Labour guides · United States

A household employee under the federal rules

Federal household-employer rules for 2026 come from IRS Publication 926 and the Fair Labor Standards Act. State minimum wages and state unemployment are not guessed.

Figures loaded on 8 October 2026.

The federal wage

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. A higher agreed wage is recognised and stored. Pay below $7.25 blocks the issue of the payslip. If no state is stored, the payslip warns that the state or city may set a higher floor. HousePay does not look up that local rate on the household's behalf.

Overtime

Overtime is 1.5 times after 40 hours in the week for a live-out employee. Live-in domestic employees are generally exempt from federal overtime. If overtime is recorded for a live-in employee, the record says a premium needs a contract term.

The employee who lives out can see hours over 40 on their own line. The employer who employs someone who lives in has the exemption noted, rather than a premium invented by the app.

Social Security and Medicare

Social Security is 6.2% each, and Medicare is 1.45% each, once cash wages for that employee reach $3,000 in 2026. Social Security stops at $184,500. Medicare has no wage cap. Additional Medicare of 0.9% is employee-only above $200,000.

Crossing $3,000 makes earlier cash wages in that year taxable too. The draft withholds on the current pay and says the earlier wages still need to be brought in. The employer uses that note to complete the year. The employee sees the current withholding and the warning that the earlier cash wages are part of the same threshold.

FUTA

FUTA is an employer tax of 6% on the first $7,000. A 5.4% credit usually applies when state unemployment tax is paid on time, which leaves 0.6%. Both figures are kept. FUTA is not deducted from the employee.

Schedule H for 2026 is filed with the household return by 15 April 2027. HousePay keeps the checklist. It does not file the return.

Leave

Federal law does not set paid annual leave for household employees. Sick leave and family leave depend on the state and the contract. There is no federal end-of-service gratuity. Unused paid leave follows the contract and state law, which the household keeps in the agreement rather than in a formula HousePay would have to invent.

Form I-9

Form I-9 is completed for every household employee. The worker chooses which acceptable documents to show. A foreign worker with no I-9 on file cannot have an issued payslip. A citizen with no I-9 yet is warned. The household records the check. It does not decide the documents for the worker.

Repairs

Ordinary maintenance does not change federal income tax. A plumber or appliance company is a supplier, and the cost is household spend. More than $5,000 means a federally declared disaster loss cannot use the repair-estimate method. A disaster loss is reduced by insurance proceeds, by $100, and by 10% of AGI. That line is Revenue Procedure 2018-08 and Publication 547. No insurance excess is stored, because that figure belongs to the policy.

Documents the record can hold

• Employer identification.
• The employment agreement.
• The pay record.
• A Form W-2 and Schedule H checklist.
• Form I-9.

Other countries: South Africa, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates.