Law & pay
Bonus or 13th-month salary: what do you owe your domestic worker?
A bonus is voluntary, a 13th-month salary is not. Where the line is, when a bonus becomes a duty and how to put both through payroll.
You only have to pay a bonus (Gratifikation, Christmas bonus) if it is agreed (OR Art. 322d para. 1). Under case law it also counts as agreed if you pay it several years in a row, in practice three, without a written voluntariness reservation. A 13th-month salary, by contrast, is fixed wage: once agreed, owed every year. Both are wage subject to AHV (AHVV Art. 7 lit. c).
- In the cantons of Bern and Ticino the standard employment contract (NAV) for domestic staff provides for a 13th-month salary. It applies unless your written employment contract says otherwise.
- On leaving during the year: 13th-month salary pro rata, bonus only if a pro-rata payment was agreed (OR Art. 322d para. 2).
- A bonus counts toward the annual wage and can push your employee over the simplified-procedure ceiling of CHF 22'680.
This applies when
You privately employ a cleaner, nanny or domestic worker and are wondering whether you must or want to pay a bonus or 13th-month salary.
Calculate the pro-rata 13th salary
For an agreed 13th-month salary: enter the monthly wage and months worked. You see the pro-rata amount.
Applies only if a 13th-month salary was agreed; pro-rata on mid-year departure. A discretionary bonus with no agreement is not owed.
Next question: what else goes into the final settlement, from holidays to the salary certificate?
Open the leaving checklist →Three payments, three rules
Voluntary bonus
You decide each year whether and how much. No entitlement as long as you record the reservation in writing.
Bonus with entitlement
Agreed, or grown out of years of unreserved payment. The amount may vary, the payment itself no longer.
13th-month salary
Fixed part of the wage: owed every year, pro rata on leaving.
Bern and Ticino: the cantonal standard employment contract for domestic staff provides for the 13th-month salary (NAV Hauswirtschaft BE, BSG 222.153.22; CNL personale domestico TI, Art. 23). If you do not want to pay it there, your written employment contract must say so explicitly.
One sentence keeps the bonus voluntary
Under Federal Supreme Court case law, a bonus becomes an entitlement if you pay it over several years, usually three, without a reservation. So write on the payslip each time you pay it:
"This bonus is voluntary. Even if paid repeatedly, it creates no entitlement for the future."
Two limits: if you pay exactly the same amount for many years, a court may treat the reservation as an empty formula. And with low wages a bonus must not be large relative to the wage, otherwise it counts as wage.
How to put bonus and 13th-month salary through payroll
- Both are wage: you deduct AHV/IV/EO and ALV as with the monthly wage, show the amount as its own line on that month's payslip and report it with the wage total (AHVV Art. 7 lit. c).
- In the simplified procedure, 5 % source tax on the bonus also goes to the compensation office.
- The bonus counts toward the annual wage. If your employee is close to CHF 22'680, a Christmas bonus can push her over it. Then the simplified procedure falls away, retroactively to 1 January (written answer from SVA Graubünden, 7.8.2026). All 2026 thresholds →
- You do not owe a holiday supplement on a bonus: it is paid regardless of holidays. A small gift in kind such as flowers is not treated as wage in practice; cash as thanks for the work is.
Put bonus and 13th-month salary through payroll properly
Clino creates the payslip and the AHV settlement for your domestic worker, special payments included. 30 days free, then CHF 19.90 per month.
Start free →Frequently asked questions
Do I have to pay my cleaner a Christmas bonus?
No, unless it is agreed, you have paid it for years without a reservation, or you live in the canton of Bern or Ticino and your written contract does not exclude the 13th-month salary from the standard employment contract.
Is a bonus subject to AHV?
Yes. Bonuses are part of the relevant wage (AHVV Art. 7 lit. c). They go through the payslip, with AHV/IV/EO and ALV contributions and, in the simplified procedure, 5 % source tax.
What is the difference between a bonus and a 13th-month salary?
The 13th-month salary is fixed wage: set in amount, owed every year, pro rata on leaving. A bonus is a special payment whose amount you set at least partly yourself. It is only owed if agreed (OR Art. 322d).
Do I have to pay pro rata if the employment ends mid-year?
For the 13th-month salary, yes. For a bonus only if a pro-rata payment was agreed (OR Art. 322d para. 2). What else falls due when the job ends, from the notice period to the final payslip, is set out in our checklist for ending the employment.
Does the bonus count toward the simplified-procedure ceiling?
Yes. What counts is the annual wage subject to AHV, including bonus and 13th-month salary. If it exceeds CHF 22'680 per person, the simplified procedure is no longer possible.
Sources
- Code of Obligations, Art. 322d (bonus)
- AHVV, Art. 7 lit. c (components of the relevant wage)
- Canton of Bern, standard employment contract for domestic work (BSG 222.153.22)
- Canton of Ticino, Contratto normale di lavoro per il personale domestico, Art. 23
- FSIO, Merkblatt 2.07 Simplified settlement procedure, as of 1.1.2026
General information, not legal advice.