible they paid the FICA taxes on a Sch H with their returns each year and would have issued him a W-2, and he would have reported his earnings on his 1040
I think you have more questions to answer before you step out for legal advice
Dear t: When you work for someone you can be an employee or a independent contractor.
If you are an employee you will receive a W2 with with holding documented. If you are a contract employee you are responsible for your taxes, Soc Sec and Medicare payments. You need to review the relationship of your husband to his employer.
If he was an employee and no with holding was done for him – your issue is with the former employer. You may need legal advice.
This advice was prepared based on our understanding of the tax laws in effect at the time it was written as it applies to the facts that you provided. Click on my profile to read more. Errol Quinn Enrolled Agent
The estate has probably long since been closed and so there is probably no way for anything to happen now.
Officially a personal care giver is suppose to be handled as domestic help and taxes should have been taken from the payment. Although, this is the law, most domestic help is handled as independent contractors where the caregiver receives a complete payment and is responsible for their own taxes.
- Even though the employer did not pay the taxes, your husband was still responsible for paying it. Since it doesn’t sound like he did, he needs to submit revised tax returns for the period starting 6 years ago, pay the Self Employment tax due, the income tax, and most likely a penalty.
In addition, health insurance in the US is a benefit. Employers are not required to provide it. It is very rare, for a personal caregiver to receive this benefit.
In the future, your husband should pay closer attention to his payments and handle the situation from the beginning not 6 years after it start happening.
If he was working as an independent contractor then he will have to pay the self employment tax himself. You don’t explain if he was working for a temp agency or what, but most agencies pay their people as employees and take out federal, state and social security. If he was working directly for the couple then he must have had a contract. That agreement should guide you and you could have a claim against the estate, but it seems unlikely two years later.
Didn’t you notice anything during the six years? Why are you complaining now? Did the IRS send you a letter? By the way health insurance is not a right and every employer does not have to provide it.
I think you might be confusing health insurance with unemployment insurance. If the FUTA/SUTA and worker’s comp bills weren’t being paid, you are simply out of luck.
As for the other taxes, with the exception of the 7.65% employer share of fica/mc, all other money was money that would have been withheld from your husband’s pay. Since it wasn’t withheld, he got it paid to him and was responsible for doing his own taxes at the end of the year.
While you could conceivably submit a form SS-8 to the IRS, it doesn’t guarantee the IRS will agree with you. (The statute date is 3 years from the due date or when the original return was filed.) If they do, you don’t have to pay the 7.65% the employer would have paid. It’s not like your husband bothered to do this when the couple would have had a chance to reply to his complaint.
There is no legal right for your husband to get health insurance provided by his employer. But he should most likely have been treated as a household employee with taxes withheld. He should have filed an IRS form SS-8 asking for a determination of his status. But if the couple has been dead for 2 years, probably not much could be done now. Did your husband pay taxes as an independent contractor for those years? If yes, he paid more than he should have. If no, then HE has a major tax problem.
If his former employer is the dead couple, then he’s frankly SOL, as their estate has probably been closed for awhile now. If it was an agency that he worked for, then everyone is right, you need to review whether he was working as an independent contractor or not.
I find it odd that he didn’t complain about taxes not being paid at the time, but now that he’s in trouble, it’s someone else’s fault….
Most personal caregivers are independent contractors not employees. Independent contractors are considered self-employed and must pay their own taxes.
And benefits aren’t required for anyone, employed or contracted.
all those years he worked for them how did he file his taxes? or did he?
usually caregivers are considered independent contractors and as such the caregiver files Sch’s C and SE each year
he pays his own self employment tax(approx 15.3% of the Sch C ‘net’)
the people the caregiver is taking care of are not r’qd to pay health insurance, this would have been arranged at the outset of the employment
it is possible they paid the FICA taxes on a Sch H with their returns each year and would have issued him a W-2, and he would have reported his earnings on his 1040
I think you have more questions to answer before you step out for legal advice