What Hearth does and does not do

It does

• Applies the IRS tests for whether you are a household employer (Publication 926), and North Carolina's.
• Works out each payday: overtime for each workweek under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the employee's social security and Medicare, voluntary federal and NC income tax withholding, and your own share.
• Collects social security and Medicare you did not withhold earlier, from the payday that reaches the year's threshold.
• Keeps year-to-date totals and the figures for each NC unemployment quarterly report and NC-5.
• Shows what to pay with your estimated tax so Schedule H is not a surprise in April.
• Prepares each Form W-2, the Form W-3 totals and Schedule H, line by line, and the NC-3 total if you withheld NC tax.
• Lists the year's deadlines and puts them in your calendar.

It does not

• File anything. You file the W-2s with the SSA (free through Business Services Online), the NC reports with DES and NCDOR, and Schedule H with your Form 1040.
• Move money. You pay your employee, and you pay the IRS and North Carolina.
• Cover states other than North Carolina, or tax years other than 2026.
• Value non-cash pay for you, handle a worker in more than one state, or fill in Schedule H Part II Section B (late or multi-state unemployment contributions).
• Decide for you whether someone is your employee beyond the IRS's own tests. When it is unclear, ask an Enrolled Agent.
• Keep your records anywhere but this browser. Download a backup after each payday.

Where the rules come from

IRS Publications 926, 15 and 15-T for 2026, Schedule H and its instructions (the 2026 versions are IRS drafts), the 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3, 29 CFR Part 552, North Carolina’s NC-30 withholding booklet for 2026, NC Division of Employment Security guidance, and the North Carolina General Statutes. Every figure Hearth uses is cited in its rule book, and every calculation is tested.