Before a nanny works her first hour, the family needs four things in hand: a completed Form I-9 with the employer section signed within three business days of the start date, a Form W-4 for federal withholding, the state withholding certificate where the state has one, and an employer identification number so the household can actually report the wages. Everything else on the list follows from those four.
Two more items are legally required in a large share of the country rather than everywhere: state new hire reporting, which is federal law implemented state by state, and workers compensation coverage, which is mandatory for household employees in a number of states once the nanny crosses an hours or wage threshold. And in a handful of states and cities, a written work agreement or a wage notice at hire is not optional at all.
The order matters more than agency owners expect. The EIN has to exist before payroll can be registered. State registration usually has to exist before new hire reporting can be filed. If a family starts that chain the week the nanny begins, they are late on something. Here is the document by document sequence, and the timing rule attached to each.
Form I-9 and the three day verification deadline
Form I-9 is where families slip most often, because the deadline is short and split across two parties. The employee completes Section 1 no later than her first day of work for pay. The employer completes Section 2, examining original documents, within three business days of that first day.
The employer here is the family, not your agency. You can coach the process, and you should, but a household employer who lets an agency staffer inspect documents on their behalf is using an authorized representative, and the family remains responsible for what that representative certifies. Make that clear in writing before anyone offers to help.
What families get wrong on document review
The employer cannot tell the nanny which documents to present. She chooses either one List A document, such as a US passport, or one List B identity document plus one List C work authorization document, such as a driver license paired with a Social Security card. Specifying a preference is the classic document abuse claim.
The form is not filed anywhere. It is retained by the family for three years after the hire date or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. Tell families to keep it separate from the rest of the personnel file so a future audit does not sweep in unrelated medical or reference material.
Keep reading: How does a boutique agency compete when app based sitter platforms undercut my fee?
Federal W-4 and the state withholding equivalent
The W-4 sets federal income tax withholding. A household employer is not required to withhold federal income tax from a household employee unless both parties agree to it, but almost every family should, because the alternative leaves the nanny with a large April bill she did not plan for. Have the W-4 signed at onboarding regardless, so the choice is documented.
Social Security and Medicare are different: those are mandatory once cash wages to one household employee reach the annual threshold set by the IRS, which is indexed and changes most years. Confirm the current figure on the IRS household employer page for the year in question rather than repeating last year's number to a family.
State withholding certificates vary. Some states accept the federal W-4. Some publish their own form. A handful of states have no personal income tax at all, so there is nothing to sign. Keep a one page reference for the states you actually place in and update it each January.
State new hire reporting and who files it
Federal law requires employers to report newly hired employees to a state directory, and household employers are employers for this purpose. The federal floor is twenty days from the hire date. Many states are stricter, and some require reporting within a shorter window or on a set schedule for employers who report electronically.
The family files it, or the payroll service they use files it on their behalf. This is one of the strongest arguments for pushing families toward a household payroll provider rather than a spreadsheet: new hire reporting, quarterly filings, and year end forms all fall into one place. When a family insists on doing it themselves, put the state directory link in the placement packet and note the deadline in days, not "promptly."
Keep reading: How did one agency fill a live in newborn care role in a very tight local market?
Household employer identification numbers, federal and state
The family needs a federal EIN before they can issue a W-2. It is free, applied for on Form SS-4, and available immediately through the IRS online application during operating hours. A Social Security number is not a substitute.
Separately, most states require registration for withholding and for state unemployment insurance, each of which may produce its own account number. Those registrations can take days to weeks depending on the state. This is the item to start before the offer is even signed.
| Item | Who acts | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Federal EIN | Family | Before first payroll, ideally at offer |
| State withholding and SUI accounts | Family or payroll service | Allow two to four weeks |
| Form I-9 Section 1 | Nanny | By first day of paid work |
| Form I-9 Section 2 | Family | Within three business days of start |
| W-4 and state certificate | Nanny | At onboarding |
| New hire report | Family or payroll service | Federal floor twenty days; check state |
| Workers compensation policy | Family | In force on day one where required |
Workers compensation coverage and where it is mandatory
This is the item that turns a pleasant placement into a lawsuit. Several states require workers compensation coverage for household employees once hours or wages cross a threshold, and the thresholds are not uniform. New York and New Jersey are among the states with explicit household employee obligations. California requires coverage for residential employees meeting its criteria. Other states leave it optional, and a few exclude domestic workers entirely.
Two practical points for a family. First, a homeowners policy may offer a limited endorsement, but it is often capped and does not always satisfy a statutory requirement. Second, coverage protects the family as much as the nanny: without it, an injured household employee's medical costs and lost wages come out of the household directly, and in mandatory states there are penalties on top.
Your job is not to give insurance advice. Your job is to make the family call their carrier before the start date and confirm in an email that coverage is in force. Save that email to the placement file.
See how NannyMatchDesk handles this for nanny and household staffing agencies
Written work agreement clauses that are not required but should be
In most of the country a written nanny agreement is not mandated. In some places it is: Massachusetts requires a written agreement for domestic workers above a weekly hours threshold, and several cities including Seattle and Philadelphia have domestic worker ordinances with written terms requirements. Even where no rule applies, the agreement is what keeps a placement alive at month four.
Clauses worth insisting on:
- Hourly rate and the overtime rate, stated as dollars, with the guaranteed weekly hours spelled out
- Whether the nanny is live in or live out, and how live in hours are counted
- Paid time off, sick leave, and named holidays, with accrual or a flat grant
- Vehicle use, mileage reimbursement rate, and who insures the car
- Duties list, including what is not included, such as heavy housekeeping or care for additional children
- Sick child policy and backup care expectations on both sides
- Notice period for termination and severance, if any
- Confidentiality, social media, and photo posting rules
- Annual review date for compensation
Note the overtime line carefully. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, live out household employees are entitled to overtime after forty hours in a workweek. Live in domestic workers are exempt from federal overtime, but several states, New York and California among them, provide their own overtime protections for live in workers on different terms. Never write a flat weekly salary into an agreement without the underlying hourly rate and overtime treatment written next to it.
Wage notice requirements in states that mandate them at hire
A wage notice is a separate document from the work agreement, and a signed agreement does not automatically satisfy it. New York's Wage Theft Prevention Act requires a written notice at hire stating the rate of pay, overtime rate, pay day, and employer details, with an acknowledgment signed by the employee and a copy retained. New York's Domestic Workers Bill of Rights adds its own protections on top.
California requires a written wage notice at hire for nonexempt employees under Labor Code section 2810.5, covering rate, allowances such as lodging credits, pay day, and workers compensation carrier. Lodging and meal credits matter specifically in live in placements, and both states restrict how much can be credited against wages.
The practical habit: for every state you place in, keep the current official notice form itself in your onboarding packet, not a summary of it. Agencies that retype the requirements into their own template end up out of date the year the form changes.
Making the checklist run itself
Nothing above is difficult. It is just seven or eight moving pieces with different owners and different clocks, repeated for every placement, in states with different rules. That is precisely the kind of work that gets dropped in a busy week and surfaces months later as a compliance problem the family blames on you.
NannyMatchDesk holds the placement contract and the onboarding documents together with the candidate record, so the signed work agreement, the state wage notice, the workers compensation confirmation, and the reference and background results all live in one place with dates attached. When a family calls in month seven asking what was agreed about holiday pay, the answer takes ten seconds. That is the difference between an agency that remembers and an agency that hopes.
