Payslip (Lohnabrechnung): what goes on it, with a sample

What the payslip shows

The law requires a written statement with every wage payment, and the employment contract cannot waive it. The law itself lists no lines. Courts expect the payslip to be easy to understand, to show the gross wage, every supplement, every deduction and the net wage, and to come with the pay.

A payslip shows these lines, in this order.

It names your household as the employer, with its AHV account number, and your Helper, with their AHV number. It also names the month it covers.

Next come the hours worked in the month and the hourly wage, or the monthly wage. Where holiday pay is included in the hourly wage, the holiday share follows, and the public holiday share where one is paid.

If the contract or the canton's standard contract for household work provides for a thirteenth monthly wage, it appears in the month it is paid.

The gross wage is the total of these lines.

Then come the deductions from your Helper's wage, each by name and amount. They are, as a rule, old age, disability and income compensation insurance (AHV/IV/EO) and unemployment insurance (ALV). Where they apply, the deductions also include a cantonal contribution in some cantons, non occupational accident insurance, which covers accidents outside work; any agreed share of daily sickness insurance (KTG); the occupational pension (BVG); and source tax (Quellensteuer), which your household deducts from the wage and passes on.

Your Helper's share of AHV/IV/EO is, as a rule, 5.3 % of the gross wage.

Your Helper's share of ALV is, as a rule, 1.1 % of the gross wage, up to the maximum insured wage.

Non occupational accident insurance applies from 8 hours a week with your household.

In the simplified settlement procedure, where your household settles contributions and tax together with the compensation office, source tax is a flat 5 % of the wage, and it is final: no further income tax is due on that wage.

The net wage is the gross wage less the deductions. It is what your Helper is paid.

Courts accept holiday pay inside the hourly wage only for irregular work, never for full time work for the same household, and only if the contract and every payslip show the holiday share as an amount or a percentage; otherwise your household may have to pay the holiday wage again.

Where holiday pay is included, the payslips Helpore prepares under Helpore Admin and Helpore Admin Light show the holiday share on its own line, in francs.

• NBU
• Quellensteuer
• Vereinfachtes Abrechnungsverfahren
• 13. Monatslohn
• Ferienentschädigung

How your household draws up the payslip each month

Start from the hours your Helper worked in the month times the agreed hourly wage, or from the monthly wage.

Add any supplement that is due, such as a thirteenth monthly wage, or holiday pay included in the hourly wage where the work is irregular. The total is the gross wage.

Deduct your Helper's share of each contribution and premium, and any source tax. What is left is the net wage your household pays.

Give your Helper the payslip in writing with each wage payment, and keep a copy.

If you use Helpore Admin or Helpore Admin Light, your household stays the employer and owes the wage. With Helpore Admin, Helpore prepares the payslip each month and, under your household's power of attorney, in its name and for its account, transfers the net wage to your Helper and passes on the contributions, premiums and any source tax out of the money your household has paid in. With Admin Light, Helpore prepares the calculation and the payslip, and your household registers, files and pays.

• The documents Helpore Admin prepares
• The documents Helpore Admin Light prepares

With Helpore Admin and Admin Light, your Helper also finds their copy in their Helpore account, under Documents, if they have an account. The copy is in your canton's document language, German, French or Italian, or in English, Spanish or Portuguese when your Helper's account is set to any of those.

What your household pays on top

Your household's own share of the contributions and premiums comes on top of the gross wage and is not deducted from your Helper's wage. On Helpore Admin payslips it appears only on your household's own copy.

The wage calculator shows what your household pays in total in its canton.

• Brutto und Netto

Canton rules for the payslip

Some cantons add rules of their own in the standard contract for household work; they apply unless your written contract says otherwise:

• Glarus: hand over the payslip by day 10 of the following month (Art. 17 para. 3 NAV GL, GS VIII C/12/3).
• Solothurn: hand over the payslip by day 7 of the following month (§ 19 NAV SO, BGS 821.321).
• Zug: pay the wage, with any family allowances, and hand over the payslip by day 5 of the following month (§ 17 para. 1 NAV ZG, BGS 831.521).
• Nidwalden: hand over the monthly payslip within 7 working days (§ 25 para. 2 NAV NW, NG 223.1).
• Schwyz: hand over the monthly payslip within 7 working days (§ 18 para. 3 NAV SZ, SRSZ 217.111).
• Lucerne: the pay is due by day 7 of the following month, with a payslip each month (§ 20 NAV LU, SRL 854).
• St. Gallen: the payslip shows the holiday pay, the working time by day and by night, and time on standby at the workplace (Art. 10 para. 2 NAV SG, sGS 513.1).
• Schaffhausen: a copy of the record of hours goes with each payslip (§ 16 para. 3 NAV SH, SHR 221.216).
• Geneva: keep a record of hours worked and rest days (Art. 10bis para. 3 CTT-EDom, rsGE J 1 50.03).

Payslip, salary certificate and the year end

A payslip covers a single wage payment. The salary certificate (Lohnausweis) sums up the year for the tax return, and in the ordinary procedure your household issues it every year.

Where source tax is deducted, each payslip shows the amount, and a yearly confirmation of the tax follows. In the simplified settlement procedure the compensation office issues that confirmation, not your household.

• Lohnausweis