Childcare Guide

Registering Your Nanny for OASI (AHV): Step-by-Step (2026)

Hiring a nanny privately is perfectly legal in Switzerland - but the moment you pay her a regular wage, you have to register her with the cantonal compensation office (Ausgleichskasse). Here's the short answer, three possible routes, and exactly what to do in each canton.

Reading time: 7 min · Last updated: August 2026

Answer in 30 seconds

Yes: for an adult nanny you owe OASI from the very first franc - in a private household there is no small-wage threshold. Only for under-25s are wages up to CHF 750 per year and per employer exempt. You register with the compensation office of your canton of residence.

Up to CHF 22'680 annual wage: the simplified procedure is possible. Above that: ordinary registration
The competent office is the one of your canton of residence - not your nanny's
Without registration: contributions generally recoverable 5 years back, plus 5% late interest - and you owe both halves

When do you have to register a nanny?

For an adult nanny you are liable for OASI from the very first franc paid. The small-wage threshold that normally applies to tiny wages is expressly excluded for private households (Art. 34d para. 2 AHVV). With a regular nanny - say CHF 28/hour, 12 hours a week - you therefore contribute from the first wage on.

Work from the annual wage, not the weekly hours. CHF 32 an hour for 15 hours a week is around CHF 1'900 a month and well over CHF 23'000 a year - but even if your nanny only covers the summer holidays, you register her. For an adult employee every franc counts.

Important: the CHF 750 limit for young nannies applies per employer, not per person. If an under-25 nanny works for several families, each family has its own CHF 750 limit. An adult nanny, by contrast, must be registered by each family from the first franc - or you use the Simplified Settlement Procedure together.

Special rule: young nannies

For people up to the end of the year of their 25th birthday there is an exception: wages up to CHF 750 per year and per employer are OASI-exempt (Art. 34d para. 2 AHVV). Classic case: a 22-year-old student working as a weekend nanny - if you only pay her a few hundred francs a year, you do not have to register her. Only once you go past CHF 750 does her entire annual wage become liable. For anyone 25 or older this limit does not exist - the first franc already counts.

3 ways to register your nanny

Which route is right for you depends mostly on the annual wage. Here's the overview:

1. Simplified Settlement Procedure (vereinfachtes Verfahren)

•Wage ceiling: up to CHF 22,680 per year and employer (as of 2026)
•A flat 5% withholding tax (0.5% federal, 4.5% cantonal and communal) that you deduct from your nanny's wage
•AHV, ALV and FAK are settled once a year through the compensation office - but the deduction still happens every month
•Instead of a Lohnausweis, the compensation office issues your nanny a certificate

Fits when the AHV-liable annual wage will safely stay under CHF 22'680 and the household payroll under CHF 60'480.

2. Standard procedure

•Register as an employer with your cantonal compensation office
•Monthly payslip with gross/net, social deductions, salary certificate at year-end
•Withholding tax handled separately via the cantonal tax office (for B/L permit holders)
•You need: BVG affiliation from CHF 22'680 a year, your own UVG policy, and you settle continued wage payment or daily sickness benefits

Fits full-time work, several employees in the household, or when the limit might fall during the year.

You can walk either route yourself - or be guided through it

•Clino is not a third procedure. There are exactly two: the simplified one and the ordinary one. Clino is software that guides you through one of them
•Concretely: work out which procedure fits your figures, find the right form for your canton and prepare the details
•Signing and submitting is yours. The compensation office registers you and your insurer insures you - we are neither
•After that the monthly payslip and the year-end report to the office. CHF 19.90 a month

Ask your nanny this before you open the form

Registration rarely fails because of the form - it fails because of missing details. These five points can be settled in a single conversation:

1Name, date of birth and AHV number, exactly as they appear on the insurance certificate or the health-insurance card. Both carry the number.
2She has no AHV number? That does not block the hire. The number is assigned through the competent compensation office - you register her and request it in the same step.
3She already works for another family? Her AHV number stays the same, but that family's registration does not cover your wages. Every household settles the wages it pays itself.
4Does she live in Switzerland, and does she work only here? Residence abroad or work in several countries brings its own rules - then ask the office before registering.
5Does she have children? Family allowances also run through the compensation office and are applied for separately.

And the wage figure on the form: it means the AHV-liable gross wage. Holiday compensation, a 13th month's salary and board and lodging are part of it. If you agreed a net wage, you have to gross it up first - otherwise you report too little.

Which route fits you?

The decision ends at one of the two statutory procedures. How much room you have left before the limit is what the check in the simplified-procedure article calculates.

AK finder: your cantonal compensation office

AHV registration runs through the compensation office of your canton of residence. Pick your canton - you get the right office, its online portal and the registration form.

Your canton of residence

Zürich

SVA Zürich

Online portal: AHVeasyFAK contribution (employer): 1.025%

Open registration form Guide for Zürich

Office website+41 44 448 50 00

Source: official data from the cantonal compensation offices.

Other cantons can be found via zas.admin.ch or ahv-iv.ch. If you are self-employed, your industry compensation office may also be relevant - but for private households it's always the cantonal one.

What happens if you don't register?

It is worth looking at this soberly. The realistic scenario is not a criminal complaint but an invoice you were not expecting:

Contributions backdated, plus interest

Contribution claims generally have to be asserted within five years of the end of the calendar year concerned (Art. 16 AHVG); where the claim derives from a punishable act, the longer criminal-law period can apply. On top come 5% late-payment interest a year. The sore point: towards the office you are liable for the total contribution, so including the employee's share - and recovering that afterwards from wages paid long ago is difficult in practice.

Penal provisions exist too

The AHVG contains its own penal provisions for employers who fail to join a compensation office or fail to account for contributory wages in time (Art. 87 AHVG). We deliberately attach no figure to it: not every late registration ends up in court, and waving an amount at you says nothing about what to do now.

Missing UVG cover is a separate problem

If your nanny was not covered by accident insurance, the Ersatzkasse UVG provides the statutory benefits - the loss does not simply land on you personally. In return it charges substitute premiums: for the duration of the omission, at most five years, and the amount doubles if you evaded the insurance obligation inexcusably (Art. 95 UVG). Worth knowing: an ordinary UVG policy cannot be taken out retroactively.

Which documents do you need?

To register your nanny, you need:

✓Your nanny's OASI number (on her health insurance card)
✓Residence permit (B, L, C, or G for cross-border commuters) - not needed for Swiss nationals
✓Nanny's date of birth and address
✓Agreed gross wage (per hour or per month)
✓Start date and expected weekly hours
✓Your own OASI employer account statement (you get this after the first registration)

💡 Tip: keep a copy of the residence permit in your records - the migration office can request it during an inspection.

Keep reading

Free Checklist: Hire Household Help Correctly

AHV, accident insurance, contract. All on one page, by email in 30 seconds.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Two procedures, one way through the paperwork

Clino works out which procedure fits your figures, prepares the registration with your compensation office and then produces the monthly payslip. You do the submitting - but you don't have to guess. CHF 19.90 a month.

Frequently asked questions

Can I register my nanny retroactively if I haven't done so yet?

Yes - and it is the right move. Approaching the compensation office yourself usually settles the matter as a back payment instead of letting it escalate. You pay the contributions afterwards (in principle up to five years back) plus late-payment interest. How your office handles your specific case is a ten-minute phone call - and that conversation is considerably more pleasant than one after an inspection.

What if the nanny herself says she's self-employed?

That doesn't protect you. The compensation office looks at the actual circumstances: who works in your home, following your instructions, on your schedule? That is dependent employment - regardless of whether she sends you an invoice. More on this in our article on bogus self-employment.

Do I have to register if my sister looks after our children?

No - as long as there's no regular wage. Close family members may help unpaid or for symbolic amounts. But once it becomes a genuine employment relationship with a regular wage, the usual rule applies: from the first franc for adults, from CHF 750 per year for under-25s - even within the family.

How long does the OASI registration take?

The registration form itself takes about 15 minutes to fill in. The compensation office then processes it, usually within a few working days, and you receive your employer number. Exactly how long it takes is the office's call, not ours.

What about withholding tax for my foreign nanny?

With a B or L permit you have to deduct withholding tax (Quellensteuer). Under the Simplified Procedure it's a flat 5%; under the standard procedure you follow the cantonal table. C permit holders and Swiss nationals are not subject to withholding tax - they file their own tax return.

Will my nanny get a salary certificate?

That depends on the procedure. Under the ordinary procedure you issue her a Lohnausweis at year-end. Under the simplified procedure you do not: she receives a certificate from the compensation office about the withholding tax remitted, and that replaces the Lohnausweis. In both cases the contributions on her AHV account count towards her future pension.

Sources

FSIO - Leaflet 2.06 "Contributions of domestic employees" (AHV number, reporting, family allowances): ahv-iv.ch
FSIO - Leaflet 2.07 "Simplified settlement procedure for employers": ahv-iv.ch
AHVG Art. 16 (limitation) and Art. 87 (penal provisions); UVG Art. 95 (substitute premiums); AHVV Art. 34d para. 2: fedlex.admin.ch
Cantonal compensation offices: zas.admin.ch. Ersatzkasse UVG: ersatzkasse.ch

All figures as of 2026. Wage thresholds are adjusted every 2 years.