When your nanny travels with your family, you pay for the hours your nanny works on the trip, and that usually includes the travel itself: time spent watching the kids on a plane or in the car is work, and so is travel during your nanny's normal working hours. Minimum wage and overtime rules still apply on vacation. Travel costs you cover for your nanny aren't wages if you pay them directly or reimburse them against receipts, and state unemployment tax stays with your home state for a temporary trip.
Does travel time count as work for a nanny?
Usually, yes. Federal minimum wage and overtime rules cover nearly every nanny, and they don't pause on vacation: the Department of Labor's definition of domestic service covers work "in or about a private home (permanent or temporary)", so a nanny is a domestic service employee whether the home is yours or a rental. The travel rules then come down to one line that decides most family trips:
"Any work which an employee is required to perform while traveling must, of course, be counted as hours worked."
29 CFR 785.41, U.S. Department of Labor
If your nanny is keeping the kids fed and entertained through the airport and on the flight, that's work, however it's scheduled. The finer travel-time rules only matter for the parts of a trip where your nanny is traveling but not caring for anyone.
Which travel time counts
For the parts of a trip where your nanny isn't looking after the children, the Department of Labor's travel rules decide what counts.
| Situation | Counts as hours worked? |
|---|---|
| Caring for the kids while traveling | Yes, always |
| Normal commute to your home | No |
| A day trip to another city and back | Yes, less the time your nanny would normally spend commuting |
| Overnight trip, travel during normal working hours | Yes, including the same hours on a weekend day |
| Overnight trip, riding as a passenger outside normal hours | No, under DOL's enforcement policy |
| Regular meal breaks when your nanny is fully off duty | No |
The overnight rule surprises families most. Travel that keeps your nanny away from home overnight counts when it cuts across your nanny's normal workday, and it counts during those same hours on days your nanny doesn't usually work. So if your nanny's schedule is 9 to 5 on weekdays and you fly out on a Saturday at 10 a.m., the flight time between 9 and 5 counts, even with no childcare involved. The Department of Labor's hours-worked fact sheet summarizes the same rules.
Overtime on the road
For a nanny who doesn't live with you, federal overtime is time and a half for hours over 40 in a workweek, and a trip is where those hours pile up. Long travel days, early starts and evenings with the kids add up quickly, so count every hour your nanny is on duty. Several states have stricter daily or weekly overtime rules; our nanny overtime rules guide covers them state by state.
The simplest approach, and the one we recommend, is to agree on the trip's schedule before you leave: which hours are on duty each day, which are off, and what happens if you need your nanny during off hours. Write it down. It turns the trip's pay into a calculation rather than a negotiation after you're home.
Live-in nannies on a trip
Live-in nannies are exempt from federal overtime, but not from minimum wage for every hour worked. Sleep, meal and free time can be left out only by agreement, and any time your nanny is called back to duty during it counts as hours worked. If the trip changes the schedule significantly, make a new agreement, because the Department of Labor expects one when the arrangement changes. And you have to keep a record of the hours your live-in nanny actually works, on trips as at home.
One question we haven't found answered anywhere: whether a nanny keeps live-in status while staying in a hotel with your family. Rather than rely on either answer, write down the trip's schedule and pay for the hours actually worked. Several states also require overtime for live-in nannies, and our live-in nanny taxes guide and the overtime guide above cover those rules.
Travel expenses and per diem
If you reimburse travel costs under an accountable plan, the payments aren't wages, so no Social Security, Medicare, unemployment or income tax applies to them. The IRS's employer guide sets three conditions: the expense is for the job, your nanny accounts for it with receipts within a reasonable time, and your nanny returns anything you overpaid. A flat per diem counts as accounted for up to the federal per diem rates published by the General Services Administration, as long as your nanny records the trip's dates, places and purpose; anything above those rates is taxed as wages unless your nanny returns it.
The IRS's household employer guide doesn't address travel reimbursements, so we apply the general employer rules above. For most families the cleanest path avoids the question entirely: book and pay for your nanny's flights and hotel yourself, and either pay for meals directly or reimburse them against receipts. In NannyKeeper, you can add receipted travel costs to the payroll as a non-taxable reimbursement, separate from wages, so they don't raise the tax on the paycheck.
Which state's taxes apply on a trip?
State unemployment tax stays with your home state for a temporary trip. Every state's unemployment law uses a similar test for where a job belongs, and work elsewhere that's temporary or transitory doesn't move it, so you keep reporting your nanny's wages to your home state as usual.
State income tax on a trip is less settled. Some states tax wages earned while working inside their borders even for a short stay, and each state sets its own rules and thresholds, so a long trip or a whole summer somewhere else is worth checking with that state's tax agency. If your family is moving rather than traveling, our guide to nanny taxes when you move states covers registering in the new state and splitting the year.
A trip, worked through
Say your nanny normally works 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, at $25 an hour, and doesn't live with you. You take a week at the beach. Your nanny flies with the kids on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., works 10 hours a day Sunday through Friday, and flies home the next Saturday caring for the kids again.
- Saturday travel with the kids: 5 hours, all counted
- Six working days at 10 hours: 60 hours
- Return flight with the kids: counted in the next workweek
If your workweek runs Saturday to Friday, that first workweek has 65 hours: 40 at $25 and 25 of overtime at $37.50, so your nanny's pay for the week is $1,937.50 before taxes. The hotel and flights you booked directly aren't wages, and neither are meals you reimbursed against receipts. You can run the numbers with your own rate in the nanny tax calculator.
See what you'll owe
Use our free calculator to estimate your nanny tax costs for 2026.
FAQ
Do I pay my nanny for travel days?
Yes, for the hours your nanny works, which includes time caring for your kids while traveling and travel during your nanny's normal working hours. On an overnight trip, passenger time outside normal hours, with no childcare, generally doesn't count.
Do I have to pay overtime on vacation?
For a nanny who doesn't live with you, yes: federal overtime applies after 40 hours in a workweek, and a trip doesn't change that. Live-in nannies are exempt from federal overtime, but several states require it, and every hour worked must still be paid at least minimum wage.
Is a per diem for my nanny taxable?
Not if it stays within the federal per diem rates and your nanny records the trip's dates, places and purpose. Anything above the federal rate is taxed as wages unless it's returned. Paying costs directly is the simplest way to keep them off the paycheck.
Do I need to register in the state we're visiting?
Not for unemployment tax, which stays with your home state for a temporary trip. Income tax is set by each state, so a long stay somewhere else is worth checking with that state.
Can my nanny have days off during the trip?
Yes. Off-duty time is unpaid as long as your nanny is really free to use it as they choose. If you might need your nanny during that time, agree on it in advance and pay for any time your nanny is called back.
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