I am looking for someone long-term to provide weekly rides, companionship, and a few errands. It'll wind up being about 10 hours a week. The local eldercare program provided a list of people and emails.
Is there a template for a contract, taxes, and payment? I have never hired someone. Would it be better to go through an agency?
Thank you
on this forum:
"Personal Care Agreements: A Must for Caregiver Compensation and Medicaid Planning"
K. Gabriel Heiser, Medicaid Secrets
Search in the magnifying glass icon at the top of the page.
Just so I understand, to be legal, If I used a private individual to transport my mom and stay with her a few hours, I would have to become their employer?
I am hesitant to talk to attorneys as they have been little assistance outside of what I can find in forums and they are hard to get ahold of. I am still hounding the last one so I can pay them.
The whole reason to have taxes taken out is for Medicaid. They may ask why a certain amount of money is taken out on a weekly basis from Moms money. If its found its someone you hired, taxes should have been taken out. You need to prove the expense.
Are you going to pay this person? If you are paying, I would just hire someone to do what you discribe. For 10 hours a week, I would not go to the trouble paying someone to do payroll. I would not pay more than $20 and hour for what you are looking for.
Depending on how the person is licensed or not is how you would handle payments and taxes. A good attorney can guide you through the best way in no time, maybe an hour, that moms money pays for.
Best of luck finding someone that you can use and works well with your mom.
When you hire an individual privately, you become that person's employer. Unless it is a very small number of hours (have forgotten the number), you are required to withhold for the usual things for which an employer withholds: federal and state taxes, workers' comp, unemployment, and possibly local income taxes. You do not need an attorney for this; rather an accountant. The issue is NOT Medicaid, as one reply suggested, but rather your being an employer of someone who has been decided legally to be a household/domestic employee, NOT an independent contractor.
When you use an agency, you are not required to continue to use an employee with whom you are unhappy; the agency will try to match you as well as they can. While you pay more hourly, you are not going through the hassles of withholding, possibly requiring the use of an accountant, at a charge.. Also, some individuals will refuse to work for you if you are doing things legally, because they are trying to shield their income from taxation. I would strongly advise starting with an agency.
I) might add that it is almost always a mistake to pay for a parent's care from your own money--that is a topic for another conversation.
You will need to check agencies where you live. Try care.com and nextdoor.com.