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1.) Is a certain amount/ percentage of salary considered as 'room & board'?
What is the minimum & maximum that can be deducted from cash payment (monthly pay) as 'room and board'? (If client figures $900. month salary which includes room & board, what should the cash payment be?)

1.) How does the caregiver claim 'room & board" when filling out paperwork such as for tax purposes or other important papers?

2.) Is the caregiver responsible for their own health & auto insurance, prescriptions, auto maintenance & gas, clothes, vacations, etc?

3.)If the 'family goes out to dinner, on a trip, or to an event (I.E. movies, concerts, fairs, amusement parks, sight seeing), is the caregiver responsible for 'paying their own way'?

4.) Can a caregiver get financial assistance if the client is on a limited income & cannot afford to pay much?

5.)

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Great question. I moved into my parents' house because my stepdad needs additional care for a variety of medical conditions. He cannot be left alone because he may fall. He will fall. I've been here a couple of years and now my mom seems to be going downhill because she wants me to wait on her all the time. Just like I do for my stepdad. I don't get a whole day off. I will leave for several hours to visit a friend. I finally went on a one-week vacation last month. I get paid $1,500 a month plus Room & Board. I'm not sure how this "board" works because I would give anything to go to my home (that is about 3 miles away) and sleep there. I was going through a divorce - a really hard time when I first moved in here. I was grateful because I needed my mom and stepdad for moral support as well as house note etc. Bills were paid by my mom as needed when I first moved in. My taxes are so messed up because my mom claimed me as a deduction for a caregiver at $18,000 whereas my taxes are totally screwed up. I'm about to see a tax specialist. I want to start doing this above board. Sometimes I feel like my life is passing me by while I'm stuck in this house day and night week after week. I used to have a normal life and my parents had an extraordinary life of travel and adventure. I'm reading a book on boundaries right now because I need to set some. There are 10 kids in my family. I won't even get into that.
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Meerkat, sometimes new questions get lost on this site, especially when there are people posting spam ads which results in your question being pushed toward the bottom of the list. So keep posting a response to your own question asking for input to keep it near the top where it will be found.

I almost hate to ask, are you being paid 900 a month as a live in? If your friend requires 24/7 care, even if it only occasionally, then caregiver is required 24 hours a day. Nightime assistance cannot be scheduled or put on a calendar. You should not have a deduction for room and board. There are some families that will even try that with other family caregivers. An agency live in would cost much more in the area of 10k a month. And even agency live ins are able to be in their own homes on weekends. For 24/7 care with a team of three people that do 8 hour shifts, to avoid overtime charges, the charge is about 12k a month.

It sounds as if you are being taken advantage of. Fixed income is a limitation to how much can be paid if there are no other assets. If that is the case I would find a regular 40 hour a week job. Your friend should be in a Medicaid nursing home. And hopefully you have a care agreement in place otherwise Medicaid would try to charge friend a penalty equal to what you have been paid.

Your third question is a bit puzzling. Why would you go to these family functions? In my case, I would more than welcome the quiet me time! And vacations? If the caregiver is required your expenses should be paid as well as being paid salary to attend. Health insurance, etc? If not paid by your employer, you should be making enough to pay for these things yourself. If you use your car for transporting the one you care for you should be submitting mileage report to receisve reimbursement. At this time I think the federal goverment allows 55 cents a mile which adds up fast!

Financial assistance for caregiver, you would need to apply for Medicaid, welfare etc. There are some programs that will pay a caregiver like VA Aid and Attendance but payment is minimal, 1.2 K a month, but if care receiver is the applicant and may not be eligible. Call the Area Agency on Aging, many times in the Council of Governments, they are a wonderful resource with lots of information to share.
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Your wages are below Federal Minimum Wage, even with the room & board. I bet they aren't withholding Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, or your state's taxes/unemployment either. This is an illegal employment situation.
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Firstly, let me thank everyone for their comments, input, and suggestions.
I've definitely realized that being a live-in caregiver and getting paid correctly isn't as as easy or simple as some may think.

I'll break this down so as not to get too long or tiresome.

To begin with, I've known the family most of my life. The 'patient's' son and I were close friends and I considered his parents as a 3rd set of grandparents (even though the son & I are close in age). My friend and I drifted apart for many years but reconnected a few years ago. (Let's call my friend Joe.)

Awhile back, "Joe" & I were talking about living situations. "Joe" is disabled, receives disability, cannot work, and tries to care for his 85 yr old disabled (veteran) father. "Joe"'s wife helps as best she can but she holds a full time job (55-70 hrs per week). "Joe'"s Dad can do some things on his own, uses a walker and power chair. He lives on his own next door and there is a connecting deck & ramp to each other's homes. A housekeeper would come in once a week to clean and do laundry but "Joe" got concerned when Dad tried to do things on his own when no one was around. He couldn't be available every second for Dad or there overnite. SO, since I was a widowed homemaker (with no opportunities towards employment), and looking for a change; "Joe" asked if I'd help him. I moved out of my home state, moved into my own room at Dad's, and have been frustrated almost since.

I'm not sure who the client actually is or what the 'rules" are since they seem to change and contradict each other regularly. "Joe" asked me to help with Dad and says he can fire me at any time but Dad pays me, I reside in Dad's house, and he provides the food and amenities. "Joe" and Dad don't seem to agree on what MY responsibilities are, when MY time off is (so far none), and what I should get paid.

No formal contract or agreement was signed. We (Joe's Dad & I) signed a paper which states that "light housekeeping", laundry, and "assisting" Dad are the job duties. I am required to make sure he takes his morning & evening meds, he does daily exercises (20 - 30 minutes) so as joints and muscles won't stiffen, and make sure HE keeps himself clean (and fresh). This entails him to take regular showers, underpants (Depends) and clothes changed frequently/daily, hair combed, and false teeth worn). Dad does some of this if and when he feels like it but sometimes whines when I tell him that this is his responsibility. I am not to bathe him, change underwear, dress, or spoon feed him. I was also told that Dad is supposed to get his own drinks and meals as much and whenever possible.
Than this was thrown in there..."Unless he nicely asks for assistance".

To be continued...
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Are you paid by check with deductions taken out or 1099'd or cash? It is a tricky subject. How many actual hours do you work a day/I assume you live in because it works for you and is cheaper than your own place /utilities etc...normal room and board would be going rate for the room as a roomate situation-check on line or want ads to see what they are going for. Partial for utilities, cable etc...divided by people in the house. You should come to your answer on that part.. We had a live in and myself she worked approx 3 hours a day- stand by assist for me to help my mom...help get her up in the am(I usually had to wake her up by 10 or 11 am she did like to sleep) to bed at night and stand by if I had to go to grocery etc...she mostly sat by the pool on her computer or texted her boyfriends went out every night. I cooked all meals for the entire household and paid all the bills......I paid her $1600 a month or roughly $26 an hour for not much with free room and board private room and bath and all utilities/meals even paid to fix her car though we provided her one.. Keep a journal of what you actually do every day not just time there since you live there as a roomate are you on 24/7 no other help from family or agency? Is the patient ambulatory and needs meals prepped, do you bathe, toilet etc.....I know plenty of live ins that want to be paid 24/7 and sleep all day and are gone all night....so again journal what you do keep good notes, if you wake up in the middle of the night to assist write it down. If you are more of a roomate that occasionly helps different story! They may be helping you!As far as amuement trios vacations if the family is there and don't need your help but hve included you to come along you should pay your extra expenses or stay home and take a vacation.If they need you to go they should pay you.
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I am currently a live-in caregiver. I do five (5) overnights (I charge them $75.00 per night) with day hours (at no charge because I am being charged for room and board). Between July and August 2015 I did 133.5 hours and if paid say $10/hour , $1,335.00.

In the 2015 Cost of Care Survey conducted by Genworth Financial, home care costs showed an increase of 1.27% compared to the 2015 costs and the national median monthly rate is $20 per hour.

Hourly Rates: Home care costs are most commonly assessed at an hourly rate, particularly for clients who remain independent in the majority of their activities of daily living but would benefit from companionship and/or limited assistance. In almost all cases, home care agencies establish a minimum number of hours per day such as two or four hours for staffing purposes.
Daily Rates: This method of billing is used when a client requires around-the-clock assistance and/or supervision. Instead of charging an hourly rate, home care agencies determine a daily rate that remains equitable given the fact that breaks and sleep are required for the caregiver. Home care costs based on a daily rate typically range from $200.00 per day to $350.00 per day, once again depending upon the cost of living within a particular region.
Overnight Rates: Overnight rates are also offered by home care agencies to ensure safety and security of clients who may get up frequently during the night or wander due to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. This option is particularly helpful to family caregivers and/or couples when one spouse acts as the primary caregiver and desperately needs to sleep well during the night. Rates for overnight care range from $120.00 to $200.00 and typically consist of a 10 to 12 hour caregiver shift.

So my charging them $75.00/overnight, they are already saving a bundle.
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Paying a salary for a caregiver is much, much more complicated than you can ever hope to imagine because it will involve some kind of employment tax. If the person pays over a certain amount a year (I believe it is $1,900), the person paying them is legally their employer, and they are responsible for taking out taxes. With $900 a month, minus taxes--the take home will be a lot less than that! If the person pays cash, I don't know how that is going to affect possibility of Medicaid eligibility if one goes that route in the future.
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Yes I have to agree this is going to take a lawyer's advice - contracts drawn up and pay a salary in compliance with laws, and setting up tax forms. My God I hope I don't live that long.
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I do 24/7 care for my Mom. As much as I would like to do it for free, I can't. So, we took the average cost of assisted living in our area and that is what I get paid per month. We got the guidance of a CPA on the tax issue. This is working for us. Mom gets to stay in my home and gets 1:1 care and she seems happy. The other option for us would have been for me to return to work and Mom go into a nursing home. Not something any of us really wanted.
Your questions seem to present a more complicated situation that will as others have said require legal/tax advice. As we found out it can be quite complicated getting everything set up and I would say virtually impossible to do it without professional advice. Paying for a caregiver isn't cheap but as the CPA told us "we all have to pay to live". It's a hard cold fact that is hard to accept when you are doing the caregiving for a family member, but it is true none the less.
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Let's see -- if I were being paid, I would charge $12 (the median rate of a CNA in this area) an hour, buy my own food, and pay half of the household expenses. We each know what hours we actually work or what is "me time." If you are caring for someone, I don't think rent should be paid. I mean, if you were working in an office, would you pay rent for your cubicle? IMO, "room and board" should only include the cost of your food.
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