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Private childminder: where she looks after your child decides whether you are the employer

Arranging a childminder (Tagesmutter) privately is allowed. If she looks after your child in your home, you are her employer, just as with a nanny: AHV from the first franc. If she looks after your child at her home and works only for you, that usually counts as employment too. If it runs through a day-family organisation, the organisation is the employer. Depending on the canton, the childminder herself has to notify child protection.

September 23, 20265 min read
Status check

Who is the employer, and what do you have to do?

3 to 4 clicks, answer in francs.

1. Where is your child looked after?

At her home: employed or self-employed?

In your home it is clear: anyone who looks after a child in the parents' household earns a wage (WML Rz 4114), and you are the employer, as with a nanny. At her home the AHV makes a distinction. Through an organisation, she is employed by the organisation. If you take your child to her directly, it only counts as a wage if her business risk is low and she depends strongly on you for how the work is organised (WML Rz 4113). These are the signs the compensation office weighs:

Points to employment

You are the employer

  • Looks after only your children
  • You set the hours and rules
  • Fixed rate, no risk of her own
  • Does not present herself as a business

Points to self-employment

She settles her own contributions

  • Looks after children of several families
  • Sets her own hours and routines
  • Carries her own risk, e.g. unpaid bills
  • Advertises, writes her own invoices
The compensation office decides case by case. What counts is the economic reality, not what the contract says.

Notification and authorisation: her duty, the canton's rules

The federal Foster Care Ordinance requires a notification for day care, not an authorisation. Cantons may be stricter, as these three examples show. The duty falls on the childminder, not on you. Ask anyway before your child goes to her: notified day families are supervised, in the city of Zurich with at least one visit a year.

Federal, Art. 12 PAVO

Anyone who publicly offers to look after children under 12 regularly and for pay in their own home notifies the authority.

Cantons may require more (Art. 3 PAVO).

  1. ZHZurich

    Notification

    Above 25 hours a week for one child, relatives and acquaintances included. At most 6 children in care at once.

  2. BEBern

    Notification in advance

    At least 1 month before starting, to the cantonal Office for Integration and Social Affairs. With an organisation, it notifies.

  3. VDVaud

    Authorisation

    Authorisation from the municipality needed. Looking after close relatives, for example, is exempt.

If she looks after your child in your home, there is no PAVO notification. The employer duties of a nanny apply instead.

Costs and tax deduction

A day-family organisation charges a rate per hour and child, in the Zürcher Oberland for example CHF 11.50 from 18 months and CHF 13.20 for younger children, before subsidies. The municipality often reduces this rate according to income; in the canton of Bern, childcare vouchers are only available through a day-family organisation. Privately, there is no organisation to pay, but as the employer you carry the social contributions. The status check above works them out for your canton.

  • Via an organisation

    YouTariffOrganisationWageChildminder

  • Private, you are the employer

    YouWageChildminder
    YouContributionsCompensation office

  • Private, she is self-employed

    YouInvoiceChildminder
    ChildminderContributionsCompensation office
On all three routes, what you can document is deductible as childcare: the organisation's invoice, the wage certificate or her invoice.

If both parents work, you deduct the cost as third-party childcare, up to CHF 25'800 per child for federal tax. The tax deduction calculator shows what that is worth. Which receipt counts is explained in deducting household help from your taxes. Daycare, day family and nanny compared: Daycare, nanny or childminder?.

You are the employer? Get it right in a few minutes

Whether a childminder at her home or a nanny at yours: Clino prepares the AHV registration and walks you through it, creates the payslip every month and, at year end, the wage certificate for your tax deduction. Nothing is charged before day 30.

Try free for 30 days

Frequently asked questions

Can I arrange a childminder privately?
Yes. Nothing forbids hiring a childminder directly, without an organisation. You only need to work out who the employer is: if she looks after your child in your home, it is always you. If she does it at her home and works only for you, it usually is too. Then you register her with the compensation office from the first franc. Notifying child protection is her task.
Does a childminder need an authorisation?
Not under federal law, but a notification: anyone who publicly offers to look after children under 12 regularly and for pay in their own home notifies the authority (Art. 12 PAVO). Cantons may require more. Zurich: notification to the municipality above 25 hours a week for one child. Bern: notification at least 1 month before starting. Vaud: authorisation from the municipality. In other cantons, ask your municipality.
Is my childminder employed or self-employed?
The compensation office decides, not your contract. Through a day-family organisation, she is employed by the organisation. If she looks after your child directly at her home, it is a wage when her business risk is low and she depends strongly on you (WML Rz 4113), for example because she works only for you and you set the hours. She is only self-employed once the compensation office recognises it.
What if she looks after my child in our home?
Then under the Foster Care Ordinance she is not a childminder but a nanny, and you are the employer (WML Rz 4114): AHV registration from the first franc, occupational accident insurance, non-occupational accident cover from 8 hours a week, and a payslip every month. No child-protection notification is needed.
Can I deduct the childminder's cost from my taxes?
Yes, as third-party childcare, if both parents work, study or are unable to work and the child is under 14. Up to CHF 25'800 per child for federal tax; the cantons have their own caps. You need a receipt: the organisation's invoice, her invoice or, if you are the employer, the wage certificate.
I want to become a childminder myself. What do I have to do?
First ask your municipality whether you need to notify or get an authorisation. Through a day-family organisation you are employed and insured, and the organisation pays your wage and handles the paperwork. If you look after children directly for families and want to be self-employed, apply for it at your compensation office. Until it recognises you, you usually count as the parents' employee, and the parents register you.

Sources

  • Foster Care Ordinance (PAVO), SR 211.222.338, Art. 2, 3 and 12 - fedlex.admin.ch
  • FSIO, Directives on the determining wage (WML), Rz 4113 and 4114 - sozialversicherungen.admin.ch
  • AHV leaflet 2.02, contributions of the self-employed - ahv-iv.ch
  • City of Zurich, leaflet on the supervision of day families (V TaK) - stadt-zuerich.ch
  • Canton of Bern, GSI: supervision and authorisation, day families - gsi.be.ch
  • Canton of Vaud, OAJE: guidelines on family day care (LAJE) - vd.ch
  • Tagesfamilien Zürcher Oberland, tariff before subsidies - tfzo.ch

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Salvador Jovells

Salvador Jovells, founder of Clino