Beginning in 1994, earnings by a domestic employee are taxable if the yearly earnings meet a coverage threshold set by the Office of the Actuary and if an exclusion to coverage does not apply. To find the Social Security coverage threshold amounts, see the Employment Coverage Threshold page.

Cash and non-cash remuneration is excluded from wages unless a $50 per quarter cash pay test is met.

Domestic employment is covered. However, cash and non-cash remuneration is excluded from wages unless a regularity-of-employment and a $50 per quarter cash pay test are met.

All domestic employment is excluded.

The regularity-of-employment test is met when the employee works for all or a portion of no fewer than 24 days in a calendar quarter.

A private home is a fixed place of residence of a person or family.

The $50 cash pay test is met when the employee is paid $50 or more in a calendar quarter.

In general, types of covered domestic employment for Social Security coverage purposes include service performed by the following:

Cooks, waiters, butlers, housemen, housekeepers, maids, valets, baby sitters, janitors, caretakers, grooms, gardeners, companions, handymen, footmen, laundresses, seamstresses, watchmen, governess, chauffeurs for family cars, and farm workers performing domestic service on a farm.

NOTE: Beginning January 1, 1995, domestic employees on farms operated for profit are no longer treated as agricultural employees. Instead they are subject to the new domestic threshold. (This is based on the enactment of P.L. 103-387 effective January 1, 1995 and reinforced with P.L. 108-203).

The following are not considered domestic employment for Social Security coverage purposes.

• •

  Employment in intellectual, cultural or scientific pursuits, hobbies, recreation, and positions as tutors, librarians, music teachers, secretaries, or bookbinders; or

• •

  Employment needing specialized skills or training, such as a carpenter, painter, electrician, or plumber.