Paying a family member for nursing care

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fidgetspinner

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My elderly father in law suffered a severe stroke last February. He can no longer live alone so my wife and I have agreed to have him move in with us and our three teenage kids.

He needs full time care so I have given up work as a nurse to care for him at home. I have applied for carers benefit and my father in law has said he will make up the difference in my wages. The amount he will pay me is €1000 per week. What is the best way for him to pay me that will be the least hassle for everyone.

This is a huge undertaking for my family and while we are very happy to do it we can’t afford to be financially less off as a result. We have been to see my father in law’s solicitor to make sure his wishes are documented and that nothing untoward is happening.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience. It’s stressful enough without having to worry about the financial side of things.
 
You/your family should apply for the Home Support Service .
His GP should be able to point you in the right direction.

Any additional privately funded nursing care is fully tax deductible.

If a family member is giving up their job or working/ studying 18 hours a week of less in order to care for him they should be entitled to Carer's Allowance.
 
While not identical to your scenario, I hired a live in carer for my father and set myself up as employer, signed a contract with the live in carer and had a payroll company/accountant run the payroll. In fact the same accountant set me up as the employer.

In your case, your father in law would be the employer and you the employee. Your PRSI will be paid also.

It was a straight forward process, I used this company: https://www.atlanticpayroll.ie/

They do it for lots of carers and from memory I think they charged roughly 600 euro per year.

I don't know how this would work in conjunction with being entitled to Carer's Allowance so probably something to consider also.

Best of luck in the journey ahead, it's a huge act of generosity by you and your family if you don't mind me saying.
 
Mammysboy said:
I don't know how this would work in conjunction with being entitled to Carer's Allowance so probably something to consider also.
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Carer's Allowance is means tested so eligibility or the amount payable could be impacted by other sources of income.
www.gov.ie

Carer's Allowance

Carer’s Allowance is for people on low incomes who are caring for a person who needs full-time care because of age, disability or illness. The maximum weekly rate is €236 under 66, €274 over 66.
www.gov.ie www.gov.ie
But @fidgetspinner mentioned PRSI linked/non means tested Carer's Benefit in the original post. Although CB is payable for a maximum of two years so after that CA may become relevant.
fidgetspinner said:
I have applied for carers benefit
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Carer's Benefit is taxable the same as any other income.
www.gov.ie

Carer's Benefit

Carer’s Benefit is paid to people required to leave the workforce or reduce their hours to care for a person who needs full-time care. It is paid for up to 2 years. Carer’s Benefit is €237 a week.
www.gov.ie www.gov.ie
Carer’s Benefit is a taxable source of income. From 01 January 2026, Carer’s Benefit is included on the list of taxable payments information given to Revenue.
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Normally, for a PAYE taxpayer, Revenue would be notified that the individual was in receipt of a taxable SW payment and the tax credits would be adjusted to account for the tax due in the gross SW payment.

How DSP payments are taxed

This page explans how Department of Social Protection payments are taxed
www.revenue.ie www.revenue.ie
The situation is different if the individual is classed as a self assessed taxpayer.
 
Your father in law could gift a weekly amount to your wife.
This could be a part of her lifetime CAT allowance.
He can also gift 3k to you and your wife tax free per year.

You are entitled to 2k PAYE tax credits per year. This means you can earn 10k per year before you begin to pay income tax.

So your FIL could pay you €192 per week. You would not be liable to PAYE, USC or employee PRSI on this amount. Your FIL would be liable to employers PRSI.

The remainder of the 1k per week would then come from tax free gifts and gifts to your wife which would be part of her lifetime CAT allowance. Your wife can transfer the money she receives from your FIL to you without any tax implications.

The €192 per week payments would represent less than 18 hours minimum wage, so you would qualify for carers allowance.

Setting up as an employer and paying wages is very simple.
All done online. No wages software is necessary. There is an online form provided by revenue for wages submission. Wages can be paid quarterly, half yearly or yearly. This vastly reduces the work involved. There is lots of information regarding this on Revenue.ie. Just search for "Registering as an employer and employing people". You could assist your FIL in setting this up.

This arrangement will keep your PRSI contributions intact.

Or you could set up as self employed. Provided your earnings are 5k or more per year you will pay PRSI. You would register for ROS and submit your self employment carers income each year.
 
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Thanks sincerely for all your replies. We have HSE carers coming in 3 times daily Monday to Friday for 30 mins each visit. Night time is proving very difficult though as he is waking multiple times to use the toilet and as he's not mobile, he a huge falls risk so we have to get up to help him. Realistically, I don't know how long this arrangement will go on. We are sleep deprived already and sadly, he is not really improving. He is however very happy and is definitely enjoying being part of the day-to-day family life in the home. We will continue to do our best for him. For now, we are withdrawing cash weekly to make up for my wages. We spoke to an accountant and she also mentioned my father in law being set up as my employer. But I fear that will get messy with my actual employer (private hospital) as they have granted me this time off for carers benefit and signed all the forms. I'm also trying to sort out my pension contributions while I'm on carers benefit (payments haven't started yet, still processing apparently). I think I still get a stamp but I want to also continue paying into my employers scheme too. Frustratingly, no one in HR will return my calls. Apologies if this is a rambling reply but I am exhausted but wanted to thank you all for taking the time to reply to my original post.
 
Not sure how you can pay into an employer scheme when you aren’t earning from that employer. However that might depend on the year .. so maybe you worked for them for half the year and were employed by your FIL the other half.

Just basing this on a colleague who took a year off and unfortunately for her it was 1 Jan to 31 dec… and the rules of our pension scheme. If she had taken June to June it would have spanned 2 years.
 
I don't think that Revenue would be terribly concerned about applying the strict interpretations of Revenue law to this case.

I would keep it simple.

He can give you €14k a year tax-free under the Rent a Room Scheme.

He should just gift your wife - his daughter a sum of money. The CAT threshold for father to daughter is €400k so, if between this gift and any subsequent inheritance, it is less than €400k, then there will be no tax consequences.

You could review it in the middle of next year. If the arrangement is still going, then you might look at self-employment to use up the 20% tax band and keep up your PRSI contributions.

Revenue could possibly argue that he is an employer and you are an employee but they really do not get involved in family situations like this.
 
I'd carry on as you are. Setting up as a company, paying formal wages etc seems way over the top.
 
fidgetspinner said:
Thanks sincerely for all your replies. We have HSE carers coming in 3 times daily Monday to Friday for 30 mins each visit. Night time is proving very difficult though as he is waking multiple times to use the toilet and as he's not mobile, he a huge falls risk so we have to get up to help him. Realistically, I don't know how long this arrangement will go on. We are sleep deprived already and sadly, he is not really improving.
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Don't forget to bear in mind that you matter too.

It is painful, but paying for extra carers may be the only option, even if it burns inheritances.

I would say that everyone needs at least a weekend off. If you are doing nights, seven days a week, and also days, then that is not sustainable.

You may be able to get a carer to do a long shift including the nights. This could help with keeping the hourly rate up to at least minimum wage. Whoever pays can reclaim part of it on taxes.

Alternatively, maybe another member of the family could do some nights. However, if they wouldn't do it for what a carer costs, then you are using guilt to get them to do something only to save money.

It can be hard but don't let guilt put you all in a situation of doing things that ruin everyone else's life.

Support over the short term is one thing, but long term, you need to be rational about things.
 
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That’s not the max HSE hours, 21.5. Talk to your public heath nurse and see if they’ll increase your hours.

A one hour visit a couple of times a day might let you get a decent break. We have that for mum, she’s ok for a couple of hours on her own so we can take maybe 3 hours away from her house.
 
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LarryScott said:
It is painful, but paying for extra carers may be the only option, even if it burns inheritances.
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I hate when people think of their parents assets as inheritance rather than the funds to pay for exactly this sort of thing. They therefore think that the State (other people) should pick up the tab so that they can inherit the money which should be spent on that necessary care.
 
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