i have been without work for 6 months taking care of my grandparents. My grandpa has been in a nursing home for the past 2 months but my grandmother wants to bring him home. She has asked me if I will continue to care for him if she pays me. How do taxes work in this situation? If she pays me say $2,000 a month, how do I file taxes at the end of the year? I’m unsure how this works as with any other job I’ve had I would get a W2 and file that way. Does anyone have any experience in this?
Why did Grandpa end up in a NH? Was his care too much for you when he was at home? And now Grandma wants to bring him back home, and is dangling the carrot of pay in front of you?
It would be far better for you to work elsewhere and get a real job, salary, and benefits.
Grandma will be your employer. She needs to make the payroll deductions making sure payments are sent to the correct agency. This means matching SS that does not come out of your pay. You may want to see what a CPA will charge to do this for you. Then he can do a W2 for you.
I would think long and hard about doing this. Caregiving is 24/7. No life of your own. What grandma wants may not be best for grandpa. Talk to the doctor and nurses who care for him.
How many hours would you be caring for your grandfather 9am to 5pm, or more likely 7am to 7pm [depending the start of his day]. Five days a week or 7 days? You would need to check on State laws regarding the number of hours a caregiver can work each week.
Best to draw up an Employment Agreement that states what days you work, what hours, what days you have off, your duties, your hourly rate. This Agreement would be very valuable if your Grandfather needs to go back in a nursing home and needs to use Medicaid [which is different from Medicare] to help pay for his care. That way it would show that your grandparents weren't "gifting" you that $2k per month.
There are all kinds of exclusions for paid family caregivers, however, it is important that they set this up with a tax professional and do ALL the filings, this proves it wasn't gifting if Medicaid is ever needed.
I understand it’s not a lot of money. I’m doing what I can do to help while still being able to pay some of my bills. I just want my grandfather to be taken care of as it’s mostly him that will need the help. I will not be living with them. He likes to sleep in and wake up about 10:30am every day and goes to bed around 7pm every day without fail. It’ll be about 10a-7p. I have my own place with my own family.