Whether you're new to hiring a nanny or have questions about taxes, leave entitlements, or secure payment options, Pay The Nanny is here to help. Our FAQ page offers clear, concise answers, allowing you to confidently manage your nanny's payroll and focus on what matters most—your family.
We've focused on nannies at the moment but our services really extend to anyone who needs help with managing tax and payroll for their employees.
Feel free to get in contact with us if you have anything you think we can help with.
Pay The Nanny is a privately owned and operated payroll provider with offices in Australia and New Zealand.
Our team includes certified CAs, financial and taxation specialists who help households make it simple to hire and manage nannies and domestic helpers.
Our goal is to make it simple, easy and hassle free for households to be able to hire nannies and domestic workers.
Generally, no. This is a common misconception which often confuses many employment relationships and can lead to a household not meeting their legal obligations as an employer with potentially severe repercussions for non-compliance.
ATO have guidance on the difference between a contractor versus an employee. It is very rare for a Nanny to meet the criteria of being a contractor. For example, Nannies are paid an hourly rate for the time they work and have little independence over when they work, their hours or their duties.
For more information please visit ATO's Difference between employees and contractors
PAYG or "pay as you go" is a federal income tax that needs to be filed and paid on behalf of your Nanny with each payroll. PAYG is deducted from your Nanny's wages and we pay this directly to ATO to ensure that you and your Nanny meet their tax obligations.
We've developed our own custom platform that's cutting edge and best in class.
Previously, we've solely used third-party software but we have developed a custom platform that better meets the needs of our customers. It's been built with the domestic employee in mind and integrates with other key software.
For a demo/preview on the system and some general guidance - view 'Using the system as Employer or Nanny'.
All nannies are paid in arrears on the Friday in line with their payment cycle. Our normal working week runs from Monday to Sunday.
We have different pay cycles, either weekly, fortnightly or monthly and these are dependent on the preference of each customer.
All nannies are paid in the same cycle. For example, all fortnightly cycle nannies are paid at the same time, to ensure we can streamline our processes and so no pays get missed!
Monthly pays are paid on the second working Friday of each month (for the time worked in the calendar month prior).
Nope. We are not a Recruitment Agency, so we do not source or place nannies with any households.
We are a payroll service and we only manage the payroll for nannies after they have been found, either directly or through an agency.
If you are looking to hire a nanny, send us an email to [email protected] and we can recommend some places to look.
No, we don't become the employer. When you hire a nanny then you will become the employer of that Nanny and responsible for paying all the necessary employee entitlements.
With Pay The Nanny, we make it super simple with the ATO. You'll still need an employment contract and will be fully responsible for the work they undertake. However, we assume the responsibilites for actually transferring the pay to your nanny and filing and paying applicable parties like the ATO.
For the purposes of the ATO, all employer returns are filed through Pay The Nanny (rather than you directly as the employer). This means we will assume the obligations of making sure that employers have calculated and paid the correct amount of taxes. Employees will see Pay The Nanny Pty Limited on their payslips and income statements.
Therefore, you don't actually need to registered for a WPN via the ATO, as it's all sorted via us. Easy!
Medicare is Australia's universal health insurance scheme which guarantees all Australians access to a range of health and hospital services at a low cost.
Medicare levy is paid by employees and it's collected from nannies in the same way as income tax.
Generally, the pay as you go amount which an employer withholds from their nanny's salary or wages includes an amount to cover the Medicare levy. The ATO calculate a nanny's actual Medicare levy when they lodge their income tax return.
We've built up a list of our most common queries and provided answers in this system support section.
Casual employment is generally considered under the Fair Work Act as a job with no commitment of ongoing work or an agreed pattern of work. An employment relationship with a nanny who works on an ad hoc, or as required basis, would generally be considered casual. This may mean their hours are irregular and change week-to-week or that there is no expectation of work during certain times of the year (i.e., school holidays).
Permanent employment is when your Nanny has ongoing employment and usually work regular hours each week. Permanent employment can be either full-time or part-time, dependant on their average hours worked each week, although both types have the same entitlements.
Nannies are classified as domestic workers, meaning there isn't a statutory requirement to pay Super if your Nanny works less 30 hours a week.
However, even if your nanny works less than that, you can still elect to make employer contributions and do we encourage employers to do this (but only if it's feasible).
If your nanny works more than 30 hours p/week then you will be required to make compulsory employer contributions to your nanny's super.
The current rate for Super is set at 10% (although it's set to increase to 12%) and, if applicable, is paid by you as an employer on top of your Nanny's ordinary wage.
In all situations, your nanny can also choose to make voluntary contributions to their Super. This is deducted from their wages as a salary sacrifice meaning that there is no extra cost to you as an employer.
At Pay The Nanny, we take care of all the necessary calculations and pay this on their behalf to your Nanny's nominated fund on a quarterly basis via the Superannuation clearing house.
WorkCover insurance or workers compensation is an insurance scheme aimed at covering employers for the costs of benefits provided to employees if they are injured or become ill because of their work.
This ensures that both you, and your Nanny, are covered in the case of an of an injury at work that means they can't work.
With Pay The Nanny, we can help faciliate a workers compensation policy for you. We can then assist with the ongoing management of this policy, such as claims and earnings re-estimates and filing. The amount of your policy will depend on which state you are based and we can help get you a quote before putting anything in place.
We love to partner with nanny agencies and help them build their offerings to customers.
Whilst we don't license out our software to external parties, we'd be happy to talk about partnership opportunities and how you might be able to integrate our software into your current solutions.
We are always eager to work with agencies, so get in touch and we will be happy to chat around how we can support.
To ensure nannies are paid on time we require each household to sign a direct debit form.
Direct debits will go out on the Wednesday of each pay week.
You'll be responsible for ensuring that you have sufficient funds in your account before the direct debit goes out.
If direct debits bounce, we do have a dishonour fee as it can create a lot of work for our team when that happens.
We have offices located in Melbourne and Wellington but we also operate in the cloud, meaning that we provide payroll services to nannies all over Australia and New Zealand.
We provide email and phone support throughout both countries.
We're also operating in New Zealand and we're hoping to expand further in the next few years.
To ensure we process the correct payments, our timesheets cuts off at 5pm Sunday of each week. Timesheets then need to be reviewed and approved by 2pm on Monday.
Our timesheet cut offs are strict, so any information not received by 2pm Monday might have to be included in the next payroll.
Having said that, we are always pretty flexible and it's important that everyone gets paid! So, if you forget to complete timesheets, just get in touch with us ASAP.
If you know in advance that it's likely you won't be able to meet the cut-offs, definitely send us an email to [email protected] and we'll be able to get it sorted for you.
Whether your employment relationship with your Nanny is casual or permanent determines what their entitlements are as an employee.
Casual employees don't get sick leave or annual leave. However, they are entitled to a "casual loading" which is paid on top of their hourly wage to cover this. The current casual loading rate is set at 25%.
Permanent employees do not get a casual loading rate and are only paid their ordinary hourly wage. However, they are entitled to sick leave and annual leave.
Signing up is super simple. You can create a profile here here
Once you have verified your email, you can complete the sign up form to get your nanny started. There's a bit of information you might need to collect from your nanny and have handy before you begin the form (such as tax file numbers, bank accounts & superannuation details).
Once you've completed the form, we'll get you setup in our system and send through a confirmation email along with further details.
If you are a nanny wanting to sign up, we recommend chatting to your Employer as we'll need them to sign up first. If you refer your employer, and they aren't an existing customer, we'll send you a $50 voucher to say thanks!
Timesheets need to be submitted and approved before 5pm on the Sunday of each fortnightly pay period.
Any payroll changes need to be received by us before 2pm on the Monday of each week.
While the deadlines appear pretty tight, we're always accommodating, and our number one priority is that everyone gets paid. So if you have any issues, then email us at [email protected] and we'll help to get it sorted.
If your Nanny is permanent they are entitled to the following leave entitlements:
Calculating the correct amount payments of annual leave that your Nanny is a difficult process with it being all too easy to under or overpay them. This is especially the case with the nature of work your Nanny carries out as even if they are a permanent employee, their hours can and are likely to vary, further complicating things.
At Pay The Nanny, we calculate this on your behalf to ensure your Nanny receives their correct entitlement of annual leave pay. We do this by making all the necessary calculations and adjustments to accurately determine how much annual leave your Nanny is entitled to. In doing this, we take into account factors such as ordinary hours worked, regular working days and superannuation/tax implications so that you can meet your obligations as an employer.
At Pay The Nanny, we take great pride in helping families limit the risks associated with employing nannies. For tax purposes only, the relationship is kept between Pay the Nanny and the ATO for which takes the admin and effort away from our clients.
We also look after Superannuation payments, to ensure everyone is compliant and quarterly payments are being made. We can also ensure that you're covered for workers compensation.
Basically, we're an end to end service and we've got you covered on all aspects of compliance!
We strongly advise that you have an employment contract signed by both yourself and your Nanny. The contract should clearly outline the terms of their employment, their type of employment and any additional responsibilities or contingencies which may become relevant during the term of your Nanny's employment.
We understand this can sometimes seem overwhelming so, at Pay The Nanny, we are happy to offer an employment contract template helping begin your employment relationship with your Nanny on the right terms!
To login to the system, use this link: login.
Before you are able to login, you'll have to have an active contract setup in Pay The Nanny.
If you've forgotten your password, select Forgot your password? and the system will send you a link to reset it.
f you're still having issues, email support at [email protected].
Timesheet entries close at 5pm Sunday each week. Once the timesheets close off, no further time can be entered for that week.
If your nanny needs to complete timesheets each week, we'll send them two email reminders prior to the cut-off. We encourage users to ensure that timesheets are entered before 5pm Sunday so there are no issues with either the invoice or the payroll.
Timesheet approvals need to be completed by employers by 2pm Monday. If no approval is provided, the system will automatically approve these at that time.
After logging in to the system, head to the timesheet widget, which has the title Logged time this week.
You can then following the following steps:
Time can be added through the method above or through the following steps:
Invoices are processed Tuesday each week. Invoices are raised in arrears and will relate to the week/fortnight prior to the invoice due date. Monthly payroll is paid on the second working Friday of each month and relates to the previous calendar month worked.
Direct debits will be processed overnight Wednesday. Please ensure there are sufficient funds in your bank account prior to the direct debit being processed to avoid any issues.
If there are any issues with your invoice, get in touch ASAP once you've received it.
Timesheet approvals will be sent automatically from the system at 5pm each Sunday. These will be sent each week, regardless of whether a pay cycle is weekly/fortnightly/monthly. Payroll invoices will still be sent in line with the relevant pay cycle though (i.e fortnightly).
Timesheets can be reviewed either through the email received, or directly through the dashboard.
To review the time, follow the following steps:
If your nanny has fixed time and doesn't need to complete timesheet entries, you'll still receive a timesheet approval email. There are a few options for you:
For both an employer and a nanny, you'll be able to update your key profile information when you've logged in to the app.
A client can add a leave request or time entries for a nanny, when completing their timesheet review after Sunday 5pm.
To add a leave request, follow the following steps:
The hours/leave will be automatically adjusted and sent to your nanny as a notification.
Both employers and nannies are able to change the bank account information where direct debits and payroll are processed from/to.
To do this:
If you are a nanny who has fixed time and doesn't need to complete timesheet entries, you can still access and edit time on a weekly basis.
A few important notes:
In short, if you have fixed, recurring entries then you don't need to do anything on a regular basis. However, you'll always be able to go in and edit/add additional time or expenses.
Payroll payments are always made on a Friday but may take up to 1 business day to clear in to your bank account but should be sooner.
Payroll is processed in arrears in line with your set payroll cycle. For each week/fortnight worked, the payroll will be processed and paid the following Friday.For Monthly pay cycles, this is paid on the second working Friday of each month and relates to the prior calendar month worked.
Payroll invoices will be sent to clients on a Tuesday. Payroll invoices will only be sent in line with each pay cycle. I.e fortnightly cycle nannys will only receive one payroll invoice every two weeks.
Once you've received your payroll invoice, there's nothing you need to do. We'll process the direct debit overnight on Wednesday and payment will be made to your nanny on Friday.
We've added some additional details to the invoices though to provide more granular information to customers. If you do have questions on the invoice, or something doesn't look right, just get in touch.
Expense reimbursements are loaded in a similar way to timesheets. Select Logged expenses this cycle on the dashboard.
You can then enter expenses in the following way:
The expenses entered should now be showing on the dashboard. If you've made an error:
We're always happy to help and we're available during normal business hours to assist.
Our contact details are:
We're only a small team, so if you can't get through our phone line - leave us a message and we'll call you back, or send us through an email.
Leave balances are only updated after each payroll is processed.
After logging in to your dashboard, you'll see the Available Leave Balances widget. On there, you will see the following leave balances:
A few notes:
If you can't see any balances when you first login to the system, that's OK. These won't be updated until after the first payroll has been processed via the new system.
Leave balances are updated after each payroll is processed.
After logging in to your dashboard, you'll see the Available Leave Balances widget. On there, you will see the following leave balances:
A few notes:
When a nanny makes a leave request, you'll receive an email notification. The leave request will also be available in the system when you next login.
After logging in to your dashboard you can follow the following steps:
Note: Leave requests follow the same timeframes as expenses and timesheets. If a leave request is not approved/denied before the timesheet cut off for the relevant week it will automatically be approved and paid. Therefore, we would encourage employers to request their nannies to load any leave as soon as possible to ensure there is enough time for employers to review the request.
Leave requests are able to be made through either the Leave tab in the navigation panel or by clicking on Request Leave under the Available Leave Balances widget.
The following steps can then be followed:
Once that has been completed a leave request will be sent to your employer to either approve/deny. To review the status of your leave request:
If a leave request is sent to an employer but is not approved prior to the payroll being processed, the system will automatically approve this and it will be included in the next applicable pay.
Payroll invoices will automatically be sent via email after each payroll is processed and will be available through your employer dashboard.
You'll also be able to view historical payroll invoices through the My Invoices tab in the navigation panel.
Note: this tab won't show in the system until after the first pay has been processed. So when you login for the first time, don't worry if you can't see this tab.
If you need a summary or statement for a specific period, like a tax year, then don't hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] and we can help pull something together.
Once you have submitted a leave request, you won't be able to amend it. This is done to ensure that the leave request which your Employer is reviewing doesn't change.
If you need to change a leave request, or cancel it, just reach out to the support team at [email protected] and we'll be able to help get it sorted for you.
Finalising time for the week is simple and there isn't any manual input required from nannys.
The key points to note on finalising time for the week:
The most important point to note with timesheets is that all time in the system at 5pm Sunday will be sent through to your employer for approval. If no time is entered, the system won't generate a timesheet approval for your employer.
Payslips will automatically be sent via email after each payroll is processed usually on a Tuesday afternoon.
You'll also be able to view historical payslips through the Payslips tab in the navigation panel.
Note: this tab won't show anything in the system until after the first pay has been processed. So when you login for the first time, don't worry if you can't see anything here.
Experience the freedom and confidence that comes with knowing your nanny's payroll and finances are in order. At Pay the Nanny, we're dedicated to providing a smooth and stress-free experience, so you can focus on nurturing a strong bond with your nanny and enjoying quality time with your loved ones. Our customers rave about the peace of mind, time savings, and exceptional service they've received from our comprehensive finance and payroll management.