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Late registration

Registering past months: what your household does now

First registration, no past months? How to register household help in Switzerland

Your household paid a Helper without registering. What now?

Register now with your canton's compensation office. Declare the wages you actually paid in each past year. This year's wages go into this year's declaration.The office claims the back contributions for each past year, with interest of 5% a year.It can claim them for up to 5 years after that year ends.Take out accident insurance now. For the months without it, file a self-declaration with the substitute fund for accident insurance (Ersatzkasse UVG): it covers your Helper for that time and charges your household a substitute premium.

Find your canton's compensation office

Your household is the employer for the past months too, and declares their wages to your canton's compensation office, year by year.

How past months are declared

  • A household that employs someone in its home is an employer and owes contributions. That holds for the past months too.Law and source: Art. 12 para. 2 AHVG
  • Contributions are owed on every wage, paid in cash or by transfer. The employer deducts the employee share from each wage and pays it to the office together with its own.Law and source: Art. 14 para. 1, Art. 51 para. 1 AHVG
  • For the past months, the office bills your household both shares, the employee's and the employer's. Whether your Helper pays their share back to you is a private matter between you and them; the office does not decide it.Law and source: Art. 14 para. 1 AHVG; BSV directive on collecting contributions (WBB), nos. 2024 and 3017
  • If your household is not yet registered with a compensation office, register with the office of your canton.Law and source: Art. 64 para. 5 AHVG; Art. 117 para. 2 AHVV; AHV/IV leaflet on domestic work, section 3AHVThe compensation office
  • For the past years, the office asks for a wage declaration with the wages you actually paid in each year. This year's wages go into this year's declaration.Law and source: Art. 36 paras. 2 and 3 AHVV; SVA St. Gallen: settling household wages
  • The office claims the contributions that were not paid and, where needed, sets them by a decision.Law and source: Art. 39 para. 1 AHVV
  • Pay its invoice within 30 days.Law and source: Art. 39 para. 2 AHVV
  • Where the federal NAV Hauswirtschaft applies, each past month was bound by the minimum wage in force at the time, from 5 hours a week on average with your household. If you paid less, your Helper can claim the difference.Law and source: Art. 1 para. 2, Art. 2 para. 3 let. i, Art. 5 para. 1 and Art. 9 NAV Hauswirtschaft; Art. 360d para. 2 OR; Art. 128 no. 3 ORMinimum wages of the NAV Hauswirtschaft
  • Past months are settled in the ordinary procedure. The simplified procedure with the flat tax can only start with a new employment or at the beginning of a calendar year, and the office may refuse it to an employer whose past settlements are not in order.Law and source: Art. 1 paras. 1 to 3 VOSA; AHV/IV leaflet on the simplified procedure, section 9; WBB no. 2102The simplified procedure

From now on, agree the terms in writing: tasks, hours, wage and holidays. You can use Helpore's contract template. Employment contract template

Standard employment contracts

What the compensation office asks for

  • Your Helper's AHV number (the old age and survivors' insurance number), surname, first name and date of birth, from their AHV card or health insurance card. If they have no number yet, the office has a form for it.Law and source: AHV/IV leaflet on domestic work, section 4The AHV number
  • For each past year, the wages you actually paid to each person.Law and source: SVA St. Gallen: settling household wages
  • For example, the St. Gallen office's wage correction form asks for each person: AHV number, name, date of birth, the period from and to, the wage total, the year of payment and the reason.Law and source: SVA St. Gallen: wage correction form
  • Records that show each wage. For accident insurance, the records must show the type of work, the wage, and the number and dates of the working days.Law and source: Art. 93 para. 1 UVG; SECO: registering an employment and settling the wages
  • If you do not give the information in time, the office sets the contributions itself by an assessment decision. It may check on site and charge the costs to your household.Law and source: Art. 38 paras. 1 to 3 AHVV
  • A reminder from the office carries a fee.Law and source: Art. 34a para. 2 AHVV

Your canton

Choose your canton to see its compensation office, its withholding tax office and its control body for undeclared work.

Choose your canton

All cantons

Back contributions and interest

  • The office must claim the contributions for a year by a decision within 5 years after that year ends. After that, they can no longer be claimed or paid.Law and source: Art. 16 para. 1 AHVG
  • If the claim comes from a criminal offence with a longer limitation period, that longer period applies.Law and source: Art. 16 para. 1 AHVG
  • Interest of 5% a year is owed on the back contributions for past calendar years, from the start of the year after each year owed.Law and source: Art. 41bis para. 1 let. b, Art. 42 para. 2 AHVV
  • Interest is counted per day. If you pay the invoice on time, it stops on the invoice date. It is owed whatever the reason for the delay, and without a reminder.Law and source: Art. 41bis para. 2, Art. 42 para. 3 AHVV; AHV/IV leaflet on contributions and interest, section 7
  • The office waives back contributions, in full or in part, only for an employer who could believe in good faith that nothing was owed, for example after wrong information from the office, and for whom paying would mean real hardship. Not knowing the rules is not enough.Law and source: Art. 40 para. 1 AHVV; WBB nos. 3044 and 3045; BGE 100 V 151; BGE 106 V 139
  • Ask for it in writing, with reasons, within 30 days of the back payment decision.Law and source: Art. 40 para. 2 AHVV

Accident cover for the past months

Accident insurance cannot be taken out for the past. The law covers your Helper in another way.Law and source: Art. 59 para. 2 UVG; Substitute fund for accident insurance (Ersatzkasse UVG): questions and answers, question 4

  • An employee who has an accident while not insured receives the legal benefits from the substitute fund for accident insurance (Ersatzkasse UVG).Law and source: Art. 59 para. 3, Art. 73 para. 1 UVG
  • For the uninsured time, file a self-declaration on the substitute fund's website. The fund grants the cover for that time and charges your household a substitute premium.Law and source: Art. 73 para. 1 UVG; substitute fund questions and answers, questions 4 and 19
  • The substitute premium equals the premium owed for the time without a policy, for at most 5 years.Law and source: Art. 95 para. 1 UVG
  • It is higher if the insurance duty was avoided without excuse, and higher again after repeated failure. It may never be deducted from your Helper's wage.Law and source: Art. 95 para. 1 UVG
  • If the fund charges only the premium owed, with no increase, late interest of 0.5% a month is added once 1 month has passed after it falls due.Law and source: Art. 95 para. 1 UVG; Art. 117 para. 2, Art. 121 UVV
  • You can ask the substitute fund to let you pay in instalments.Law and source: substitute fund questions and answers, question 20
  • Take out a policy now. From 8 hours a week with your household, accidents outside work are covered too.Law and source: Art. 59 para. 2 UVG; Art. 13 para. 1 UVVCompulsory accident insuranceAccident cover outside working hours
  • You may deduct your Helper's share of the premium for accidents outside work only from the wage for the same pay period or the next one.Law and source: Art. 91 para. 3 UVG

Substitute fund: how to file the self-declaration (opens in a new tab)Accident insurance for household help

Checklist for the past months

  1. Take out accident insurance for your Helper now.Law and source: Art. 59 para. 2 UVGCompulsory accident insurance
  2. Register with your canton's compensation office.Law and source: Art. 64 para. 5 AHVGFind your canton's compensation office
  3. Gather your Helper's AHV number and the wages you paid in each year, with the dates worked.Law and source: AHV/IV leaflet on domestic work, section 4; Art. 93 para. 1 UVGWhat the office asks
  4. Declare the wages you actually paid in each past year.Law and source: Art. 36 paras. 2 and 3 AHVV
  5. File the self-declaration for the past months with the substitute fund for accident insurance.Law and source: Art. 73 para. 1, Art. 95 para. 1 UVGSubstitute fund: how to file the self-declaration (opens in a new tab)
  6. Pay the office's invoice within 30 days.Law and source: Art. 39 para. 2 AHVV
  7. Where withholding tax applies, report the past months to your canton's tax office yourself.Law and source: Art. 88, Art. 138 para. 1, Art. 175 para. 3 DBGYour canton
  8. For each past year, give your Helper a salary statement.Law and source: Art. 127 para. 1 let. a DBG
  9. From now on, give your Helper a payslip with every wage.Law and source: Art. 323b para. 1 ORThe payslip

What applies to your household

Your household is the employer for the past months too.

The employer check shows the months to declare and what else is still to do.

Check your duties as an employer

Helpore Admin Light and Helpore Admin prepare the payroll only from your first month with Helpore; you settle the months before with your compensation office yourself.

Withholding tax, work permits, family allowances and pension for the past months

Withholding tax

  • A foreign Helper without a C permit who lives in Switzerland pays withholding tax, unless they are married to and living with a Swiss citizen or a C permit holder, and except on wages under the simplified procedure.Law and source: Art. 83 paras. 1 and 2 DBG
  • The employer deducts the tax, pays it to the tax office and is liable for it.Law and source: Art. 88 paras. 1 and 3 DBG
  • If you did not deduct it, the tax office orders you to pay it, and you may claim that amount back from your Helper. Your Helper is asked to pay it directly only if it cannot be collected from your household.Law and source: Art. 138 paras. 1 and 3 DBG
  • Report it to your canton's tax office yourself, completely and before it asks. The law provides a first voluntary disclosure without a fine, and cooperation counts in your favour in any case.Law and source: Art. 175 para. 3, Art. 187 para. 2 DBG; Federal Tax Administration: penalty provisions for direct taxes, section 2.4
  • Late payment interest runs at the rate set by the Federal Department of Finance.Law and source: Art. 164 para. 1 DBG
Withholding tax

If your Helper had no work permit

  • Employing a person who has no right to work in Switzerland is a criminal offence for the employer, also when it happens through negligence.Law and source: Art. 117 paras. 1 and 3 AIG
  • Working without the required permit is a criminal offence for the worker.Law and source: Art. 115 para. 1 let. c AIG
  • Registering your Helper for social insurance does not replace a permit. Ask the cantonal migration office or a lawyer before you act.Law and source: Art. 12 para. 2 BGSA

Family allowances

  • Your household also joins a family allowance fund in its canton. Its contributions follow the AHV rules on collection and interest, and on how far back they can be claimed.Law and source: Art. 11 para. 1 let. a, Art. 12 paras. 1 and 2, Art. 25 let. c, e and eter FamZG
  • Allowances for past months can be claimed for up to 5 years after the end of the month they were owed for.Law and source: Art. 24 para. 1 ATSG; Art. 1 FamZG
  • They are usually claimed through your compensation office.Law and source: AHV/IV leaflet on domestic work, section 8
Family allowances

Occupational pension

  • Occupational pension applies only above the yearly wage threshold with one employer.Law and source: Art. 2 para. 1, Art. 7 para. 1 BVG
  • Your household then joins a pension fund with effect for the past months. If it does not, the compensation office reports it to the substitute institution for occupational pensions, which bills the cost.Law and source: Art. 11 paras. 3 to 7 BVG
  • Until your household joins a pension fund, the substitute institution for occupational pensions pays your Helper the legal benefits. Your household owes the contributions with late interest and a surcharge.Law and source: Art. 12 paras. 1 and 2 BVG
Occupational pension

Household help and childcare: tax deductions

What the canton checks for undeclared work

  • Undeclared work means not meeting the duties to report or to hold a permit under social insurance law, the law on foreign nationals or withholding tax law. Each canton has a control body that checks them.Law and source: Art. 6 BGSA; SECO: undeclared work
  • During working hours, the control body may enter workplaces, ask employers and employees for information, see documents, and check identity and permits. Its inspectors must identify themselves.Law and source: Art. 7 paras. 1 and 2 BGSA
  • Tax offices report undeclared employee income to the compensation offices.Law and source: Art. 12 para. 1 BGSA
  • The cantons also check the accident insurance duty and report uninsured employers to the substitute fund for accident insurance.Law and source: Art. 107 UVV

The control body of your canton is on the SECO list of cantonal control bodies. SECO: cantonal control bodies (opens in a new tab)

Offences and the surcharge

  • Not joining a compensation office and not settling the wages with it on time are offences. So is avoiding the contributions by false or incomplete statements or in any other way.Law and source: Art. 87 AHVG
  • Refusing information or a control is an offence too.Law and source: Art. 88 AHVG
  • A surcharge on the contributions owed applies only after a conviction for one of these offences. It may not be deducted from the wage.Law and source: Art. 14bis paras. 1 and 2 AHVG
  • Avoiding the accident insurance duty on purpose is an offence as well.Law and source: Art. 112 para. 1 let. a UVG

Schwarzarbeit: undeclared workCash payment and undeclared household work

The same steps for a cleaner, nanny, carer or gardener

The duties are the same for every kind of paid work in your home: cleaning, looking after children, care by the hour when your household pays the carer, and work in the garden or around the house.Law and source: Art. 12 para. 2 AHVG

For young people, the AHV has its own age rules. AHV and the age rules

If you are the Helper

  • You can ask the household you work for to register you now.
  • The household you work for registers you for the past months and declares the wages it paid you.Law and source: Art. 12 para. 2, Art. 51 paras. 1 and 3 AHVG
  • If you had no permit to work in Switzerland: working without the required permit is a criminal offence for the worker, and registering for social insurance does not replace a permit. Ask the cantonal migration office or a lawyer before you act.Law and source: Art. 115 para. 1 let. c AIG
  • Registering you and paying the contributions was the household's duty as your employer. Your own duties stay yours: truthful answers at a control, your own tax return and a valid permit.Law and source: Art. 12, Art. 14 para. 1, Art. 51 para. 1 AHVG; Art. 8 BGSA; Art. 115 para. 1 let. c AIG
  • If the household took contributions off your wage but did not pay them to the office, those wages still count in your account.Law and source: Art. 30ter para. 2 AHVG
  • Wages paid to you in a past year go into your account under that year. They go under the year you worked if they are paid after you have left that household, or if you prove they are for work in an earlier year for which less than the minimum contribution was paid.Law and source: Art. 30ter para. 3 AHVG
  • You can ask every compensation office that keeps an account for you for a free extract.Law and source: Art. 141 para. 1 AHVV
  • Ask for a correction within 30 days of receiving it; later, only for an obvious error or with full proof.Law and source: Art. 141 paras. 2 and 3 AHVV
  • The office bills the household both shares for the past months. Whether you pay your share back to the household is a private matter between you and the household; the office does not decide it.Law and source: WBB nos. 2024 and 3017
  • The substitute premium and any surcharge on the contributions may never be taken from your wage. Your share of the premium for accidents outside work can come only from the wage for the same pay period or the next one.Law and source: Art. 14bis para. 1 AHVG; Art. 95 para. 1, Art. 91 para. 3 UVG
  • If you pay withholding tax and it was not deducted, the household may claim it back from you. The tax office asks you to pay it directly only if it cannot collect it from the household.Law and source: Art. 138 paras. 1 and 3 DBG
  • The household must give you a written payslip with every wage, and you can ask for a salary statement for each past year.Law and source: Art. 323b para. 1 OR; Art. 127 para. 1 let. a DBG
  • Had an accident while that household had no accident insurance? Report it on the website of the substitute fund for accident insurance (Ersatzkasse UVG); the household files the self-declaration for the uninsured time. You can send unpaid bills to your health insurer, which must pay them in advance while it is unclear who pays.Law and source: Art. 59 para. 3, Art. 73 para. 1 UVG; Art. 70 paras. 1 and 2 let. a ATSG; substitute fund questions and answers, questions 23 and 24
  • Family allowances for past months are usually claimed through the compensation office, for up to 5 years after each month.Law and source: Art. 24 para. 1 ATSG; AHV/IV leaflet on domestic work, section 8

Your AHV accountSubstitute fund: how to report an accident (opens in a new tab)

You never pay Helpore a fee.

Terms on this page

Show the terms
  • AHV: the Swiss old age and survivors' insurance. The wages declared for your Helper go into their account with it.
  • Compensation office (Ausgleichskasse): the office of your canton where your household registers as an employer and declares the wages for social insurance. More on the compensation office
  • Back contributions: the social insurance contributions for past months (AHV, IV, EO, unemployment insurance and family allowances), which the office claims now.
  • Simplified procedure: a route with a wage limit. You declare the wages once a year, and the compensation office also collects a flat tax.Law and source: Art. 2 para. 1 BGSA; Art. 1 VOSA More on the simplified procedure
  • Withholding tax (Quellensteuer): the income tax that the employer deducts from the wage of some foreign employees and pays to the tax office.
  • Substitute fund for accident insurance (Ersatzkasse UVG): the fund set up by law that pays the accident benefits of an employee who had no insurance.
  • Substitute premium: what the substitute fund charges the employer for the time without a policy.
  • Substitute institution for occupational pensions: the body set up by law that pays the legal pension benefits while an employer has no pension fund.

Questions about registering past months

How many years back can I register?

Up to 5 years after the end of each year: after that, the office can no longer claim the contributions. For example, the St. Gallen office states that it accepts a household registration that far back.Law and source: Art. 16 para. 1 AHVG; SVA St. Gallen: registering household help retroactively

Do I pay interest on the back contributions?

Yes: 5% a year, from the start of the year after each year owed. It is counted per day and stops on the invoice date if you pay the invoice on time. It is owed whatever the reason for the delay.Law and source: Art. 41bis para. 1 let. b and para. 2, Art. 42 paras. 2 and 3 AHVV; AHV/IV leaflet on contributions and interest, section 7

Who pays my Helper's share of the back contributions?

Your household does: the office bills you both shares for the past months. Whether your Helper pays their share back to you is a private matter between you and them; the office does not decide it.Law and source: Art. 14 para. 1 AHVG; WBB nos. 2024 and 3017

Can I use the simplified procedure for past years?

Past months are settled in the ordinary procedure. The simplified procedure can only start with a new employment or at the beginning of a calendar year, and the office may refuse it to an employer whose past settlements are not in order.Law and source: Art. 1 paras. 1 to 3 VOSA; WBB no. 2102

Can the office waive the back contributions?

Only for an employer who could believe in good faith that nothing was owed, for example after wrong information from the office, and for whom paying would mean real hardship. Not knowing the rules is not enough.Law and source: Art. 40 paras. 1 and 2 AHVV; BGE 100 V 151

My Helper had an accident while I had no policy. What happens?

Your Helper reports the accident on the website of the substitute fund for accident insurance. The fund pays the legal benefits and charges your household a substitute premium.Law and source: Art. 59 para. 3, Art. 73 para. 1, Art. 95 para. 1 UVG; substitute fund questions and answers, question 23

Is it an offence not to have registered?

Yes. Not joining a compensation office and not settling the wages with it on time are offences, and so is avoiding the accident insurance duty on purpose. A surcharge on the contributions applies only after a conviction.Law and source: Art. 87, Art. 14bis AHVG; Art. 112 para. 1 let. a UVG

The office wrote to me first. What do I send?

The wages you actually paid in each year. Without them in time, the office sets the contributions by an assessment decision. Pay its invoice within 30 days.Law and source: Art. 38 para. 1, Art. 39 para. 2 AHVV

I kept no records of the wages. What happens?

If the information is missing, the office sets the contributions itself by an assessment decision. It may check on site and charge the costs to your household.Law and source: Art. 38 paras. 1 to 3 AHVV

Does my Helper get the past years in their AHV account?

If your household deducted contributions from the wages, those wages count in your Helper's account even if your household never paid them to the office. Wages from which your household deducted nothing count once your household has paid the back contributions.Law and source: Art. 30ter para. 2 AHVG; Federal Supreme Court judgment 9C_769/2008 of 21 August 2009, consid. 3.3

Official sources