Do you have to pay nanny taxes in Texas? Yes — but fewer of them than almost anywhere else in the country. Texas has no state income tax, no overtime rules beyond the federal baseline, and no mandated paid sick leave. What remains is federal FICA and FUTA plus Texas unemployment tax at 2.7% of the first $9,000 of wages — a state bill that maxes out at $243 a year for a new employer.
This guide covers the Texas layer: the TWC threshold and registration, the annual filing election that lets you touch state paperwork once a year, 2026 market rates in the big metros, and what Texas deliberately leaves out. For the federal machinery that does the heavy lifting here — the $3,000 threshold, Schedule H, W-2s — start with our complete nanny tax guide.
Texas household employers owe federal FICA (7.65%) and FUTA plus state unemployment insurance at 2.7% of the first $9,000 for new employers. Register with the Texas Workforce Commission within 10 days of paying $1,000 in cash wages in a quarter — the same $1,000 line that triggers FUTA — and elect annual filing so state paperwork happens once, by January 31. There is no state income tax to withhold and no state overtime layer: federal 1.5x after 40 hours governs. On a $37,440 Dallas salary, the employer side runs about $3,149 a year, and after the $7,500 Dependent Care FSA, full compliance nets out near $95 a month.
Do You Have to Pay Nanny Taxes in Texas?
Two thresholds decide it, both federal in origin. Pay any household employee $3,000 or more in 2026 and FICA applies — you owe 7.65% and withhold her matching 7.65%. Pay $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter and unemployment taxes apply: federal FUTA and, using the identical trigger, Texas state UI. A full-time nanny crosses both lines in her first month.
What Texas does not take: a cut of her paycheck. With no state income tax, your nanny's only withholdings are FICA and whatever federal income tax she elects on a W-4 — which means a Texas nanny keeps roughly $2,000–$3,000 more of a $40,000 salary than the same nanny in a high-tax state. When you are negotiating rate, that difference is a genuine edge on net pay.
What Taxes Do You Owe on a Nanny in Texas?
The whole stack fits in four rows — and one of them is a zero:
| 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 |
| TX Unemployment Insurance (UI) | 2.7% for new employers | You | First $9,000 |
| TX income tax | None | — | — |
Worked example: a Dallas nanny at $18/hour, 40 hours a week, earns $37,440 a year. Your employer-side bill is FICA $2,864 + FUTA $42 + Texas UI $243 = about $3,149, or 8.4% on top of gross. From her checks you withhold only her FICA ($2,864) and any federal income tax she elects. That is the entire list — no disability fund, no paid-leave premium, no state withholding tables.
The TWC $1,000-a-Quarter Threshold and the Annual Filing Election
Once you pay $1,000 in cash wages in a calendar quarter for domestic service, the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act gives you 10 days to register with the Texas Workforce Commission — online through Unemployment Tax Registration or on the paper Form C-1 Status Report. You receive a TWC account number and, by default, quarterly wage reports.
Then make the one election that simplifies everything: domestic-only employers can opt to report wages and pay UI tax annually instead of quarterly, with the report and payment due January 31 for the prior year. Elect once and it carries forward automatically as long as you employ only household workers. Two more pieces of housekeeping:
- New-hire report: due within 20 days of your nanny's start date, filed with the Texas Attorney General's Employer New Hire Reporting center.
- Experience rating: after your first years in the system, your 2.7% new-employer rate is replaced by an experience-based rate — for household employers with no layoff claims, it usually drifts down.
Texas Minimum Wage and Market Nanny Rates in 2026
Texas adopts the federal floor — $7.25 — and state law preempts cities from setting their own, so there is no Austin or Dallas minimum to track. In practice the floor is irrelevant: the market clears at more than double it in every major metro.
| Metro | Market nanny rate | Full-time annual (40 hrs, midpoint) |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas | $15–$21/hour | ~$37,400 |
| Austin | $16–$22/hour | ~$39,500 |
| Houston | $14–$20/hour | ~$35,400 |
What binds instead of the minimum wage is your contract. Because Texas adds so little statutory structure, the agreement you write — guaranteed hours, paid time off, holidays — does the work that state law does elsewhere. Our guaranteed hours guide covers the clause experienced nannies will expect.
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Watch: Meet Beverly · 2 min →What Texas Doesn't Require — and What Still Applies
The short list of absences, and the federal rules that still stand behind them:
- Overtime: no state layer — the federal FLSA governs, at 1.5x after 40 hours in a week, with no daily trigger. One federal wrinkle matters here: a live-in nanny is exempt from federal overtime, though every hour must still be paid at least at the agreed straight-time rate. Full mechanics in our nanny overtime laws guide.
- Paid sick leave: not required. Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio all passed sick-leave ordinances; the courts blocked them, and state preemption law settled the question — none is enforceable in 2026. Competitive families offer PTO by contract anyway; our sick leave guide shows what the market standard looks like.
- Workers' compensation: a topic with its own Texas-specific rules and choices — our nanny workers' comp guide walks through them state by state.
- Federal income tax withholding: optional for household employers — withhold only if you and your nanny agree, via her W-4.
The trap the Beverly team sees in Texas searches is hearing "no state income tax" as "no taxes." The nanny tax is mostly federal machinery, and it applies in Dallas exactly as it does in Manhattan — the skipped TWC registration usually surfaces two years later, when a former nanny files an unemployment claim and the state works backward to you.
How to Pay Nanny Taxes in Texas: 5 Steps
This is the lightest setup of any big state — two registrations and one annual habit.
Step 1: Get your federal EIN
Ten minutes on the IRS site. Every filing that follows needs it.
Step 2: Register with the TWC and report the hire
File the C-1 (or register online) within 10 days of crossing $1,000 in a quarter, elect annual filing while you are in there, and send the new-hire report within 20 days.
Step 3: Set up payroll
Each check needs FICA withheld, overtime past 40 hours calculated, and a written record — Texas does not mandate pay stubs for household employers, but issue them anyway; they are your audit trail. A household payroll service automates it for $49–$75 a month, though DIY is more workable here than anywhere; our setup guide covers both routes.
Step 4: Pay quarterly federally, annually to Texas
Fold the federal taxes into your quarterly estimated payments and reconcile on Schedule H with your April return; the TWC report and payment land once, by January 31.
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 TWC annual report — one busy week, then eleven quiet months.
What Legal Payroll Actually Costs in Texas
Back to the $37,440 Dallas nanny. Employer taxes of about $3,149 plus roughly $600 a year for a payroll service is ~$3,750 all-in. A Dependent Care FSA returns about $2,625 at a 35% marginal rate on the 2026 $7,500 limit. Net cost: roughly $95 a month — less than one week of babysitting — to be fully legal in the cheapest compliance state in the country.
The marginal math is friendlier still: FUTA and Texas UI stop at the first $7,000 and $9,000 of wages, so a raise costs you only 7.65% FICA on top — $2 more an hour is about $4,160 in wages and just $318 in added employer tax.
Compare the neighbors before you feel burdened: California stacks disability, daily overtime, and sick-leave mandates on top of this; New York adds three insurance policies and weekly-pay rules; even Illinois layers on paid leave and a higher UI bill. Against a federal penalty exposure that averages roughly $25,000 for paying under the table, $95 a month is not a close call.
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