Who this page is for
You are the employer as soon as you decide what work is done in your home, when it happens and how, and you pay for it yourself. That holds for a few hours of cleaning a week, for childcare and babysitting, for au pair work, for homework help, for help for an older relative and for paid work around the house such as the garden. It stays true when your Helper also works for other families, because each household is a separate employer.
It is different when you buy a service from a company that employs the worker and invoices you. Genuine self-employment also exists, but it is the compensation office that confirms that status for a given activity, so treat the arrangement as employment until it has. AHV leaflet 2.02 explains how that assessment is made.
How to register household help in Switzerland
1. Decide whether this is an employment relationship
Paid work in a private household counts as gainful employment for social insurance: cleaning, childcare and babysitting, au pair work, homework help, support for older people and paid work in and around the home. If you set the tasks, the hours and the pay, your household is the employer, whatever the number of hours. Work in a shared building outside the flats, caretaker duties for example, is not domestic work in this sense.
2. Agree the contract and a wage at or above the minimum
A household employment contract is binding under the Code of Obligations even without a signed document, and writing it down is still the sensible standard: tasks, hours, hourly wage, holiday, notice period. The federal standard employment contract for domestic work (NAV Hauswirtschaft) sets hourly minimum wages by qualification everywhere except Geneva, which has its own binding contract, and some cantons and cities set a higher floor that then applies. Since 1 January 2026 the federal minimums run from CHF 20.35 an hour for unskilled work to CHF 24.55 for a federal diploma (EFZ). Holiday pay is added on top of the hourly wage and may not be folded into it.
3. Register with your cantonal compensation office
You register with the AHV compensation office (Ausgleichskasse) of the canton where your household is, and you settle the contributions there. If you have not employed anyone before and you are going into the simplified settlement procedure, leaflet 2.07 asks you to register within 30 days of the start of the employment; otherwise register promptly, within the deadline your canton sets. Take your Helper's AHV number, name and date of birth at the start, which they can read from their insurance card. Not declaring domestic staff can be prosecuted.
4. Take out accident insurance (UVG)
Household staff must be insured against accidents, with an authorised accident insurer (Suva does not cover domestic work). Below eight hours a week for you, cover for occupational accidents is enough. From eight hours a week with the same employer, non-occupational accidents have to be covered as well. The employer carries the occupational premium, the non-occupational premium is the employee's and is deducted from the wage, and having no cover at all is punishable and can be charged back later as a substitute premium.
5. Use the simplified settlement procedure if you qualify
The simplified settlement procedure was created for small or short employments of exactly this kind: one registration, one annual settlement with your compensation office, social contributions and tax together. Leaflet 2.07 publishes the limits for 2026: gross wage of no more than CHF 22,680 a year per employee, no more than CHF 60,480 a year of household payroll in total, and every wage settled in this procedure. Income tax is discharged at a flat 5% of the AHV liable wage and your Helper receives a certificate for their tax return. With VAvplus the accident insurance premium can run through the same office.
6. Payslips through the year, then the year end statement
Every payment needs a payslip that shows the gross wage, the holiday supplement, each deduction and the net amount your Helper receives. For hourly work the holiday supplement is 8.33% of gross for four weeks of holiday, more for five or six weeks, and it may not be hidden inside the hourly rate. At the end of the year the wage total goes to the compensation office, by 30 January of the following year in the simplified procedure, and your Helper receives the annual statement they need for their tax return. Keep the contract, the payslips, the insurance policy and the settlements together.
The short checklist
- Confirm that your household is the employer, not a customer
- Agree tasks, hours, wage, holiday and notice in writing
- Check the wage against the NAV and any cantonal or city minimum
- Note the AHV number, full name and date of birth
- Register with the compensation office of your canton
- Insure against accidents, non-occupational from eight hours a week
- Check whether the wage stays inside the simplified procedure
- Pay with a payslip every month and settle the year
Three ways to run it
The duties above sit with your household in every case. What changes is how much of the work you keep. If you do not have anyone yet, Helpore Flex bookings are priced by the hour and the full amount is shown before you confirm.
Do it yourself
You write the contract, register with your compensation office, calculate the wage and the contributions every month, arrange the accident cover and file the annual settlement. It costs nothing but your time, and it works when the arrangement is small and stable.
Helpore Admin Light
Helpore prepares the employment contract and the exact monthly wage and contribution calculation, and keeps every document in order. You register, file and pay yourself, without a power of attorney. A flat monthly or yearly fee, see the prices page.
Helpore Admin
With your signed authorization, Helpore runs the employment for you: registration, the monthly payroll and payslips, contributions, insurance administration and the year end close. Your household stays the legal employer and the compensation office stays the authority that assesses and collects the contributions. A flat monthly or yearly fee, see the prices page.
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FAQ
Is AHV really due from the first franc?
For work in a private household, yes. The general rule that contributions are settled only on request below CHF 2,500 a year per employer does not apply here in the same way: leaflet 2.06 states that for people employed in a private household the contributions are due in every case. The exception is a wage of up to CHF 750 in a calendar year to a young employee, up to the year they turn 25, and in 2026 no contributions and no registration are required for employees born in 2009 or later. Read leaflet 2.06 before you rely on an exception.
What is the simplified settlement procedure and where are its limits published?
It is a voluntary route under the federal law on undeclared work: one annual settlement with your compensation office covering social contributions and tax, with income tax discharged at a flat 5%. The limits are published every year in AHV leaflet 2.07. For 2026 they are CHF 22,680 gross a year per employee and CHF 60,480 a year of household payroll in total, and every wage in the household has to be settled in this procedure. Above either limit you settle in the ordinary procedure instead.
Do I need accident insurance for a few hours a week?
Yes. Cover for occupational accidents applies from the first hour and is taken out with an authorised insurer. Non-occupational cover is added once your Helper works eight hours a week or more for you. The employer pays the occupational premium, the non-occupational premium is the employee's and is deducted from the wage, and other arrangements are allowed only in the employee's favour.
What if I pay in cash?
Cash is a payment method, not the problem in itself. The problem is an employment that is not declared: your Helper then earns no AHV credits and has no accident cover, and you can face back payments, interest and prosecution. Declare the employment, then pay however suits you, with a payslip for every payment.
Can Helpore do the registration for me?
Under Helpore Admin, yes: with your signed authorization Helpore files the registration and runs the employment with your compensation office. With Helpore Admin Light, Helpore prepares the contract and the monthly calculation and you file and pay yourself. Either way your household remains the employer, and the compensation office remains the authority that assesses and collects the contributions.
Official sources
Set it up once, properly
Tell Helpore what your household needs and see which model fits: the contract and the monthly calculation prepared for you, or the whole employment run under your signed authorization.