For employees
Is your payslip correct?
Every line explained, and a payslip you can put your own numbers into. For people employed in private households.
A correct payslip shows your gross wage, every deduction on its own line with its rate, and your net wage. If the AHV line is missing, you are not registered.
- The deductions are not a loss: each line buys you something concrete.
- On hourly pay, the holiday supplement must appear on every payslip.
- Above a certain annual wage the pension fund is added. That surprises most people.
This applies when
You clean, mind children or care for someone in a private household.
X-ray your payslip
Take a photo of your payslip and every line is checked against the legal rates: AHV, ALV, holiday supplement and whether the sums add up. First, an example with two mistakes.
Example with two mistakes. What about yours?
Photo or screenshot. On your phone you can use the camera directly.
Findings
- OK: Wage17.33 h × CHF 30.00: above the minimum wage of CHF 20.35 (NAV, some cantons require more).
- Problem: Holiday supplementMissing: you are owed CHF 43.31 more a month (8.33 % for 4 weeks of holiday), unless your holiday weeks are paid.
- Problem: AHV/IV/EO10.6 % instead of 5.3 %: CHF 27.56 too much deducted. Your employer may not deduct her own share from you.
- OK: ALVCHF 5.72 = 1.1 % of the gross wage.
- OK: Sum519.90 − 86.83 = 433.07
The photo never leaves your device: text recognition runs here in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
Your payslip, line by line
Set your own case below and tap a line. The figures come from the same engine Clino uses to produce real payslips, not from a table typed into this page. Whether your hourly wage itself is right, the check against the minimum wage shows you.
What a proper payslip looks like
Set your own case and tap a line - it explains itself.
Up to CHF 22'680 a year it runs simplified: tax settled at 5%, no pension fund. Above that it is ordinary - and the BVG line appears, the one nobody explains.
Your case
Maria Gonzalez, cleaner
AHV/IV/EO
Your pension. Your employer pays the same amount again on top, you are not carrying it alone.
What you can check
- Your hourly rate is above the CHF 20.35 minimum in this canton.
- Holiday supplement is there. On hourly pay it must appear on every payslip.
No AHV line means you are not registered
Then it is undeclared work, however kindly it is meant. Without registration you have no pension credit, no unemployment benefit and no proof you ever worked. And that proof is the first thing you need after an accident.
How to tell something is wrong
Four things you can check yourself, with no prior knowledge. If one of them does not hold, ask about it in writing.
Tick what applies to your payslip:
Nothing ticked: the basics hold. Use the tool above to check that the figures hold too.
When they deduct backdated contributions
The most common shock: half a year of contributions comes off in one go and there is almost nothing left of the wage. Usually it is the pension fund, which kicks in above a certain annual wage. This is not something that can simply happen.
It comes off each wage payment
The law provides that your share of the pension fund is deducted from each individual wage payment (BVG Art. 66 para. 3), not collected at the end. If nothing was deducted for months and then everything arrives at once, that at the very least needs explaining.
And not without limit
Only the portion of your wage that would be attachable may be set off against it (CO Art. 323b para. 2). Put simply: what you need to live on is protected. A deduction that shrinks a month's wage to a few hundred francs is hard to square with that.
What you can ask for
Ask in writing for two things: your pension certificate together with the fund's rules, and an explanation of why the deduction was backdated. The certificate also shows whether your employer pays in at least as much as you do. It must (BVG Art. 66 para. 1).
If you get no usable answer: BVG Auskünfte answers occupational-pension questions free of charge and independently, at eleven locations across Switzerland. If your employer holds back part of your wage, you can claim it back calmly and in writing.
Common questions
Why is money deducted when I earn so little?
Because the deductions are not tax in the everyday sense, they are insurance in your name. AHV is your pension, ALV pays a daily benefit if the job disappears, accident cover covers you in your free time. For AHV and ALV your employer pays the same amount again on top.
I work for several families. Does it add up?
For AHV each employment is settled separately and each family registers you on its own. For tax, your total income is what counts in the end. If you have several jobs, tell each employer. Several small jobs often mean no pension fund, so check early how much pension you will have.
Do I have to file a tax return?
In the simplified procedure the deduction on your payslip settles the tax, and you need do nothing further for that income. In the ordinary procedure you are assessed normally. Which one applies depends on your annual wage.
My employer says a payslip is too complicated.
It takes a few minutes and there are tools for it. Show them the payslip generator: they enter hours and hourly rate and get a finished PDF.
Check your job in two minutes
Answer a few questions about your position and you will see what is right, what is missing and what you can show your employer.
Check my jobSources
Contribution rates and thresholds come from the same data Clino uses to produce payslips. Legal basis: CO Art. 323b, BVG Art. 66. Independent occupational-pension advice: bvgauskuenfte.ch.