Is pay received by Zelle taxable? Housekeeper pay and taxes

A family pays a cleaner or home helper by Zelle, and the memo line says “housekeeper.” A common question is: is this official income, and does the worker owe tax on it? Under the rules of the IRS, the US tax agency, the short answer is that money received for work is income and is taxable. Below is what the IRS says, and what duties the person who receives the money and the family that pays have.

This is general information from official sources, not tax or legal advice. Free help services give advice on a specific case. They are listed at the end.

In short

The way the money is sent does not change the tax. Whether it comes by Zelle, check or cash, money received for work is income. The IRS says all income, no matter the amount, is taxable unless the tax law says otherwise.
The text in the memo line does not create or remove a tax. What matters is what the money was received for.
According to the IRS, income is taxable even when no Form 1099-K was issued for it.
The IRS lists housekeepers as household employees. In that case, the family has its own duties if it pays the worker more than a certain amount in a year.
The IRS program VITA offers free help with filling out a tax return. Details are in the last section.

Household employee or self-employed?

How the pay is taxed depends on how the IRS classifies the worker.

Household employee. The IRS says a person who works in a home is a household employee if the family can control not only what work is done, but how it is done. The IRS list of examples names housekeepers, maids and nannies.

Self-employed. The IRS says a worker is not an employee if the worker provides their own tools and offers services to the general public. The IRS example is a person who runs a lawn care business and serves customers.

Through an agency. The IRS says that when an agency sends the worker and the agency controls who does what work, the worker is not the family’s household employee.

Which group a worker belongs to depends on the terms of the work, not on what the Zelle memo says. Free tax help services also give advice on this question.

What the IRS says about the person who receives the money

Pay without a W-2. Line 1b of the federal tax return (Form 1040) is for this. It is the line for household employee wages not reported on a W-2. The IRS instructions say a family did not have to give a W-2 if it paid the worker less than $2,800 in 2025.
Self-employed. The IRS says self-employed people generally must pay self-employment tax as well as income tax. This is the Social Security and Medicare tax. The IRS says a self-employed person has to file a tax return if net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more.
Records. The Taxpayer Advocate Service, an office within the IRS, suggests noting what each payment received through an app was for and who sent it.
Without an SSN. For filing a tax return, the IRS issues a tax number called an ITIN, which people apply for with Form W-7. The IRS says an ITIN does not authorize work and says nothing about immigration status. For immigration questions, New York City has a free legal hotline: 1-800-354-0365. The same line can also be reached through 311 by saying “Immigration Legal” to the operator.

What the IRS requires of the family that pays the worker

Below is what the IRS requires of a family that employs someone in its home.

Social Security and Medicare. According to the IRS, when a family pays one employee $3,000 or more in 2026, Social Security and Medicare taxes apply to those wages. The employee’s share is 7.65% (6.2% and 1.45%). The family can either withhold it from the wages or pay it with its own money. The family also pays the same 7.65% as its own share. When a family pays less than $3,000 in the year, neither the family nor the worker owes these taxes.
Federal unemployment tax (FUTA). The IRS says the family pays it with its own money when it pays household employees a total of $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter.
The IRS does not require income tax withholding. The IRS says a family withholds income tax from wages only if the employee asks and the family agrees. According to the IRS, part of the tax can also be paid ahead during the year with Form 1040-ES.
Papers. The IRS says that when these rules apply, the family needs an employer identification number (EIN) and the worker’s SSN. The IRS says the family must give the worker a W-2 and attach Schedule H to its own tax return. The IRS says the family must give the W-2 for 2026 wages by February 1, 2027.
Checking the right to work. The IRS guide for household employers (Publication 926) says that when a worker is hired, the family and the worker must each complete USCIS Form I-9.
Receipt. The IRS encourages the family to give the employee a receipt that lists the dates worked, the wages paid and a description of the work. This helps the employee fill out a tax return.

A different rule applies to family members. According to the IRS, the taxes above do not apply to a spouse, a parent or a child under 21, or to a worker under 18 whose household work is not their main occupation.

New York State rules

Unemployment insurance. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance says a family must register with the state as an employer when it pays household employees a total of $500 or more in a calendar quarter.
State income tax withholding is voluntary. The same department says that withholding New York State, New York City and Yonkers income tax from a household employee’s wages is voluntary for both sides.

Zelle and Form 1099-K

Many people think that if an app reports nothing to the IRS, the money is not taxable. The IRS rules say otherwise.

Some payment companies report to the IRS, on Form 1099-K, who received how much. According to the IRS, the form is now filed when payments to one person in a year exceed $20,000 and the number of payments exceeds 200.
The IRS says all income is taxable, no matter the amount, unless the tax law says otherwise. This holds even when the person did not get a Form 1099-K.
The IRS pages we read do not name Zelle. So we do not know what a bank does or does not report to the IRS. That still does not change the tax duty.
A gift, or money a friend pays back (for example, their share of a shared dinner), is a different matter. The Taxpayer Advocate Service says such money should not be reported on a 1099-K. For money received for a service, the same office says it must be reported on the tax return.

Free help

VITA. An IRS program in which volunteers prepare tax returns for free. The IRS says the program mainly helps people who generally make about $70,244 or less, and people who speak limited English. To find the nearest site, the IRS has a VITA search page and the phone number 800-906-9887.
IRS forms are filled out in English. A Georgian explanation, such as the Georgian version of this page, is only there to help explain the rules.

Key terms

Plain meanings, not legal definitions. The Georgian word is in brackets.

household employee: a person who works in a family’s home, such as a housekeeper or nanny, who the family tells what to do and how (ოჯახში დასაქმებული).
housekeeper: a person who cleans a home and does housework (სახლის დამლაგებელი).
self-employed: working for oneself, not as someone’s employee (თვითდასაქმებული).
self-employment tax: the Social Security and Medicare tax of a self-employed person (თვითდასაქმების გადასახადი).
withholding: taking tax out of wages (გადასახადის დაკავება).
1099-K: a form a payment company uses to tell the IRS who received how much (ტენ-ნაინთი-ნაინ-ქეი).
Schedule H: an attachment to the family’s tax return where household employee taxes are reported (ოჯახის დეკლარაციის დანართი).
EIN: employer identification number (დამსაქმებლის საგადასახადო ნომერი).
VITA: free IRS help with filling out a tax return (უფასო დახმარება დეკლარაციის შევსებაში).
W-2: a form that shows a year’s wages and the tax taken out of them (W-2 ფორმა).
ITIN: a tax number for people who do not have and cannot get an SSN (საგადასახადო ნომერი).
tax return: the yearly report of income to the tax agency (საგადასახადო დეკლარაცია).

All words on one page: glossary (in Georgian).

Official links

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This is general information and not tax or legal advice. Amounts and rules change every year. The current amounts and rules are on the official IRS and New York pages.