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Employment vs. self-employment

Is your cleaner self-employed or your employee? In a private household she is almost always your employee

Salvador JovellsReading time: 5 min

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Even if she sends an invoice, the cleaner in a private household is almost always your employee for AHV purposes.

In short: whoever cleans your home for pay is almost always your employee for AHV purposes, even if she sends you an invoice. The AHV lists the cleaner in a private household explicitly as domestic work, and you as the employer settle the contributions for it (AHV leaflet 2.06). She is only self-employed if the compensation office recognises her as self-employed for exactly this work.

Answer in 30 seconds

Almost never self-employed. You decide when and what gets cleaned, and she carries no business risk: that is dependent employment (Art. 10 ATSG), and you are the employer. An invoice, a business licence or several client families change nothing; what counts are the actual circumstances (BGE 122 V 169).

  • Registered properly, a cleaner working 4 hours a week at CHF 30 in Zurich costs you about CHF 45 a month in employer contributions.
  • If the office later classifies her as an employee, it claims both halves of the contributions up to 5 years back, and it claims them from you (Art. 14 and 16 AHVG).
  • She is only self-employed with the compensation office's recognition for exactly this work. Ask to see it.

Official sources

Six questions about your situation. Every yes is a sign of employment.

The self-employment test

Is your cleaner really self-employed?

Answer 6 questions. The test shows whether your cleaner counts as an employee in law - and when she is, exceptionally, genuinely self-employed.

1

Do you pay her by time (per hour or per month) rather than a fixed price for a finished job?

2

Do you decide when, where and how the cleaning is done?

3

Do you provide the cleaning products and equipment?

4

Do you expect her to come in person rather than just sending someone else?

5

Does she have no company, no employees and bear no financial loss risk?

6

Is there no confirmation from the compensation office that she is recognised as self-employed for exactly this work?

Question 0 of 6

What it costs if you get it wrong

The household carries the risk, not the cleaner. As the employer you owe the compensation office the full contributions, including the cleaner's share (Art. 14 AHVG, leaflet 2.06 section 6), and the office claims them up to 5 years back (Art. 16 AHVG). On top come late-payment interest, a possible fine and, if she has an accident uninsured, the substitute premiums of the Ersatzkasse UVG for up to 5 years (Art. 95 para. 1 UVG).

Example Zurich, 4 hours a week at CHF 30, paid on invoice for 3 years: the office claims about CHF 2,595 in AHV/IV/EO and ALV from you, both halves, before interest. Registered properly, you would have paid about CHF 45 a month in employer contributions and deducted the cleaner's share from her wage. How to report those invoiced years now is explained in our guide to registering retroactively.

The 4 signs of employment

The compensation offices and the Federal Supreme Court do not look at what the contract says but at how the work is actually done. In a private household, all four signs are almost always present:

1

Subordination

You decide when the cleaning is done, which rooms and how. Whoever follows instructions is an employee.

2

Organisational integration

The work is done in your home, with your equipment and cleaning products - she is integrated into your household.

3

No entrepreneurial risk

She invests nothing, bears no loss risk and has no infrastructure of her own. The only risk anyone bears is her own loss of wages.

4

Duty to work in person

You expect that SHE specifically comes and does not simply send a replacement. Self-employed people can arrange to be replaced.

If these signs apply, she is in dependent employment for the AHV (Art. 10 ATSG, Art. 5 AHVG) and your employee under employment law (Art. 319 OR). The quick social-insurance check shows which social insurances then apply.

What the Federal Supreme Court says

In BGE 122 V 169 the Federal Supreme Court made it clear: what counts for the status are the actual economic circumstances, not the label chosen by the parties. Whoever works subject to instructions and without their own entrepreneurial risk is a dependent worker - no matter what the paperwork says.

The rare exception: when she really is self-employed

Only someone who operates like a business and carries her own risk is genuinely self-employed. The most common case: a cleaning company sends you one of its employees. Then you are a client, not an employer, and the company settles the contributions.

What does NOT indicate self-employment

  • •An invoice instead of a payslip
  • •A business licence or a sole proprietorship on its own
  • •Work for several households (each is its own employer)
  • •An oral or written agreement that she is "self-employed"

Features of genuine self-employment

  • •Own company entered in the commercial register
  • •Several clients, no relationship of dependency on a single one
  • •Own staff, own equipment and materials
  • •Bears the entrepreneurial risk (investments, risk of loss)
  • •Recognised by the AVS as self-employed

Even a registration as self-employed with her office is not automatically enough: someone recognised as self-employed in one activity can count as employed in another (SVA Zürich). So ask for the confirmation covering cleaning in private households, not just any confirmation.

Frequently asked questions

My cleaner sends me an invoice - doesn't that make her self-employed?
No. The invoice format changes nothing about the legal classification. The AVS examines the actual circumstances, not the document. If she works subject to instructions in your household, she is employed - even with an invoice.
She comes every week and sends me an invoice at the end of the month. Isn't that enough?
No. The regularity is exactly what points to employment. Anyone who commits to working for you regularly by the hour or by the day has an employment contract under the law (Art. 319 para. 2 CO). The amount on the monthly invoice then counts as her wage, and you settle the AHV contributions on it. This also applies if she only comes now and then. Regularity just makes the case clear-cut.
She has a business licence / a sole proprietorship. Isn't that enough?
No. A business licence or a sole proprietorship on its own makes no one self-employed for social-insurance purposes. What matters is whether she bears a real entrepreneurial risk and acts like a business - not the legal form. How an inspection judges such cases is shown in our article on bogus self-employment.
She works for several families. Doesn't that make her self-employed?
No. Working for several clients does not make someone self-employed. Each household counts as its own employer and must account for AVS from the first franc.
When is my cleaner really self-employed?
When she acts like a business: her own registered company, several clients, her own staff and materials, a real risk of loss and recognition as self-employed by the AVS. This practically never applies to the classic hourly cleaning help.
So who decides bindingly?
The AHV compensation office, not you, not your cleaner and not a contract. It looks at the actual circumstances. As long as there is no recognition as self-employed for this work, the office and the courts assume an employment relationship, and the duty to register is yours.
What is the difference between an employment contract and a contract for work?
A contract for work (Werkvertrag) (Art. 363 CO) requires a clearly delimited, acceptable work - such as a conversion. Ongoing cleaning is not a "work": it is provided by time and instruction and is therefore an employment contract (Art. 319 CO), best put in writing with a template.

Sources

  • 1AHV/IV leaflet 2.06 Domestic work (as of 1.1.2026): ahv-iv.ch
  • 2ATSG Art. 10 and 12: employees and self-employed persons: fedlex.admin.ch
  • 3AHVG Art. 14 and 16: collection and back-claims of contributions: fedlex.admin.ch
  • 4SVA Zürich: self-employed persons, recognition per activity: svazurich.ch
  • 5OR Art. 319: individual employment contract: fedlex.admin.ch

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Salvador Jovells

Salvador Jovells, founder of Clino