The January Payroll Checklist to Send Your Families

Updated On: November 9, 2026

Alex Yang
Published On: November 9, 2026

If you place nannies, caregivers, or housekeepers with families who hire them directly, January is when those families find out what being an employer means on paper. A W-2 is due, a federal form goes to the Social Security Administration, the state wants its own reports, and Schedule H follows in April. Most of the families I talk to don’t know any of this until their nanny asks where their W-2 is.

For staffing and care agencies using recruitment platforms like EngineHire, sharing the right information with families is an important part of maintaining a smooth hiring experience. This payroll checklist is designed to make year-end payroll responsibilities easier to understand and manage.

This is the list I’d want every agency to forward to its families in December, while there’s still time to get ready. It covers 2026 wages, so every date below is for the filing season that starts in January 2027.

Who Is the Employer: The Family or the Agency?

Before anything else, check who the employer is, because only the employer files these forms.

If your agency employs the caregiver, pays them through your own payroll and controls the work, the caregiver gets their W-2 from you and the family has nothing on this list to file for them. The IRS puts it this way in Publication 926: “If an agency provides the worker and controls what work is done and how it is done, the worker isn’t your employee.”

If the family hired the caregiver directly after you made the match, and the family directs the work in its own home, the family is the employer and everything below is theirs to do. The same publication says that for a household employee, “it doesn’t matter whether the work is full time or part time, or that you hired the worker through an agency or from a list provided by an agency or association.”

Most placement agencies are in the second group, which is why this checklist exists.

When Are the W-2 and W-3 Due for 2026 Wages?

Both are due Monday, February 1, 2027. The family gives the caregiver Copies B, C and 2 of the W-2 by that date, and sends Copy A with Form W-3 to the Social Security Administration by the same date.

The usual date is January 31, but January 31, 2027 is a Sunday. The IRS’s own tax calendar, Publication 509, says that when a due date “falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the act is considered to be performed timely if it is performed no later than the next day that isn’t a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.” The 2026 W-2 and W-3 instructions name February 1, 2027 for both the employee’s copies and the SSA filing.

A family owes a W-2 if they paid one caregiver $3,000 or more in Social Security and Medicare wages in 2026, or withheld federal income tax from their pay at any amount. For most nannies that just means cash wages, but a few people don’t count toward the $3,000, such as the family’s spouse, their child under 21, in most cases their parent, or a worker who was under 18 at any point in 2026 and for whom household work isn’t their main job. Pub 926 says plainly not to send a W-2 to the SSA “if you didn’t withhold federal income tax and the social security and Medicare wages were below $3,000 for 2026.”

Two practical points I’d pass on:

The W-3 is required even for one employee. The IRS’s W-2 and W-3 instructions say “Even employers with only one household employee must file Form W-3,” with the “Hshld. emp.” box checked.
Filing through W-2 Online skips the W-3. Pub 926 says that through the SSA’s W-2 Online service, “the SSA will generate Form W-3 data from the electronic submission of Form(s) W-2; no separate Form W-3 is required.” Pub 926 calls electronic filing “free, fast, and secure.” The family needs an EIN for either route.

I keep a longer household employee W-2 guide that walks through every box with an example, including the new Code TT for overtime. It’s the page I’d send a family who has never filled one in.

Does the State Want a Copy of the W-2?

Often, but not always, and the rule is the state’s own. The federal instructions say only this: “Send Copy 1 of Form W-2, if required, to your state, city, or local tax department,” and to contact that department for details.

So the general rule I’d give families is to look it up for their own state rather than assume. Their state revenue department’s site will say whether it wants Copy 1, whether it has to be filed online, what transmittal form goes with it, and the due date, which isn’t always the federal one. A family that lives in one state and employs someone who lives in another should check both.

When Is Schedule H Due, and Who Has to File It?

Schedule H goes in with the family’s 2026 Form 1040 by April 15, 2027. An extension on the return extends Schedule H too, but the tax itself is still due April 15. It’s where the family reports and pays the household employment taxes for the year: Social Security, Medicare, federal unemployment (FUTA) and any income tax they withheld.

Pub 926 says to use Schedule H if the family paid any of these:

Social Security and Medicare wages of $3,000 or more to one employee in 2026
FUTA wages, which apply once total cash wages to household employees reach $1,000 in any calendar quarter of 2025 or 2026
Wages they withheld federal income tax from

A family that doesn’t otherwise need to file a tax return can file Schedule H by itself. The one exception is a family that already runs a business or farm and chooses to pay these taxes with its business employment taxes; Pub 926 tells them not to use Schedule H.

What Does the State Unemployment Agency Want in January?

This one catches the most families out, because it has nothing to do with the IRS. Pub 926 tells household employers to “contact your state unemployment tax agency to find out whether you need to pay state unemployment tax for your household employee,” and points to the U.S. Department of Labor’s list of state agencies.

Most states want a quarterly wage report, and the one for October through December is usually due at the end of January. A few have their own annual report for household employers instead (New Jersey’s NJ-927-H and Georgia’s DOL-4A are required for them). States also don’t all move a weekend deadline the same way. With January 31, 2027 on a Sunday, some move it to Monday, some keep the Sunday, and Florida moves an electronic payment earlier, to Friday. So the family should look up their own state’s date now rather than assume February 1.

How Long Should a Family Keep Payroll Records?

At least four years. The IRS says to “keep your employment tax records for at least 4 years after the due date of the return on which you report the taxes or the date the taxes were paid, whichever is later.” That means pay records, copies of every W-2, W-3 and Schedule H, and proof of each tax payment. Their state may ask for longer, so it’s worth a look.

The January Payroll Checklist for Families

Forward this part as it is.

In December

☐ Confirm whether you’re the employer (you hired the caregiver directly and direct their work) or the agency is.
☐ Add up 2026 cash wages, and any federal income tax you withheld.
☐ Check you have your EIN and the caregiver’s correct name, address and Social Security number.

By Monday, February 1, 2027

☐ Give the caregiver Copies B, C and 2 of their W-2.
☐ Send Copy A of the W-2, with Form W-3, to the Social Security Administration (filing through W-2 Online creates the W-3 for you).

By Your State’s Own Dates (Some Fall Before February 1, So Look Yours Up Now)

☐ Send the state its copy of the W-2 if it wants one.
☐ File the state unemployment report for October through December, or your state’s annual household report.

By April 15, 2027

☐ File Schedule H with your 2026 Form 1040, or by itself if you don’t file a return (unless you pay these taxes with your business or farm employment taxes).

All Year

☐ Keep every payroll record for at least four years.

For agencies placing nannies, caregivers and household staff, sharing a clear payroll checklist can help families understand their responsibilities after hiring. EngineHire helps staffing and care agencies streamline recruitment operations through AI-powered interview automation and candidate engagement, making it easier to manage the hiring process while keeping families informed about important next steps.

If a family wants the same list with the December steps in more detail, I wrote a year-end nanny tax checklist that goes through it month by month.