In five cantons a domestic worker at the minimum wage gets not a single franc of premium reduction

In most cantons the rule is: the smaller the wage, the bigger the reduction and the smaller what is left to pay. In 4 cantons this flips. In Bern the part-time domestic worker, with a net wage of CHF 21,790, receives a reduction of 1,764 francs and then pays 19.1% of her wage towards the premium. Her full-time colleague, who earns almost twice as much, pays 12.7%.

The reason: Bern pays fixed amounts per income bracket, and the amounts are small relative to the premium. Anyone in the lowest bracket gets more francs, but not enough to make up for the smaller wage. The same pattern appears in Basel-Country, Geneva and Jura, most markedly in Jura, at 24.8% for the part-time domestic worker.

For single people without children, Basel-Country draws a hard line at an income of CHF 31,000, unchanged since 2014. Anyone earning exactly 31,000 receives 2,194 francs. Anyone earning one franc more receives nothing. At CHF 40,484, the full-time domestic worker is above the line and gets zero; under the formula alone it would be 1,458 francs. If she is taxed at source, the canton uses 70% of her gross wage: CHF 31,080. She misses the line by 80 francs.

Similar cliffs exist elsewhere, on a smaller scale: in Grisons, one franc of income above 30,000 costs 300 francs of reduction. In Glarus, an income above 40,000 raises the required own contribution, calculated on the entire income, from 9 to 10%. Schaffhausen pays at most 65% of its reference premium, and Solothurn does not pay out amounts below 240 francs at all.

In 7 cantons the reduction usually comes automatically, in 17 the authority sends out a form or you have to register, and in 2 a separate application is required. Miss a deadline and in many cantons you lose the whole year. The main traps for 2027:

• Lucerne: apply for 2027 by 31 October 2026, even though the canton only publishes its 2027 values in mid-November. Later applications only count from the following month.
• Aargau: by 31 December 2026, strictly, with an access code. Under the 2027 rules the full-time domestic worker receives 953 francs; without an application, nothing.
• Ticino: by 31 December 2026 for the reduction from January; later applications only count from the following month.
• Solothurn and Neuchâtel: the pre-filled form must be returned within 30 days, otherwise the entitlement is lost.
• Fribourg: money only from the month of the application. Basel-City and Vaud: never retroactive; in Vaud the application must be filed by the end of November for the reduction to start in January.
• Zurich: pays 80% provisionally; the final amount follows the 2027 tax assessment, so in 2028 or 2029, and may be reclaimed.

Domestic workers face a second hurdle: many are taxed at source and fall outside the automatic procedure, which relies on the ordinary tax return. A study by the Bern University of Applied Sciences for Basel-City found that 39.5% of eligible people taxed at source did not claim a reduction, compared with 19.3% of other eligible people (data 2015/16).

Vaud is generous to the full-time domestic worker: 2,894 francs. Since 1 October 2025, however, a rule there hits part-time workers: anyone who lives alone and works less than 70% without a recognized reason is treated as someone who is forgoing income, and receives no reduction. Our part-time domestic worker works about 52%. Recognized reasons include on-call work, the situation in the sector, health, training or care duties. If her reason is not recognized, she pays 29.9% of her net wage to the health insurer instead of 8.1%.

Many domestic workers are paid under the simplified settlement procedure, with 5% tax at source as final taxation. This wage does not appear in any ordinary tax assessment. How the cantons count it for the reduction varies widely. Glarus and Zug use 100% of the gross wage, Lucerne, Uri and Obwalden 75%, Valais and Fribourg 80%. It is explicitly added in Appenzell Outer Rhodes, Appenzell Inner Rhodes, St. Gallen, Aargau, Grisons, Geneva, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Schwyz and Glarus.

In the remaining cantons we found no rule. A domestic worker paid entirely under the simplified procedure could be treated there as having no income for the purposes of the reduction. This is Clino's inference, not information from the cantons. In Grisons, where the rule is known, going through the simplified procedure costs the part-time domestic worker about 884 francs of reduction a year, because all tax deductions fall away.

For domestic workers: check your entitlement even if no form has arrived, and note your own canton's deadline. If you have several employers and are taxed at source, ask how the canton counts your wage. Your rights as an employee in a private household are set out in our guide for domestic workers.

For employers: a correct salary certificate is the basis of every application. Registering your domestic worker and giving her a salary certificate at the end of the year makes the application possible for her. Clino produces payslips and salary certificates for private households; what employing someone costs is shown by the wage calculator. How many hours a domestic worker at the minimum wage works for her premium is shown in our sister study Premium Hours 2027.