Expat guide

New in Switzerland and hiring a cleaner or nanny: your first 30 days

A cleaner or nanny you pay privately is your employee in Switzerland, from the first franc and even at two hours a week. In the first 30 days you check her permit, agree the wage, insure her against accidents and register her with your canton's compensation office (Ausgleichskasse / caisse de compensation). This page puts it in order.

Updated: 1 October 2026·Reading time: 7 min

A suitcase and a pair of shoes by the front door of a flat

In short

Before she starts, check her permit and agree the wage. From her first hour she needs accident insurance. Within one month, register her with your canton's compensation office. If you pay her at most CHF 22,680 a year, the simplified procedure means one invoice a year.

From the first franc. The only exception: young people, until the end of the year they turn 25, who earn at most CHF 750 a year from you.
The compensation office writes in German, French or Italian. Below is what each letter means.
Clino prepares and pre-fills the paperwork in English. You check it, sign it and submit it.

Official sources

Your first 30 days, in order

Six steps, in this order. Each one links to the guide that covers it in full.

Before she starts: check her permit

Swiss citizens and C permit holders can always work. EU and EFTA citizens can work for you; for more than three months a year they need a B or L permit. With any other permit, check what it says about paid work before you promise anything. Every permit explained →

Before she starts: agree the wage, ideally in writing

For most household staff the national standard contract for household work (NAV Hauswirtschaft / contrat-type économie domestique) sets the minimum wage: CHF 20.35 an hour for unskilled staff in 2026. Some cantons and cities set more. With an hourly wage, add 8.33% holiday pay for four weeks of holiday. A written contract is not compulsory, but one page avoids misunderstandings. Create the contract →

From her first hour: accident insurance

Every employee must be insured against accidents at work from the first hour (accident insurance, UVG). From 8 hours a week with you, cover for accidents outside work is compulsory too, and she pays that part. In the simplified procedure you can take it out through the compensation office when you register (VAVplus); otherwise with any accident insurer. Accident insurance explained →

Within one month: register with the compensation office

Register her with your canton's compensation office within one month of her first day. If she earns at most CHF 22,680 a year from you and your household pays at most CHF 60,480 in wages in total, you can use the simplified procedure (vereinfachtes Abrechnungsverfahren / procédure simplifiée): one invoice a year, and a 5% flat tax instead of the usual withholding tax. Above that, the ordinary procedure (ordentliches Verfahren / procédure ordinaire) applies. Simplified or ordinary: the four-question check →

Every month: a payslip

Give her a payslip (Lohnabrechnung / fiche de salaire) with every wage payment. It shows her gross wage and the deductions for AHV/IV/EO, ALV and, from 8 hours a week, accident insurance outside work (CO Art. 323b). What goes on a payslip →

By 30 January: the annual wage report

Report the year's wages to the compensation office by 30 January. In the simplified procedure an invoice follows, payable within 30 days, and the office sends her a certificate of the tax paid. In the ordinary procedure you also give her a salary certificate (Lohnausweis / certificat de salaire) for her tax return. All the dates in your calendar →

Has she been working for you for a while already? How to register late

The letters you will get, in plain English

The compensation office writes in the official language of your canton: German, French or Italian. This is what arrives, roughly in this order, with the words printed at the top of each letter.

Membership confirmation
On the letter
Anschlussbestätigung / attestation d'affiliation
When
By post, usually 1 to 3 weeks after you register
What to do
Keep it. Your account number with the office is on it, and you need that number for every later step, including the annual wage report.
Advance invoice (ordinary procedure only)
On the letter
Akontorechnung / facture d'acompte
When
During the year, every quarter or every month depending on the office
What to do
Pay it by the due date. It is an estimate; the exact amount is settled after the year ends.
Wage report form
On the letter
Lohnbescheinigung / déclaration des salaires
When
Towards the end of the year
What to do
Enter what you paid her during the year and send it back by 30 January.
Annual invoice or final statement
On the letter
Rechnung, Schlussabrechnung / facture, décompte final
When
After your wage report
What to do
Simplified procedure: pay the whole year's contributions and tax within 30 days. Ordinary procedure: pay, or get back, the difference to your advance payments.
Reminder
On the letter
Mahnung / rappel
When
When a deadline has passed
What to do
Pay or reply quickly. Paying late costs interest, and in the simplified procedure it can get you excluded from it.
Accident insurance policy
On the letter
Police / police d'assurance
When
From the insurer once you take out cover; with VAVplus the premium comes on the compensation office's invoice
What to do
Keep it. If she has an accident, report it to the insurer straight away.
Withholding tax (ordinary procedure only)
On the letter
Quellensteuer / impôt à la source
When
From the cantonal tax office, after you register her there, if she is a foreign national without a C permit
What to do
Deduct the tax from her wage every month and pay it to the tax office. In the simplified procedure the 5% tax is on the compensation office's invoice instead.
Her AHV number
On the letter
756.xxxx.xxxx.xx
When
It is on her AHV card and on her health insurance card. If she has none, the compensation office requests one when you register her
What to do
You need the 13-digit number to register her, and it goes on every payslip.

Another word on a letter that you do not recognise? The glossary explains the usual terms in plain English.

Her permit and your procedure

Two separate questions: may she work for you, and which procedure can you use? Her permit answers the first. For the second, the permit only matters in a few cases.

May she work for you?

Swiss citizens and C permit holders: yes. EU and EFTA citizens: yes, with a B or L permit, or with an online notification for up to three months a year. G permit (cross-border commuter, Grenzgänger / frontalier): yes. Anyone else: only if the permit allows paid work, and new permits for household work from outside the EU and EFTA are rare.

Each permit in detail: work permits for household staff

Who cannot use the simplified procedure

Cross-border commuters who return to Liechtenstein every day.
Cross-border commuters who return to France every day and work for you in Bern, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Jura, Neuchâtel, Solothurn, Vaud or Valais. Commuters from Germany, Austria or Italy, and from France into Geneva, Zurich or Ticino, can use it.
Your spouse, your registered partner and your children, if you employ them.
A company as the employer: an AG, a GmbH or a cooperative. If your company pays her instead of you privately, the simplified procedure is closed.

Everyone else can use the simplified procedure below the two limits, whatever the permit.

Source: BGSA Art. 2 para. 2 and the federal directive on collecting contributions (WBB, BSV 318.102.04, as of 1.1.2026), no. 2105.

What Clino does, what you do

Clino prepares and pre-fills

The registration form for your canton's compensation office
The employment contract and a payslip every month
The annual wage report and, in the ordinary procedure, the salary certificate
Every deadline, in your dashboard and as a calendar file

You decide and submit

Check and sign the forms, then send them to the compensation office
Pay her wage and the office's invoices
Take out accident insurance, or tick VAVplus on the registration form

Clino's screens, the contract and the payslips are in English. Forms for the compensation office stay in its official language, the language the office works in; Clino explains in English what each one says.

Questions expats ask

She only works two hours a week. Do I really have to register her?

Yes. In a private household the duty starts with the first franc. The only exception is for young people: until the end of the year they turn 25, a wage of up to CHF 750 a year from you is free of contributions, unless she asks to pay them.

Can I do all of this in English?

Almost all of it. Clino, the contract and the payslips are in English. What you file with the compensation office stays in its official language (German, French or Italian); Clino pre-fills it and explains it in English, so you only check and sign.

I would like to bring my nanny from outside the EU. Is that possible?

Rarely. A new work permit for household work from outside the EU and EFTA requires proof that nobody suitable was found in Switzerland or the EU, and there are quotas. Ask the cantonal migration office before you promise her the job.

She already works for other families. What changes?

Nothing for you. Each family is a separate employer, registers her separately and pays contributions only on its own wage. The CHF 22,680 limit of the simplified procedure counts what you pay her, not her total income.

Do I need a written contract?

No. A spoken agreement is a valid contract, and the standard contract for household work (NAV) fills the gaps. A one-page written contract still helps: hours, wage, holidays and notice in black and white.

Your first 30 days with Clino

Clino prepares the registration, the contract and every payslip for your canton, in English. 30 days free, nothing charged before day 30. Then CHF 19.90 a month.

Start free →

Clino prepares and pre-fills, you submit.