August 9, 2025 · 8 min read
Putting Your Child on Payroll: What Your Books and Payroll Records Should Show
By 909 Bookkeeping
What your books and payroll records should show when your child is on the payroll: a real wage for real work, a time record for the hours, a pay record for each run, and the wage in the right line of the books. We keep the books and run the payroll. We do not give legal or tax advice. Plain English from 909 Bookkeeping.
What the books should show
When your child is on the payroll, the books should show their pay the same way they show any team member's pay. The wage goes in the payroll line. What comes out of the pay goes where it belongs. The pay record gets tied to the run. When the month closes, the payroll lines match the pay records and the bank.
The books should not show the pay as a gift. They should not show it as household money. They should not show it as cash out of the register. The pay is a business cost for work the business needed done. When the books show it that way, your CPA can read them and see a real wage with real records behind it.
Here is what the books should show for each pay run.
- **The wage.** What your child earned for the days worked.
- - **What came out.** The amounts taken out of the pay, recorded the same way for every team member.
- - **The pay date.** The day the pay went out, so it lands in the right month.
- - **The pay record.** The document that shows the whole run, tied to the books.
We match each pay run to the bank. When the pay goes out, the bank shows it. We tie the two together so the books match the bank to the penny. When something does not match, we find it and fix it before the month closes.
The pay goes in the month it was paid, not the month it was earned. If your child worked late in the month and the pay went out early the next month, the pay shows up in the next month. We record it when it moved, so the books and the bank agree.
What the payroll records should show
The payroll records are the other half of the story. The books show the wage in the right line. The payroll records show the details behind it. Together they back up the pay.
Here is what the payroll records should show.
- **A time record.** The days and hours your child worked, kept the same way you keep time for anyone else.
- - **The pay rate.** What your child earns, written down before the work starts.
- - **A note on the work.** What the work was, so the pay matches a real job the business needed.
- - **A pay record for each run.** The document that shows what they earned and what came out.
The time record is the big one. A wage with no time record is hard to back up. The same habit you use for the rest of the team works here. Your child writes down their hours, or you keep a sheet, and we tie it to the pay run.
The note on the work matters too. The pay should match a real job the business needed done. Filing, cleaning, data entry, helping on a job. When the work is real, the pay is a real cost. When the record shows the work, the books tell the story the right way.
We do not set the pay rate or decide what is fair. That is a call for you and your CPA. We take the rate you give us and run it through the books.
Real work, real wage, real records
The clean way to put your child on the payroll is to treat their pay the same way you treat any team member's pay. The work is real. The wage is real. The records back it up. When all three line up, the books show a clean wage and your CPA has good numbers to start from.
A lot of owners skip the records. They hand the child cash from the register and call it pay. They move money from the business to the home account and call it a wage. Neither one leaves a record the books can use. When the pay has no time record and no pay record, the books do not show it the right way.
Here is the difference in plain terms.
| What it is | What it shows | Whether it holds up |
|---|---|---|
| A wage through the payroll | A real cost with real records | Yes |
| Cash from the register | A register drop with no wage line | No |
| Money moved to the home account | A transfer with no pay record | No |
When the wage runs through the payroll and the records back it up, the books stay clean and the story is clear. Your CPA can read the books and see a real wage for real work.
Keeping your child's pay out of household money
This is the part that trips up a lot of owners. Your child's pay and household money are not the same thing. The pay is a business cost. Household money is personal. When the two mix, the books get messy and the records stop backing up the wage.
The clean way is to keep the pay in the business and let it move the same way any pay moves. Your child can have their own account. The pay can go to a savings account for them. The point is that the pay runs through the books first, and then it is theirs. It does not come out of the register as cash and skip the books.
When the pay runs through the books and the household money stays out, the records back up the wage and the books stay clean. Your CPA can read the books and see a real wage with real records behind it, not a guess.
What your CPA decides, not us
We keep books and run payroll. We do not prepare taxes. We do not give tax advice. We do not tell you whether your child can be on the payroll, how old they need to be, or what the pay has to look like for your CPA to use it. Those are calls for your CPA or a lawyer.
What we do is keep the records clean so your CPA has good numbers to start from. The time record is there. The pay record is there. The wage is in the right line. The pay matches the bank. Your CPA can read the books and make the calls.
When the questions come up about whether the pay counts, or what the rules are, we point you to your CPA. We answer their questions about the books, but we do not give the advice. You can read more about how we keep the books on our bookkeeping page, and about payroll on our payroll page.
A situation we clean up
The child on the books with no records
A business owner puts their child on the payroll to help with office work over the summer. The pay runs, but no one keeps a time record. The pay record shows up, but the hours behind it do not. At year end, the CPA asks for the time records to back up the wages, and the owner does not have them. The books show the wage, but the records do not back it up.
Here is how we handle it. We start a time sheet for the hours worked. We tie each pay record to the books and to the bank. We go back and rebuild the time records for the open months, one at a time, from the oldest forward. Then the routine runs every month, so the next year end starts with the wages in the books and the records on file.
Common questions
What should the books show when my child is on the payroll? The same thing they show for any team member. A real wage in the payroll line, what came out of the pay in the right place, and a pay record tied to the books. We match each pay run to the bank so the books agree.
What payroll records do I need to keep? A time record for the hours worked, the pay rate, a note on the work, and a pay record for each run. We tie them to the books as they come in so nothing is missing at year end.
Do you decide whether my child can be on the payroll? No. That is a call for your CPA or a lawyer. We keep the books and run the payroll. We do not give legal or tax advice about whether your child can or should be on the payroll.
Do you prepare taxes? No. We do not prepare taxes. We keep the time records, the pay records and the books tied together, and your CPA makes the calls. You can reach us on our contact page if you want a team that keeps your child's pay clean on the books.