Swiss household employment
Family allowances (FAK): what your household pays and who claims
Also written: FAK · CAF
What are family allowances (FAK)?
Family allowances are a monthly payment per child, in amounts the canton sets. As the employer, your household joins a fund and pays its rate on the AHV wage. If your Helper has a child, they can claim through that fund.
Rates by cantonWhat it means if you employ someone at home
Your household joins a family allowance fund, usually when it registers with the compensation office, and pays the fund's rate on the AHV wage. If the person you employ, your Helper, has a child and earns at least the minimum income, they can claim through that fund, unless someone else is first in line for the same child. If the Helper works for several households, the fund of the household that pays the highest wage handles the claim. The fund pays the allowance, and your household usually passes it on with the wage.
You are the employer. With Helpore Admin, Helpore prepares a contract if you want one and, under your signed power of attorney, files the declarations and produces the payslip in your name; with Admin Light, Helpore prepares the maths and the documents and you file and pay. Both are optional. You stay the employer in every case and can also do all of this yourself.
The numbers
In 2026, the cantonal funds charge a household between 1.025 % and 2.75 % of the AHV wage, depending on the canton. Your canton's rate:
| Canton | Employer rate |
|---|---|
| Aargau | 1.45 % |
| Appenzell Innerrhoden | 1.6 % |
| Appenzell Ausserrhoden | 1.6 % |
| Bern | 1.5 % |
| Basel-Landschaft | 1.3 % |
| Basel-Stadt | 1.65 % |
| Fribourg | 2.27 % |
| Geneva | 2.22 % |
| Glarus | 1.4 % |
| Grisons | 1.5 % |
| Jura | 2.75 % |
| Lucerne | 1.35 % |
| Neuchâtel | 1.8 % |
| Nidwalden | 1.5 % |
| Obwalden | 1.4 % |
| St. Gallen | 1.8 % |
| Schaffhausen | 1.3 % |
| Solothurn | 1.25 % |
| Schwyz | 1.3 % |
| Thurgau | 1.4 % |
| Ticino | 1.6 % |
| Uri | 1.7 % |
| Vaud | 2.37 %1 |
| Valais | 2.5 %23 |
| Zug | 1.35 % |
| Zurich | 1.025 % |
- Vaud: the compensation office bill adds other cantonal funds to the family allowance line, so the employer pays 2.62 % on that line, against a fund rate of 2.37 %.Checked on 29 September 2026
- Valais: the compensation office bill adds other cantonal funds to the family allowance line, so the employer pays 2.78 % on that line, against a fund rate of 2.5 %.Checked on 29 September 2026
Each canton's own fund charges this rate on the AHV wage.
Source: Federal Social Insurance Office, types and rates of family allowances 2026; for the bill line, the canton's compensation office. Checked on 7 October 2026.
Federal Social Insurance Office: types and rates of family allowances, 2026Who must join a family allowance fund
Every employer who pays AHV contributions on a wage must join a family allowance fund, whether or not the person it employs has children. A household that pays someone to work in its home is such an employer.
A household has no registered seat, so the canton where it lives decides whose family allowance rules apply and in which canton it joins a fund (Art. 12(1) and (2) FamZG). Where the Helper lives does not decide it.
For most households, joining the fund is part of registering with the compensation office. Each canton runs a cantonal fund through its cantonal compensation office (Art. 17(1) FamZG), and the compensation office usually collects the family allowance contribution together with the AHV contributions. If you are not sure your registration covers the fund, ask your compensation office.
If your household uses the simplified settlement procedure, the family allowance contribution is part of it.
What your household pays
Your household pays a percentage of the AHV wage, the same wage its AHV contributions are based on. Each canton decides how its funds are financed, so the rate differs between cantons and can differ between funds in the same canton.
In 2026, the cantonal funds charge employers between 1.025 % and 2.75 % of the AHV wage.
The table above shows the rate of each canton's own fund. A household registered with the cantonal compensation office usually belongs to that fund.
If your household belongs to another recognised fund, such as a professional fund, that fund's rate applies.
Your household pays the whole contribution. Valais is the one exception, where the person you employ pays a share too. The note under the table above gives it.
In Vaud and Valais, the compensation office bill adds contributions to other cantonal funds to the family allowance line, so the line is higher than the fund rate. In Vaud these are the funds for vocational training and for day care for children. The notes under the table above give both figures.
How the person you employ claims
The person you employ can claim if they are insured in the AHV, earn at least the minimum income set out below, and work for an employer that belongs to a fund, as your household does. They are entitled for as long as they are entitled to a wage.
The claim goes through one employer and its fund. If the Helper works for several households, the fund of the household that pays the highest wage handles it (Art. 11(1) FamZV).
Tell the Helper they may claim and give them the claim form. The Helper fills it in, and you send it to your fund, usually through your compensation office. Tell the fund about any change, for example when the employment ends.
The fund decides the claim and pays the allowance. Your household usually passes it on to the Helper with the wage.
Who is entitled, and how much
Every canton has a monthly child allowance and a monthly education allowance. Some cantons add a birth or adoption allowance, paid once.
There is one allowance of each kind per child. If several people could claim for the same child, the law sets the order: first the one in paid work, then the one with parental authority, then the one the child lives with, then the one who works in the canton where the child lives, then the one with the higher AHV income from employed work, and then from self employment.
If two people can claim for the same child under the rules of two cantons, the one who is second in line receives the difference when the legal amount in their canton is higher. Someone not in paid work does not receive this difference.
In 2026, the law sets a minimum of CHF 215 a month for the child allowance and CHF 268 a month for the education allowance. Cantons pay at least this, and many pay more.
The amount follows the rules of the canton of the household whose fund handles the claim, not those of the canton where the person you employ lives.
What each canton pays per child in 2026:
- Aargau: child allowance CHF 225 a month, education allowance CHF 278 a month.
- Appenzell Innerrhoden: child allowance CHF 245 a month, education allowance CHF 298 a month.
- Appenzell Ausserrhoden: child allowance CHF 230 a month, education allowance CHF 280 a month.
- Bern: child allowance CHF 250 a month, education allowance CHF 310 a month.
- Basel-Landschaft: child allowance CHF 215 a month, education allowance CHF 268 a month.
- Basel-Stadt: child allowance CHF 275 a month, education allowance CHF 325 a month.
- Fribourg: child allowance CHF 265 a month, education allowance CHF 325 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 1’500, paid once.
- Geneva: child allowance CHF 311 a month, education allowance CHF 415 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 2’073, paid once.
- Glarus: child allowance CHF 215 a month, education allowance CHF 268 a month.
- Grisons: child allowance CHF 240 a month, education allowance CHF 290 a month.
- Jura: child allowance CHF 275 a month, education allowance CHF 325 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 1’500, paid once.
- Lucerne: child allowance CHF 215 a month, education allowance CHF 268 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 1’075, paid once.
- Neuchâtel: child allowance CHF 240 a month, education allowance CHF 320 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 1’200, paid once.
- Nidwalden: child allowance CHF 258 a month, education allowance CHF 311 a month.
- Obwalden: child allowance CHF 220 a month, education allowance CHF 270 a month.
- St. Gallen: child allowance CHF 245 a month, education allowance CHF 298 a month.
- Schaffhausen: child allowance CHF 230 a month, education allowance CHF 290 a month.
- Solothurn: child allowance CHF 215 a month, education allowance CHF 268 a month.
- Schwyz: child allowance CHF 230 a month, education allowance CHF 280 a month, birth allowance CHF 1’000, paid once.
- Thurgau: child allowance CHF 215 a month, education allowance CHF 280 a month.
- Ticino: child allowance CHF 215 a month, education allowance CHF 268 a month.
- Uri: child allowance CHF 240 a month, education allowance CHF 290 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 1’200, paid once.
- Vaud: child allowance CHF 322 a month, education allowance CHF 425 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 1’617, paid once.
- Valais: child allowance CHF 327 a month, education allowance CHF 477 a month, birth or adoption allowance CHF 2’142, paid once.
- Zug: child allowance CHF 330 a month, education allowance CHF 330 a month.
- Zurich: child allowance CHF 215 a month, education allowance CHF 268 a month.
Some cantons pay a higher amount for larger families, for older children or for multiple births and adoptions. The list shows the base amount; the official table has each canton's detail.
Source: Federal Social Insurance Office, types and rates of family allowances 2026. Checked on 16 October 2026.
The child allowance is paid from the month of birth to the end of the month in which the child turns 16, or 20 for a child who is unable to work. The education allowance replaces it once the child is in education after compulsory school, at the earliest from the month the child turns 15, and runs to the end of the education, at the latest to the end of the month in which the child turns 25. A child still at compulsory school after turning 16 receives the education allowance from the next month.
There is no education allowance for a young person who earns more than CHF 30’240 a year, gross.
In 2026, a claim needs an AHV income of at least CHF 630 a month or CHF 7’560 a year.
Only whole allowances are paid. Once the Helper's AHV income reaches the minimum, counting the wages from all employers together, the Helper gets the full allowance, even when working part time. Below the minimum, the Helper has no claim through an employer.
If the Helper cannot work, for example because of illness or accident, the allowance continues for the current month and 3 more months, even when the right to a wage has ended. The same applies during unpaid leave.
During maternity leave, the allowance continues for up to 16 weeks. Some other leaves, such as care or adoption leave, keep it too.
Children abroad and Helpers living across the border
For a child who lives abroad, an allowance is paid only where an international agreement requires it, with a few exceptions in Swiss law; in those exceptions the amount is adjusted to purchasing power in that country.
If the person you employ is a citizen of an EU or EFTA state, the European coordination rules apply. Allowances are paid for children who live in those states, but birth and adoption allowances are not paid abroad.
If the Helper lives in a neighbouring country, the page on cross border commuters covers the permit and the tax.
Sources: Bundesgesetz über die Familienzulagen und Finanzhilfen an Familienorganisationen (Familienzulagengesetz, FamZG), Art. 3 to 7, 11 to 17, 19 and 24; Verordnung über die Familienzulagen (Familienzulagenverordnung, FamZV), Art. 7, 8, 10, 10b and 11; Bundesgesetz über den Allgemeinen Teil des Sozialversicherungsrechts (ATSG), Art. 24; the AHV/IV leaflets on household employment, on the simplified settlement procedure and on family allowances; the Federal Social Insurance Office pages on family allowances; and the Vaud compensation office notice and page on family allowances.
Federal Social Insurance Office: family allowances, benefits and conditionsCommon questions
Where does the person I employ apply for family allowances?
Through your household. You give the Helper the claim form, the Helper fills it in, and you send it to your fund, usually through your compensation office. If the Helper also works for other households, the form goes to the fund of the household that pays the highest wage (Art. 11(1) FamZV).
Do I pay this even if the person I employ has no children?
Yes. Your household owes the contribution on the wage whatever the Helper's family situation, because it finances the allowances of the whole scheme, not those of one person.
How much is the allowance per child?
In 2026, at least CHF 215 a month for a child allowance and CHF 268 a month for an education allowance. Many cantons pay more, and some add a birth or adoption allowance. The section on who is entitled lists each canton's amounts.
Does the person I employ have to earn a minimum to get family allowances?
The claim needs an AHV income of at least CHF 630 a month or CHF 7’560 a year, counting the wages from all employers together. Below that, the Helper has no claim through an employer.
Who pays the allowance out?
The fund. It decides the claim and pays the allowance, and your household usually passes it on to the Helper with the wage. In Vaud, for example, the fund deducts the allowances your household has paid out from its contribution bill. Ask your fund how it works in your canton.
In Valais, does the person I employ pay a share?
Yes. Valais is the only canton where the employee pays part of the family allowance contribution. In 2026, the Federal Social Insurance Office table puts the Helper's share at 0.13 % of the AHV wage. Your household pays the employer rate shown in the table above.
Why is the family allowance line on my Vaud bill higher than the fund rate?
Because the Vaud compensation office bills the cantonal funds for vocational training (FONPRO) and for day care for children (FAJE) on the same line. In 2026, the family allowance fund rate is 2.37 % and the line on the bill comes to 2.62 %. Your household pays the whole line.
Can the person I employ claim for past months?
Yes, for up to 5 years. An allowance lapses 5 years after the end of the month it was owed for (Art. 24(1) ATSG).
The person I employ works for several households. Which fund handles the claim?
The fund of the household that pays the highest wage (Art. 11(1) FamZV). Each household still pays the contribution to its own fund, on the wage it pays.
Is the family allowance contribution part of the simplified settlement procedure?
The simplified procedure covers the family allowance contribution at your fund's rate, together with the contributions for old age, disability, income compensation and unemployment insurance (AHV, IV, EO and ALV) and the tax at source.
We registered our household late. How far back can the fund ask for contributions?
The fund can claim unpaid contributions until 5 years after the end of the calendar year they were owed for (Art. 24(1) ATSG). A household that registers late can be asked for them that far back.