Updated October 19, 2026. Quick answer: Schedule H (Form 1040) is the schedule for household employment taxes: social security, Medicare, withheld income and federal unemployment (FUTA) taxes. For 2025 the first of its opening questions asks whether you paid any one household employee cash wages of $2,800 or more. The form has 4 parts and is attached to the income tax return it goes with.
Quick reference
| Item | As the IRS form or instructions state it |
|---|---|
| Form and year read | Schedule H (Form 1040) for 2025, Household Employment Taxes |
| Line A test | “Did you pay any one household employee cash wages of $2,800 or more in 2025?” |
| Line C test | “Did you pay total cash wages of $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter of 2024 or 2025 to all household employees?” |
| Where it is attached | “Attach to Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-SS, 1040-NR, or 1041.” |
| Paper filing date for 2025 | “If you file a paper return, mail your return, by April 15, 2026, to the address shown in your tax return instructions.” |
| Form W-2 and W-3 date | “By February 2, 2026, send Copy A of Forms W-2 with Form W-3 to the SSA” |
| Medicare tax rate | “The Medicare tax rate is 1.45% each for the employee and employer, unchanged from 2024.” |
| Records to keep | “You must keep copies of Schedule H and related Forms W-2, W-3, and W-4 for at least 4 years after the due date for filing Schedule H or the date the taxes were paid, whichever is later.” |
| Number of parts on the form | 4 (Part I through Part IV) |
What Schedule H is for and who files it
The form’s own subtitle names the taxes it covers: “Household Employment Taxes (For Social Security, Medicare, Withheld Income, and Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Taxes)”. On who must file, the instructions say “You must file Schedule H if you answer “Yes” to any of the questions on lines A, B, and C of Schedule H.”
The instructions define the worker this way: “If you hired someone to do household work and you could control what work they did and how they did it, you had a household employee.” They add that “Household work is work done in or around your home.” A worker is not always an employee: “Workers you get from an agency aren’t your employees if the agency is responsible for who does the work and how it is done.”
Part time and agency arrangements do not change the answer by themselves. The instructions say “If a worker is your employee, it doesn’t matter whether the work is full or part time or that you hired the worker through an agency or from a list provided by an agency or association.”
The three questions at the top of the form
Page 1 opens with a note: “Calendar year taxpayers having no household employees in 2025 don’t have to complete this form for 2025.” Three questions follow. Line A asks “Did you pay any one household employee cash wages of $2,800 or more in 2025?” Line B asks “Did you withhold federal income tax during 2025 for any household employee?” Line C asks about quarterly wages of $1,000 or more, and the form’s answer for a no is “Stop. Don’t file this schedule.”
To figure the wages for line A, the instructions list who is left out: “To figure the total cash wages you paid in 2025 to each household employee, don’t include amounts paid to any of the following individuals.” The list is “Your spouse.” “Your child who was under age 21.” “Your parent.” and an employee under age 18, each with the exceptions the instructions describe.
When and where Schedule H is filed
For most filers it travels with the income tax return: “If you file Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-SS, 1040-NR, or 1041 for 2025, remember to attach Schedule H to it.” “You are encouraged to file electronically.” An extension carries over: “If you get an extension of time to file your return, file your return with Schedule H by the extended due date.”
A household employer with no return to file still has a path: “you must file Schedule H by itself by April 15, 2026.” An employer identification number is also needed: “If you have household employees, you will need an EIN to file Schedule H.” “Don’t use your social security number (SSN) in place of an EIN.”
The four parts in plain words
The form is divided into four parts, each with its own heading: “Part I Social Security, Medicare, and Federal Income Taxes”, “Part II Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax”, “Part III Total Household Employment Taxes” and Part IV, which asks for an address and signature. The form says of Part IV “Complete this part only if required.”
The first two parts are covered line by line on separate pages: Part I, social security and Medicare and Part II, FUTA tax. Part III brings the totals together. Line 27 asks “Are you required to file Form 1040?” and, for a yes, the form tells filers to “Include the amount from line 26 above on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 9.”
Form W-2 and Form W-3 for the same employees
Schedule H is separate from wage reporting. The instructions say “You must file Form W-2 for each household employee to whom you paid $2,800 or more of cash wages in 2025 that are subject to social security and Medicare taxes.” “If you’re required to file a 2025 Form W-2 for any household employee, you must also send Form W-3 with Copy A of Form(s) W-2 to the SSA.”
For more on the Form W-3 side, see Form W-3 instructions. For the income tax return the schedule is attached to, see Form 1040.
Where this comes from
The editions read for this page are Schedule H (Form 1040) (2025) and the Instructions for Schedule H (Form 1040) (2025), dated Dec 1, 2025, which are the revisions irs.gov served when they were read on 2026-10-19. Check the revision printed on the form you file, because a later revision can change the lines, the rates and the due dates. This page describes Schedule H (Form 1040) (2025), Household Employment Taxes; Instructions for Schedule H (Form 1040) (2025), as served on irs.gov on October 19, 2026. The IRS can revise a form after we read it, and the form you file and its own instructions control. Current and earlier revisions are listed on the IRS page Forms, Instructions and Publications. General information, not tax or legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a part time or agency-arranged worker is automatically outside the schedule: the instructions say “If a worker is your employee, it doesn’t matter whether the work is full or part time”.
- Assuming the schedule is always attached to Form 1040: the instructions also describe filing it alone, “you must file Schedule H by itself by April 15, 2026.”
- Counting every payment toward line A: the instructions say not to include wages paid to the individuals they list, such as “Your spouse.”
- Treating the form as optional because no tax return is required: the instructions tell a household employer in that position “you must file Schedule H by itself”
Related: Schedule H Part I, Schedule H Part II FUTA tax, Form 1040 instructions, Form W-3 instructions, Form SS-4 EIN application, and Form 1040 line 1b household employee wages.
Sources
- Schedule H (Form 1040) (2025), Household Employment Taxes: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sh.pdf
- Instructions for Schedule H (Form 1040) (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sh.pdf
Read from the IRS pages linked above on October 19, 2026. General information, not tax or legal advice. The IRS form and the instructions for your own form control, and your own facts decide the outcome.