Your new baby has certainly added a lot to your life, including a nanny to help you handle all your new parental duties. But while your new hire may make your child rearing easier, your household help has added to your tax duties. Watch "Children as tax deductions"

In this tax tip: • Employee form deadline   • SSA follow-up filing   • Get complete tax ID info

Employer tax requirements apply to any domestic helper who is hired as an employee rather than a contractor. And as an employer, you are responsible for paying Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes, as well as possible state taxes.

If you neglect your employer filing duties, the tax consequences could be costly.

In addition to owing back taxes if you get caught, possibly years down the road if a former employee eventually applies for government benefits that you should have paid into, you'll also face the customary Internal Revenue Service penalties and interest charges.

Employee form deadline
One of your tax housekeeping tasks in connection with your employee is due Jan. 31: the filing of a W-2 for your employee.

This is the same document every salaried worker gets, showing wages earned, taxes paid and any benefits. You don't have to withhold income tax from a household worker's pay unless the employee asks you to do so. But if you paid a household employee $1,500 or more during 2007 (the payment threshold is $1,600 for 2008), you do have to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for that worker.

This 15.3-percent tax goes toward future government-provided retirement, disability and health benefits. In a company setting, these taxes are usually split equally between the employer and employee, with each paying 6.2 percent of income toward Social Security and 1.45 percent for Medicare. Some household employers, however, also pick up the worker's portion, too.

Regardless of whether you both pay or you cover the whole payment, it's your responsibility as employer to make sure the full 15.3-percent tab gets to the U.S. Treasury.

If you don't give each worker for whom you paid or withheld these taxes a W-2 by the end-of-January deadline and can't provide the IRS with a good reason for not doing so, you could face tax penalties of up to $50 per form.

SSA follow-up filing
You'll have to follow up this employee W-2 task by filing a copy of the form with a Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, to the Social Security Administration.

The W-3 deadline for reporting 2007 household help tax payments is Feb. 29 if you print out the forms and submit them by mail.

If you prefer, you can go to the employer section of the Social Security Administration Web site to create, fill in electronically and file versions of these forms. If you opt to e-file, you have until March 31 to do so.

Help in filling out the W-2 and W-3 forms also is available in the instructions publication from the IRS.

Get complete tax ID info
Remember also that you'll need each household employee's Social Security number to complete the W-2.

And if you haven't already gotten your own employer identification number, or EIN, apply for it now. You'll need it to file both the W-2 and W-3, as well as for reporting what you paid your help on your personal income tax return.

An EIN is a nine-digit number issued by the IRS. It is not the same as a Social Security number. If you previously paid taxes for employees, you should already have an EIN.

If you don't have one, file Form SS-4. It usually takes about four weeks to get by mail. You also can apply online or obtain an ID number immediately by calling the IRS any weekday between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. (local time) at 800-829–4933.

For more about IRS rules for household employers, read IRS Publication 926, Household Employer's Tax Guide.

Freelance writer Kay Bell writes Bankrate's tax stories from her Austin, Texas, home. She also writes two tax blogs, Bankrate's Eye on the IRS, and Don't Mess With Taxes.