Household Employers

Electronic Services

Household Employers Annual Filing (Form UI-WIT)
TaxNet (Form IL-941) | What is TaxNet?

General Information

You are an employer of a household employee if you:

employ a person who does household work in or around your home,
control what work is done, and
control how the work is done (e.g., provide the necessary equipment, supplies, or tools to do the job).

If the worker controls how the work is done, the worker is not your employee. This person usually provides his or her own tools and offers services to the general public in an independent business. If an agency provides the worker and controls what work is done and how it is done, the worker is not your employee.

Do I need to withhold Illinois Income Tax?

Generally, you must withhold Illinois Income Tax for your Illinois employee if:

you withhold federal income tax, or
you and your employee enter into a voluntary withholding agreement. (We do not require a separate agreement for payments covered by a federal voluntary withholding agreement.)

Note: Federal law excludes wages paid to certain types of household employees from withholding.

Do I need to register to withhold Illinois income tax?

You must register but how you register depends on which option you choose to file and pay your withholding income tax for your household employee. You may choose one of the following two options.

The annual combined filing and payment option allows you to file and pay, once a year, your withholding income tax or unemployment insurance contributions or both. You must register on Form UI-1 DOM as a household employer with the Illinois Department of Employment Security before April 15th and fill out the election form (Form UI-51) to file and pay annually.

The quarterly withholding tax filing and payment option requires you to file withholding tax payments separately from your unemployment insurance contributions. For withholding income tax, you will be able to file and pay annually only if you withhold $1,000 or less from your employees. If you withhold more than $1,000, you will have to file quarterly returns and you will have to make monthly or semiweekly payments. Register with us (the Illinois Department of Revenue) online or by completing Form REG-1, Illinois Business Registration. You must separately register with the Illinois Department of Employment Security for unemployment contributions.

How do I report and pay the Illinois Income Tax I withhold?

If you are registered as a household employer for the combined annual filing option, you must file Form UI-WIT, Combined Return for Household Employers, by April 15th of the following calendar year. You may electronically file and pay online.

Otherwise, you must file Form IL-941, Illinois Quarterly Withholding Income Tax Return or Form IL-941-A, Illinois Yearly Withholding Income Tax Return, to report and pay the income tax you withheld. See Pub-131, Withholding Income Tax Filing and Payment Requirements, to determine how often you are required to report and pay withholding tax. To make payments use Form IL-501 or you may electronically pay using TaxNet, or EFT.
More information is available in the following:
Pub-121, Illinois Income Tax Withholding for Household Employees