Swiss household employment
Kost und Logis: board and lodging for a live-in Helper
Also written: Kost und Logis · Nourriture et logement · Vitto e alloggio
How do you calculate board and lodging?
Board and lodging that you, the employer, give your Helper are wage in kind. You add their value to the cash wage, and the contributions are due on the total. For AHV, a federal ordinance fixes the value per day for each meal and for the room.
What it means if you employ someone at home
Agree in writing which meals and which room are part of the wage, and from which day. Show the wage in kind on every payslip: it is added to the gross wage for the contributions and then deducted from the net pay, because your Helper has already received it. Keep the record with the payslips.
The numbers
The AHV values of board and lodging under the federal ordinance, read on 14 October 2026:
- Breakfast, per day
- CHF 3.50
- Lunch, per day
- CHF 10.00
- Dinner, per day
- CHF 8.00
- Room, per day
- CHF 11.50
- Full board and lodging, per day
- CHF 33.00
- Full board and lodging, a whole month
- CHF 990.00
Common questions
What counts as board and lodging?
Board means the meals your Helper takes in your household: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lodging means a room you provide in your home or close by. Both count as wage only where they are part of the agreed pay. A coffee during a short cleaning visit is not board, and a room rented at a market price is not lodging.
How do you calculate the value of meals?
For AHV, each part has its own value per day: breakfast CHF 3.50, lunch CHF 10.00, dinner CHF 8.00 and the room CHF 11.50. Full board and lodging count CHF 33.00 a day. Add only the meals your Helper takes. A whole month counts as 30 days, so full board and lodging come to CHF 990.00 a month.
How much do you have to pay a live-in housekeeper?
At least the minimum wage that applies to your Helper: the standard contract of your canton, the federal one, or a cantonal or communal minimum wage law. Whether board and lodging may count towards that minimum, and at which value, depends on the standard contract and the canton. Check this before you agree the cash wage in the contract.
How many hours should a live-in nanny work?
Living in does not mean being on duty at all hours. The standard contract of your canton sets the weekly working hours, the daily and weekly rest and how time on call is paid. Hours beyond the agreed ones are overtime. Record the hours worked and the free time, so that you and your Helper can both check them.
How does it work with a live-in caregiver?
You, the employer, agree the cash wage and the board and lodging in the contract. On each payslip the value of board and lodging is added to the cash wage, the contributions are calculated on that gross wage, and the value is then deducted again from the net pay. You pay the rest to your Helper.