How do I register a Helper who works in my household?
Your household is the employer. Register with the compensation office of your canton, pay at least the minimum wage that applies (the federal NAV Hauswirtschaft runs from CHF 20.35 to CHF 24.55 an hour in 2026), insure against accidents (non-occupational cover too from 8 hours a week), and settle the wage and the contributions with a payslip every month. Up to CHF 22’680 a year per employee you can use the simplified procedure, with income tax at a flat 5%.
Already have a Helper and want the paperwork prepared or done for you? Set it up with Admin Light or Admin.
Hiring household help in Ticino in 2026: IAS, contributions and minimum wage
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 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, 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 are not yet registered and use the simplified settlement procedure, you register at the start of the employment. The deadline depends on your canton: ask your compensation office by when it needs your registration. If your household is already registered, or uses the ordinary procedure, ask your office when and how to report your Helper. 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 8 hours a week for you, cover for occupational accidents is enough. From 8 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 figures and where they come from
Every figure on this page with the official source that sets it and the year it applies to.
| Rule | Figure | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum hourly wage under the federal NAV Hauswirtschaft | FigureCHF 20.35 to CHF 24.55 an hour, by qualification | SourceInformationen zum NAV HauswirtschaftSECO | Year2026 |
| Non-occupational accident cover becomes mandatory | FigureFrom 8 hours a week with the same employer | SourceMerkblatt 2.06, Hausdienst, Ziff. 9Informationsstelle AHV/IV | Year2026 |
| Simplified procedure, limit per employee | FigureCHF 22’680 gross a year | SourceMerkblatt 2.07, Vereinfachtes Abrechnungsverfahren für ArbeitgebendeInformationsstelle AHV/IV | Year2026 |
| Simplified procedure, limit for the household payroll | FigureCHF 60’480 a year | SourceMerkblatt 2.07, Vereinfachtes Abrechnungsverfahren für ArbeitgebendeInformationsstelle AHV/IV | Year2026 |
| Income tax in the simplified procedure | Figure5% of the AHV liable wage | SourceMerkblatt 2.07, Vereinfachtes Abrechnungsverfahren für ArbeitgebendeInformationsstelle AHV/IV | Year2026 |
| Holiday pay on an hourly wage, four weeks of holiday | Figure8.33% of gross | SourceInformationen zum NAV HauswirtschaftSECO | Year2026 |
A worked example
Worked out by the Helpore wage calculator for one case. Change the canton, the hours or the wage and every line changes.
Assumptions
- Household canton: Zurich
- 3 hours a week, 13.00 hours a month (52/12 weeks a month)
- Gross hourly wage CHF 32.00
- Holiday pay of 8.33% and public holidays of 0.39% on top of the hourly wage
- Settled in the simplified procedure, income tax at a flat 5%
- Occupational accident cover only, below 8 hours a week
- Contribution rates as at 01.01.2026
Result per month
- Gross wage
- CHF 452.27
- Of which holiday pay 8.33 %
- CHF 34.65
- Of which public holidays 0.39 %
- CHF 1.62
- Employer contributions
- CHF 35.95
- Accident insurance premiums
- CHF 2.30
- Your household pays in total
- CHF 490.52
- Your Helper receives, after deductions and tax
- CHF 400.77
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 8 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 already employ someone, choose Helpore Admin Light or Helpore Admin. To find someone new, choose a Helper through Helpore Flex.
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 records the agreed terms and prepares 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
Under your power of attorney, Helpore runs the administration of the employment in your name: 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.
Read next
- The full guide to legal household employment
- What household help really costs
- NAV Hauswirtschaft, the wage floor explained
- Wage and cost calculator
- Helpore compared with quitt
- Helpore compared with Fairboss
- The simplified settlement procedure explained
- The payslip explained, with a sample
- Check your duties as an employer
- Changing employer: what the old and the new household do
- Registering past months: what your household does now
FAQ
From when do I have to register my household help?
From the first franc, with exceptions by age for a young Helper: in 2026, employees who turn 17 or younger that year need neither contributions nor registration, and up to the year they turn 25, a wage of up to CHF 750 a calendar year with you is free of contributions unless the person asks for them. For work in a private household the general rule that contributions below CHF 2’500 a year per employer are settled only on request does not apply: leaflet 2.06 states that the contributions are due in every case. From the AHV reference age, AHV/IV/EO contributions fall only on the part of the wage above CHF 16’800 a year (CHF 1’400 a month) unless the person waives this allowance, and no ALV is due. You register as the employer with the compensation office of your canton and insure the person against accidents.
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 day of work and is taken out with an authorised insurer. Non-occupational cover is added once your Helper works 8 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: the wage is missing from your Helper's AHV account, the compensation office claims the contributions for past years with interest, and an employer who does not register can be prosecuted. After an accident without insurance, the substitute fund of the accident insurance pays your Helper and charges you substitute premiums (Federal Act on Old Age and Survivors' Insurance (AHVG) Art. 30ter para. 1; Art. 16 para. 1; Ordinance on Old Age and Survivors' Insurance (AHVV) Art. 39; Art. 41bis para. 1 let. b; AHVG Art. 87; Federal Act on Accident Insurance (UVG) Art. 73 para. 1; Art. 95 para. 1; Art. 112 para. 1 let. a). 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: Helpore files the registration and deals with your compensation office in your name, under your power of attorney. With Helpore Admin Light, Helpore records the agreed terms and prepares 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 power of attorney.