What's the deal with household payroll? Isn't it just normal payroll?
It's actually different. When you employ a household worker, nanny, eldercare aide, housekeeper, gardener, tutor, or anyone else, the IRS treats it as real employment, but you file the taxes on YOUR personal return (Schedule H), once a year, not quarterly like a business. Generic payroll software either doesn't handle this or forces you through the business path and overcharges. We built around the household case specifically.
What can I actually do today?
Set up your household, invite your employee, track their hours, generate pay stubs with estimated taxes, keep all their records for 3+ years, and prepare your Schedule H worksheet so you (or your accountant) can file. You'll still write their checks the way you do today, but you'll have the paperwork done right.
Will you ever pay my employee or file for me?
Not as a core feature — on purpose. Services that move your money and file in your name are also the ones whose mistakes become YOUR penalties. Our job is to make every number provably right (each line cites its IRS source) and put the exact forms in your hands. If we ever add direct deposit, it will be through a licensed, named partner, opt-in, never required.
I employ different kinds of household workers, does this work for all of them?
Yes for any worker you put on the books, nanny, eldercare aide, housekeeper, gardener, tutor, handyman, doula. The shape of household payroll is the same regardless of what they do; it's a Schedule-H filing on your personal return. If you have a mix of on-the-books and informal arrangements, we just give you correct records for the on-the-books help without lecturing you about the rest.
How much does it cost me?
Nothing right now, while we're in beta. When billing starts it's $30/month per household, flat — no per-employee add-ons that quietly grow your bill, and we'll email you before your first charge. Your records and forms stay yours either way.
My employee works for two of us. Will the other family see anything?
No, and this is enforced on every request at the API layer, not just hidden in the screen. Your employee can see all their hours and pay across every family they work for, in their own private view. None of you ever see each other.
I work for two families. Do they see each other's data?
No. Each family sees only the hours and pay you logged for them. Your unified earnings view, every family, every paycheck, your YTD, is yours alone. The families never see each other and never see your other employers' names.
Can I move my employee's existing records into this?
That's on our short list. Right now we treat the day you sign up as day one. CSV import is coming.
