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1. How long have you been in business and who owns CPS?
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Carolina's Preferred Sitters is going on our 3rd year of being in business. We are privately as well as locally owned and operated. The owner has lived in the Charlotte, NC area for 23 years and her list of credentials are as follows:
- 20 years of local babysitting experience in privately owned homes
- 13 years of local nanny experience in privately owned homes
- 4 years of experience as an assistant in a local in-home daycare
- 3 years of experience as a nursery worker at a local church
- 1 year of experience as a childcare coordinator at a local church
- "On-call" substitute teacher for a local church preschool
- Teaching experience in the two year old classroom at a privately owned academic preschool
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2. How do you find your nannies and sitters?
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Due to the owner’s extensive involvement in the local childcare field, CPS often receives referrals from preschool directors, church childcare coordinators or previous nanny contacts. Applicants may also respond to ads they see in the yellow and white pages, local parenting magazines or from flyers and brochures posted at local churches and children's extra curricular activity centers. Quite frequently, nannies and sitters are recommended to our service through word of mouth and from referrals given to us by nannies and sitters already signed on with CPS.
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3. Where are you located and what areas do you service?
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Carolina's Preferred Sitters is a home-based business located in Waxhaw, NC just 8 miles south of the Charlotte city limits. We service all of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County as well as Lincoln, Gaston, Cabarrus, York, Union and Lancaster Counties.
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4. What is your screening process?
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All of our nannies go through a meticulous six-step screening process.
1. All sitters must be 18 years of age or older. They all must be high school graduates or have obtained a GED certificate. All sitters must have prior childcare experience, reliable transportation, speak fluent English and have the legal right to work in the United States.
2. All sitters have completed an extensive, detailed employment application.
3. All sitters have met with the owner for an in depth face to face interview. Interviews are not conducted through phone, fax or Internet.
4. All sitters have provided three childcare references and one character reference. All references have been contacted by the agency and detailed questions have been asked regarding each sitter. Comments are recorded and placed in each sitter’s file.
5. A criminal background check and a driving record are completed on all sitters before they are able to become a member of our staff.
6. Carolina’s Preferred Sitters places follow up calls to all of our clients within a few days after a sit. The purpose of this call is to provide us with ongoing comments and feedback on all of our sitters and nannies.
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5. How long will a nanny search take?
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Most families spend between one to eight weeks interviewing qualified nanny candidates. As soon as Carolina's Preferred Sitters receives your nanny search application along with your registration fee, you will be able to start interviewing potential candidates.
Most families will interview on the average anywhere from 1-4 nannies before making a decision. Some families will end up hiring the first nanny they interview! CPS does not limit the number of nannies you are allowed to interview. We will continue to work with you until you find the right match for your family!
Part-time nanny positions sometimes take longer to fill due to the majority of individuals seeking nanny or sitting positions are looking full time positions or to sit only on the evening and weekends to supplement a full time job.
If you need to return to work and have not yet hired a nanny, Carolina's Preferred Sitters will assist you by giving you the option of placing a temporary nanny in your home until you have found a permanent full time nanny.
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6. How much notice do we need to give to use your sitting service?
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You can give Carolina's Preferred Sitters as much as a six-month notice or a little as a three hour notice. Although, the later is a more difficult sit to fill, CPS has been there to help families with their childcare needs in an emergency. However if a sit is called in with less than 24-hour notice, CPS does not guarantee that the sit will be filled. We will guarantee that we will try our best and do everything in our power to try to accommodate you. Additional agency fees will apply to all sits called in with less than a 24-hour notice.
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7. If I sign up for the babysitting service, will I always get the same sitter?
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Carolina's Preferred Sitters will always try to send the same sitter to you, if possible. We love consistency for your children as much as you do! However, your first sitter choice may not always be available especially if the sit is called in with minimal notice, but we will always try. In order to have a better chance at always getting your favorite sitter, we ask that you try to book in advance a much as possible. We also suggest that your family familiarize themselves with 2 or 3 of our sitters so you have a small group of sitters you know and feel comfortable with. However, if worst comes to worse and you have to try someone new, don't panic, remember our six step screening process and remember we will be there the next day with that follow up call to see how everything went.
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8. How do we pay the agency and who pays the sitter?
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Our sitters are independent contractors and are to be paid directly by the client at the end of each sitting shift by personal check or cash .CPS never takes any type of commission or "cut" from a nanny or sitter's pay, so feel free to tip you sitter for a job well done!
Agency fees are paid directly to Carolina's Preferred Sitters for our time locating and arranging the nanny or sitting services as well as time interviewing potential candidates and conducting our reference and background screenings. CPS accepts check, money order or credit card for our agency fees.
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9. In what area do most of your sitters live?
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Our sitters live all over Charlotte and in the neighboring cities, counties and towns. If you live in our service area, chances are we have a CPS sitter living right around the corner from you.
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10. What is the best way to reccomend your service to a friend or relative?
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The first step is to have your friend or relative call CPS and sign on with our nanny or sitting service. Our sitters are in a signed contract that clearly states for them to not sit for any of our client’s friends or relatives without our knowledge. CPS is a small home based business and if we want to stay in business, this is a policy that must be strictly enforced. If your friend or relative would like to use a sitter you have previously used and enjoyed, they may call and request that particular individual. This is to be done after CPS has received the appropriate paper work and registration fees from that particular family.
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11. What are your business hours?
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CPS is always here to take your sitting requests, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, you may not always be able to speak with us in person when you call. In order to keep our costs down, we do not have a receptionist, an answering service or the expense of rented office space. You know that when you call a sitting or nanny service and they have” staff" someone is paying for it and that someone is YOU! By foregoing "staff" is how we pass our savings on to you! We encourage you to shop around and compare and we know you will agree!!!! Our clients ALWAYS have access to our voice mail system and our emergency after hours line, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. If you leave your sitting request on our voice mail we PROMISE to have a sitter at your home when requested. We have never let our clients down and we are not about to start! We have staffed over 100 on call babysitters day and night and are always able to fill a sitting request when is left for us, even if it the owner needs to come and sit with your children herself!!!! So call us anytime, day or night and leave your request. We will be waiting for it!
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12. Please explain how nanny taxes work? What am I responsible for paying?
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Carolina's Preferred Sitters expertise is not in the tax accounting field. However we do have some knowledge we can pass along that was acquired through a great website titled www.nanynetwork.com.
Congress estimates that there are between 2-2.5 million household employers in the US today, and only 500,000 of them actually paid these taxes in 1994. If you pay $1200 or more in total wages to a household worker in 2000, you are responsible for the social security and medicare taxes, as well as providing Form W-2 to the worker. If you pay [or will pay] $1000 or more in total wages in any calendar quarter within the last two years, you also become responsible for unemployment taxes, both federal and state. Income taxes, on the other hand, are generally the obligation of the domestic worker, although many employers agree to do the income tax withholding and remittance for the worker.
[NannyNetwork.com Note: The wage that triggers a Social Security/Medicare tax obligation has steadily increased. From 1995-1997 it was $1000/year; 1998-1999 $1100, and 2000 $1200]
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13. What do I need to do from a tax perspective for a nanny?
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There are a number of steps to be taken just to get started paying the household employment taxes. You will need to consider the following:
· You must have Federal Employer's Identification Number. Call 1-800-TAX FORM to request Form SS-4 and Publication 926 Employer's Guide.
· Unemployment Taxes: State wage reporting and most state unemployment tax remittances are required quarterly. New employers must register with the state to obtain a state reporting number.
· Withholding Taxes: Most states requires quarterly reports and remittances of withheld income taxes, as well as an annual reconciliation.
· Provide your employee with Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement no later than January 31. You may obtain these forms by calling 1-800-TAX FORM. Mail copies of Form(s) W-2 and Form W-3 (if required) to Social Security Administration by February 28. There is a fine for late submission.
· Calculate your Federal Employment Tax Liability, including Social Security, Medicare, Withheld Income Taxes, and Federal Unemployment Taxes. Complete Schedule H and remit taxes due with the Form 1040 no later than April 15.
If you're feeling overwhelmed with all this information, you're not alone. Webb reports that demand for her company's payroll and tax services is strong. "We assist domestic employers across the United States with these filings, calculations, and resultant correspondence," says Webb. Home/Work Solutions, Inc., of Sterling, VA, introduced its Nanitaxsm services in 1993 and offers a variety of service levels (800-NANITAX). They can help you identify which taxes, if any, you owe, and how and when to pay them. As Kathleen Webb points out, "it is far better to pay the appropriate taxes today, then to pay the taxes AND the penalties later."
About the author:
Lisa B. Mears is a fr
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