Illinois Department of Revenue
Publication 121 January 2018 Illinois Income Tax Withholding for Household Employees
The information in this publication About this publication is current as of the date of the pub- This publication is about current income tax withholding requirements for employers of lication. Please visit our website at household employees. The objectives of this publication are to identify tax.illinois.gov to verify you have the • who is a household employee, most current revision. • who is an employer, This publication is written in the plain • if withholding Illinois Income Tax is required, English style so the tax information is • how to figure, pay, and report Illinois Income Tax that you withhold for your easier to understand. As a result, we household employee, do not directly quote Illinois statutes • what records you should keep, and and the Illinois Administrative Code. • what forms you must give to your household employee. The contents of this publication are Related publication: Internal Revenue Service, Publication 926, Household informational only and do not take Employer’s Tax Guide. Download available at www.irs.gov. the place of statutes, rules, and court decisions. Contents Who is a household employee?...... 2 Am I an employer of a household employee?...... 2 Do I need to withhold Illinois Income Tax?...... 2 For information or forms What form does my household employee need to complete for Illinois Withholding Tax?...... 2 • Visit our website at tax.illinois.gov How do I figure the amount to withhold?...... 2 • Call 1 800 732-8866 or 217 782-3336 How do I report and pay the Illinois Income Tax I withhold?...... 2
• Call our TDD (telecommunications What form must I give to my household employee about withheld amounts?...... 3 device for the deaf) at 1 800 544-5304 What records must I keep?...... 3 What if I do not withhold the correct amount of tax or make a reporting error?...... 3
What important dates should I remember?...... 3 Do I owe other employment taxes?...... 3 Office locations...... 4
Taxpayer Bill of Rights Independent Tax Tribunal, or by filing a complaint in circuit court. You have the right to call the Department of Revenue for help in resolving tax problems. If you have overpaid your taxes, you have the right, within specified time periods, to a credit (or, in some cases, a You have the right to privacy and confidentiality under most refund) of that overpayment. tax laws. For more information about these rights and other depart- You have the right to respond, within specified time periods, ment procedures, you may write us at the following address: to Department notices by asking questions, paying the amount due, or providing proof to refute the Department’s Problems Resolution Office findings. Illinois Department of Revenue PO Box 19014 You have the right to appeal Department decisions, in Springfield, IL 62794-9014 many instances, within specified time periods, by asking for Department review, by filing a petition with the Illinois Get Illinois Department of Revenue forms and information at tax.illinois.gov
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Who is a household What form does my Caution: If you complete the line for employee? household employee need “Household employment tax” on your Form IL-1040, A household employee is someone you to complete for Illinois • do not report household employee pay to do domestic work in or around withholding tax? your home. For example, a household Illinois withholding income tax on Your household employee must employee could be a babysitter, Form IL-941, Illinois Withholding complete Form IL-W-4, Employee’s caretaker, cleaning person, driver, Income Tax Return. Illinois Withholding Allowance health aide, housekeeper, nanny, • do not pay household employee Certificate and Instructions. Your private nurse, or yard worker. This Illinois withholding income tax with employee will tell you the number of person can be a full-time or part-time Form IL-501, Payment Coupon, allowances he or she is entitled to employee who you pay hourly, daily, for Illinois Withholding Income Tax claim on this form. You should withhold weekly, or by the job. Return. Illinois Income Tax from his or her We define a household employee wages based, in part, on the number of Forms W-2 reporting income the same as the Internal Revenue allowances claimed. If your employee and withholding for household Service (IRS). For more information, does not complete this form, you employees reported on Form IL-1040 visit www.irs.gov and refer to IRS should withhold income tax as if the are not subject to the electronic filing Publication 926. employee is single with no allowances. mandate. If you already file Form IL-941 only Am I an employer of a How do I figure the amount to report household employee income household employee? to withhold? tax withholding and you would like to You are the employer of a household Go to Booklet IL-700-T, Illinois convert to the annual Form IL-1040 employee if you Withholding Tax Tables, to determine reporting option for the next calendar year, you must notify us that you will • control what work is done, and how much tax to withhold. no longer be reporting withholding on • control how the work is done (e.g., Form IL-941. If you do not, you may provide the necessary equipment, Automated payroll method be subject to penalties and collection supplies, or tools to do the job). allowance table action. You may use MyTax Illinois The worker is not your employee if Payroll periods Number or call 217 785-3707 to update your Weekly 52 Illinois Withholding Income Tax • the worker controls how the work is account. done. This person usually provides Bi-weekly 26 his or her own tools and offers Semi-monthly 24 If you do not report Illinois withholding services to the general public in an Monthly 12 for household employees on Form independent business. Bi-monthly 6 IL-1040, you must use Form IL-941 to file your withholding tax. For more • an agency provides the worker and Quarterly 4 information, see Publication 130, Who controls what work is done and how Semi-annually 2 is Required to Withhold Illinois Income it is done. Annually 1 Tax, and Publication 131, Withholding Do I need to withhold Income Tax Payment and Filing How do I report and pay Requirements. Illinois Income Tax? the Illinois income tax I Generally, you must withhold Illinois withhold? Income Tax for your Illinois employee if If you withhold Illinois Income Taxes • you withhold federal income tax from your household employee(s), from your employee’s wages, or you may file and pay the Illinois • you and your employee enter into withholding income tax annually on a voluntary withholding agreement. Form IL-1040, Illinois Individual Income Federal law excludes from Tax Return, by completing the line withholding, wages paid to certain for “Household employment tax.” No types of household employees. We registration is required to use this do not require a separate agreement option. We encourage you to file and for payments covered by a federal pay electronically using MyTax Illinois voluntary withholding agreement. at tax.illinois.gov. Page 2 of 4 PUB-121 R-01/18 (Page 2 update only R-09/20) Withholding Illinois Income Tax for Household Employees
What form must I give to • Employee Withholding Allowance December 1, current year — You my household employee Certificate (federal Form W-4) should remind your household employee to review his or her current about withheld amounts? • Employee’s Illinois Withholding Allowance Certificate (Form Form IL-W-4. If there has been a Before January 31 of each year, you IL-W-4) change in the number of allowances, must give your household employee he or she should complete a new Form three copies of federal Form W-2, You must keep these records for IL-W-4 for the following calendar year, Wage and Tax Statement. Do not three years from the due date of the and make necessary changes in the send this form to us. Instead, keep return or the date the return was filed, number of allowances claimed. a copy of it in your records for three whichever is later, and provide them January 31, following year — You years and send it to us only if we to us if we request them. These forms must give each of your household request it. are not subject to the W-2 electronic filing mandate, unless you report your employees three copies of federal If your employee permanently withholding on Form IL-941. Form W-2 for wages paid and tax discontinues employment before withheld during the previous calendar the close of the calendar year, or What if I do not withhold year. If you file Form IL-941, you you terminate a federal voluntary the correct amount of tax must electronically file a copy to the withholding agreement, you may Department, of any Form W-2 issued. give the employee a completed or make a reporting error? For more information, see Publication federal Form W-2 at any time after If you discover that you withheld an 110, Forms W-2, W-2c, W-2G, and employment ends, but it must be incorrect amount of Illinois Income Tax 1099 Filing and Storage Requirements mailed by no later than January 31. If from an employee’s compensation and for Employers and Payers. an employee asks for Form W-2, give it is during the same calendar year, April 15, following year —You must the employee the completed copies you should correct the error by making file Form IL-1040 and pay the tax you within 30 days of the request or within an adjustment in the amount you withheld from each of your household 30 days of the final wage payment, withhold from that employee’s future employee’s wages during the previous whichever is later. compensation during that calendar calendar year. You must keep any undeliverable year. If you file Form IL-941 to report Form W-2 for at least three years after If you withheld too much tax and household employee withholding, the date you were required to give the cannot correct the error by reducing you must file and pay according to form to your employee. the employee’s withholding during the schedule assigned to you by the the remainder of the year, you may Department. What records must I keep? not claim a refund. Your employees You must maintain a current and will claim a credit for the amount you Do I owe other withheld and receive any refund. If you accurate record of all persons for employment taxes? whom you withhold Illinois Income withheld too little tax, your employee Tax. Your records must contain the may owe tax when he or she files his You should check with the Illinois following information: or her returns, or will receive a smaller Department of Employment Security refund. (IDES) for more information about • amounts and dates of all payments unemployment insurance contributions from which you withhold tax If you reported more tax than you actually withheld on your original for employers. Visit ides.illinois.gov • names, addresses, and Social return, you must file an amended or call the IDES Employer Hotline at Security numbers of persons return. (800) 247-4984. receiving payments You also may owe federal taxes. • periods of employment, including What important dates Refer to IRS Publication 926 for more periods in which wages were paid should I remember? information. Visit www.irs.gov or call while absent due to sickness or 1 800 829-3676. injury January 1, current year (or as soon as you and your household • amounts paid by pay period employee enter into an agreement • copies of all federal W-2 forms to withhold) — You need to have your issued to household employees household employee complete Form IL-W-4.
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Office Locations
Suburban North Regional Building 9511 Harrison Street FA 203 Des Plaines, Illinois 60016-1563
200 South Wyman Street Rockford, Illinois 61101-1237 James R. Thompson Center 100 West Randolph Street Chicago, Illinois 60601-3274
Willard Ice Building 101 West Jefferson Springfield, Illinois 62702-5145
15 Executive Drive Business Center One, Suite 2 Fairview Heights, Illinois 62208-1331
2309 W. Main, Suite 114 Marion, Illinois 62959-1196
Contact Information Visit our website at tax.illinois.gov. For specific phone number and email contacts, see our Contact Us page. Call us at 1 800 732-8866 or 217 782-3336. Call our TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) at 1 800 544-5304. Write us at Illinois Department of Revenue, PO Box 19001, Springfield, IL 62794-9001. Call our 24-hour Forms Order Line at 1 800 356-6302.
Page 4 of 4 Printed by authority of the State of Illinois - web only, one copy. PUB-121 R-01/18 (Page 2 update only R-09/20)