What does it take to pay a nanny legally in New York? More paperwork than almost anywhere — New York wrote the nation's first Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights in 2010. The short version for 2026: you register with the state once you pay $500 in cash wages in a quarter, you pay employer taxes of roughly 9% on top of gross wages, you withhold your nanny's FICA plus a 0.432% Paid Family Leave premium, and you follow state rules on overtime, weekly pay, insurance, and sick leave that reach well past federal law.
This guide is the New York layer. It covers the state taxes and registration, 2026 minimum wages, the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, and the three insurance obligations. For the federal side that applies in every state — the $3,000 threshold, Schedule H, W-2s — start with our complete nanny tax guide.
New York household employers owe federal FICA (7.65%) and FUTA plus state unemployment insurance at 4.1% of the first $17,600 for new employers in 2026, triggered at $500 in cash wages in a quarter. The Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights sets overtime at 40 hours a week — 44 for live-in nannies — plus a 24-hour weekly rest day and three paid days off after a year. Workers' comp is required at 40 hours a week or for any live-in; disability and Paid Family Leave coverage at 20 hours a week. The 2026 minimum wage is $17.00 in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester. On a $52,000 salary, the employer side runs about $4,742 a year — before a $7,500 Dependent Care FSA claws back roughly half.
What Taxes Do You Owe on a Nanny in New York?
Federal employment taxes apply once you pay any household employee $3,000 or more in 2026; New York's own trigger arrives at $500 in a single quarter. The full stack:
| Tax | Rate (2026) | Who pays | Wage base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Security & Medicare (FICA) | 7.65% + 7.65% | You and your nanny each | All wages |
| Federal unemployment (FUTA) | 0.6% after state credit | You | First $7,000 |
| NY Unemployment Insurance (UI) | 4.025% for new employers | You | First $17,600 |
| NY Re-employment Service Fund | 0.075% | You | First $17,600 |
| NY Paid Family Leave (PFL) | 0.432%, capped at $411.91/yr | Nanny (you withhold) | All wages |
| NY Disability Benefits (DBL) | Policy premium; deduct up to $0.60/wk | You (small nanny share allowed) | — |
| NY income tax | Per IT-2104 elections | Nanny (withholding optional) | All wages |
Worked example: a Manhattan nanny at $25/hour, 40 hours a week, earns $52,000 a year. Your employer-side bill is FICA $3,978 + FUTA $42 + UI and RSF $721.60 = about $4,742, or 9.1% on top of gross. From her checks you withhold her FICA ($3,978), her PFL premium ($224.64 for the year), and any income tax she elects. One piece of good news: New York repaid its federal unemployment loan in 2025, so the FUTA credit reduction that quietly inflated household tax bills for three years is gone — you are back to the plain $42.
State income-tax withholding is optional for household employers — you and your nanny agree on it, she completes Form IT-2104 alongside her federal W-4, and most full-time nannies want it. Skip it and she should be making estimated payments so April does not hurt.
How Do You Register as a Household Employer in New York?
One form does it: the NYS-100, New York's combined employer registration for unemployment insurance and withholding, filed online with the Department of Labor. It is due once you cross $500 in cash wages in a calendar quarter, and once triggered, liability continues through the rest of that year and the next.
- Quarterly filing: the NYS-45 combined return — wages, UI contributions, and any withheld income tax — is due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31.
- New-hire report: due within 20 days of your nanny's start date.
- Wage notice: the Wage Theft Prevention Act requires a written pay notice at hire — regular and overtime rate, payday, in English and your nanny's primary language — with a signed copy kept for six years.
- Weekly pay and stubs: domestic workers must be paid at least weekly, with an itemized pay stub each payday.
New York Minimum Wage for Nannies in 2026
Both regional rates rose $0.50 on January 1, 2026, and beginning in 2027 they index to inflation:
| Region | 2026 minimum wage | Market nanny rate |
|---|---|---|
| NYC, Long Island, Westchester | $17.00 | $22–$28/hour |
| Rest of New York State | $16.00 | Varies; below downstate |
Market rates in the city clear the legal floor comfortably — experienced NYC nannies command $25+ — so the minimum matters less for setting pay than for the edges: it applies to every hour on the clock, including trial days, training hours, and travel time between your home and activities.
The Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights: Overtime, Rest Days, and Paperwork
New York's DWBOR gives nannies three protections that catch families off guard. First, overtime: 1.5x pay after 40 hours in a week — or after 44 hours if she lives in your home. There is no daily overtime trigger as in California, but the weekly line is hard. Second, a day of rest: 24 consecutive hours off each week, and if she agrees to work it, every hour that day is paid at time-and-a-half. Third, three paid days off per year after one year of service.
The math adds up fast. A live-out nanny at $25/hour on a 45-hour schedule earns $1,000 of straight time plus five overtime hours at $37.50 — $1,187.50 a week, or about $61,750 a year. The full mechanics — calculating the regular rate, live-in wrinkles, multi-state comparisons — are in our nanny overtime laws guide.
The confusion the Beverly team sees most in New York searches is the 44-hour rule: families assume it applies to every nanny, but it is live-in only. A live-out nanny on a standard 45-hour Park Slope schedule earns five hours of time-and-a-half every single week, and it has to show on her stub.
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Watch: Meet Beverly · 2 min →Workers' Comp, Disability, PFL, and Sick Leave in New York
New York tiers its insurance obligations by hours, and most full-time arrangements trigger all three. Each has its own deeper guide:
- Workers' compensation: required once your nanny works 40 or more hours a week, or lives in — effectively every full-time hire. Coverage comes as a standalone policy or through the New York State Insurance Fund. Costs and setup are in our workers' comp guide.
- Disability (DBL) + Paid Family Leave: required once she works 20 or more hours a week and 30+ days a year. The DBL policy premium is modest and you may deduct up to $0.60 a week from her pay toward it; PFL is funded entirely by her 0.432% payroll withholding. NYSIF sells the two as a combined policy.
- Paid sick leave: statewide, household employees accrue 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 40 hours a year — unpaid if your household's net income is $1 million or less, paid above that. In NYC and Westchester, the 40 hours are paid regardless. Details in our nanny sick leave guide.
How to Pay Nanny Taxes in New York: 5 Steps
The setup is front-loaded; after the first month it runs on rails.
Step 1: Get your federal EIN
Ten minutes on the IRS site. Every filing that follows needs it.
Step 2: File the NYS-100 and the new-hire report
Register online once you cross $500 in quarterly wages, report the hire within 20 days, and hand over the signed wage notice on day one.
Step 3: Set up compliant payroll
Each week's check needs FICA and PFL withheld, overtime past 40 (or 44) hours calculated, sick leave accruing, and an itemized stub. A household payroll service automates it for $49–$75 a month; our setup guide shows the DIY route too.
Step 4: File quarterly, both levels
The NYS-45 goes to the state each quarter; federally, most families fold the nanny taxes into their own estimated payments and reconcile on Schedule H with their April return.
Step 5: Close out January
W-2 to your nanny by January 31, W-2 and W-3 to the Social Security Administration, and the fourth-quarter NYS-45. Then the year is done.
What Legal Payroll Actually Costs in New York
Back to the $52,000 nanny. Employer taxes of about $4,742, plus roughly $600 a year for a payroll service and a few hundred for the insurance policies, lands the compliance bill near $5,800 a year. A Dependent Care FSA returns about $2,625 of that at a 35% marginal rate on the 2026 $7,500 limit. Net cost: roughly $265 a month to be fully legal in the state that invented domestic-worker protections.
The employer taxes are not linear forever, either. UI, RSF, and FUTA all stop early in the year — UI at the first $17,600 of wages — so the marginal cost of a raise is just 7.65% FICA: paying $27 instead of $25 an hour costs about $4,160 a year in wages but only $318 more in employer tax.
Against that, weigh New York's downside: back taxes at both levels, overtime claims with liquidated damages, and wage-notice penalties that accrue at $50 per workday per employee, up to $5,000 — on top of the roughly $25,000 average federal exposure families face for paying under the table. Where New York sits nationally: only California asks more of household employers, Illinois is the middle of the pack, and Texas is the lightest. Here, legal payroll is the cheap option.
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Even though we work to keep the information, stats, and details in this article accurate and up to date, please do your own financial and legal due diligence before acting on anything you read here, and reach out directly to the private companies and government agencies referenced for the most current details.