Employing someone who already draws an AHV pension
You may employ a pensioner perfectly normally - no permission needed. Three things on the payslip change, though, and one of them saves you both money.
You can employ someone past reference age perfectly normally. Exactly three things change on the payslip: AHV contributions only apply to the part above CHF 1'400 a month, unemployment insurance falls away entirely on both sides, and there is no longer any pension-fund obligation. Accident insurance continues unchanged on the full wage.
- Allowance of CHF 1'400 a month or CHF 16'800 a year - and it applies per employer, not in total.
- ALV disappears: neither of you pays the 1.1 per cent any more. In exchange there is no unemployment benefit either.
- She may waive the allowance - which can still increase her pension.
This applies when
Your household employee has reached AHV reference age and keeps working.
- Allowance / month
- CHF 1'400
- Allowance / year
- CHF 16'800
- ALV from reference age
- 0 %
- NBU stays
- 1.432 %
What changes on the payslip
AHV: only on the part above CHF 1'400
Once reference age is reached, AHV contributions only apply to wages above CHF 1'400 a month - CHF 16'800 a year. If she earns CHF 1'000 a month with you, no AHV contributions arise at all. If she earns CHF 1'800, only CHF 400 is charged.
ALV: falls away completely
From reference age the obligation to contribute to unemployment insurance ends entirely (Art. 2 para. 2 lit. c AVIG). Neither you nor she pays the 1.1 per cent. The flip side: there is no entitlement to unemployment benefit any more either.
Pension fund: no longer compulsory
Mandatory occupational provision ends at reference age. Even if the wage is above the entry threshold, you no longer have to register her. Voluntary continuation is possible with some funds, but it is not your obligation.
Accident insurance: exactly the same
Nothing changes here. Occupational accidents from the first hour, non-occupational from eight hours a week with the same employer, both on the full wage - with no allowance. This is the most common mistake: applying the allowance to the accident premium as well.
The allowance applies per employer
If she works for several families, she gets the allowance with each of them separately. Three households at CHF 1'200 a month each means CHF 3'600 of wages and still no AHV contributions. That is intended, not a loophole - so you do not need to know what she earns elsewhere, and you may apply your allowance in full.
She may waive the allowance - and sometimes that pays
Since the AHV 21 reform she can decide whether AHV contributions should be paid on the wage below CHF 1'400 after all. It sounds counterintuitive but can add up: contributions after reference age can close contribution gaps and raise the pension, up to the maximum pension. She can request a one-off recalculation of her pension taking into account income earned after reference age.
Who this is interesting for: anyone who spent years abroad, or whose pension is reduced because of missing contribution years. The waiver has to be declared to the compensation office - for the whole year and separately with each employer.
What does not change
Quite a lot, and that is the more important half: employment contract, wage floor, holiday entitlement, public holidays, notice periods, continued pay during illness - all exactly as for any other employee. Drawing a pension is no reason for worse conditions, and the allowance is not permission to pay less. It lowers the social contributions, not the wage.
Common questions
Do I have to tell the compensation office?
Yes. The office does not automatically know your employee has reached reference age and will otherwise keep settling as before. Report it actively so the allowance is applied from the right month. Overpaid contributions can be reclaimed, but that is effort you can avoid.
From when exactly does this apply - from the 65th birthday?
From the month after reference age is reached. Today that is usually 65, but women born between 1961 and 1963 have a transitional reference age between 64 years and 3 months and 65 years under AHV 21. If in doubt ask the compensation office for the exact date - guessing does not pay here.
She draws an IV pension, not the AHV. Does this apply too?
No. The allowance only applies from AHV reference age. Someone drawing an IV pension and working alongside it pays contributions perfectly normally - and remains liable for ALV too.
Is it actually worth it for me as an employer?
Your wage overheads drop noticeably: no more ALV, and AHV only on the part above the allowance. At CHF 1'200 a month you effectively pay only the accident premium and the family-allowance contribution. But that is a side effect, not a reason to prefer someone because of their age.
Sources
Allowance and waiver
The allowance of CHF 1'400 a month or CHF 16'800 a year, and the rule that with several employers it applies separately to each employment relationship, come from the AHV/IV information centre. The option to waive it, and the one-off recalculation of the pension including income earned after reference age, come from the AHV 21 reform. In the code the amount lives at AHV_PENSIONER_FREIBETRAG in src/lib/canton-data.ts.
ALV and occupational provision
The obligation to contribute to unemployment insurance ends at reference age (Art. 2 para. 2 lit. c AVIG). Mandatory occupational provision ends there too. Accident insurance knows no such boundary and continues on the full wage.
Clino applies the allowance automatically
You only state that your employee has reached reference age. Clino deducts the allowance, drops the ALV, treats the accident premium correctly on the full wage, and produces the statement the way the compensation office expects it.
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Salvador Jovells, founder of Clino
Verified July 2026