The 5 percent trap: in 16 of 26 cantons the tax tariff asks nothing of the cleaner, the flat rate CHF 600 a year
In 16 of 26 cantons, the ordinary withholding tax tariff charges 0 % on a monthly wage of CHF 1,000. The flat rate of the simplified settlement procedure charges 5 %: final, with no deductions and no refund. Someone who lives in the household of a high earner, by contrast, saves up to CHF 4,022 with the very same flat rate. A flat tax with reverse progression, recalculated for all 26 cantons.
Executive Summary
Anyone who registers a cleaner, a nanny or a carer under the simplified settlement procedure deducts 5 % of her wage as withholding tax: 0.5 % for the Confederation, 4.5 % for canton and municipality. The law calls this “settled in full”. There are no deductions, no tax return, no subsequent correction. 65,669 employers used the procedure in 2025, and 74,660 employees were settled through it in 2024. SECO (the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs) calls the flat rate “often more advantageous” than ordinary taxation.
The tariffs of the ESTV (Federal Tax Administration) say otherwise. On a wage of CHF 1,000 a month, the ordinary withholding tax tariff A0 (single, no children) charges 0 % in 16 of 26 cantons; in Geneva, Vaud, Valais and Basel-Stadt it stays at zero up to around CHF 2,450. Even at the ceiling of the procedure, CHF 22,680 a year, the tariff is below the flat rate in all 26 cantons. For an employee whose only income is the household job, the flat rate costs CHF 444 to 600 a year more than the tariff, depending on the canton. She cannot object: the employer chooses the procedure, for all employees at once.
The same flat rate is a gift for others. Someone who lives in the household of a married couple with CHF 150,000 of taxable income and earns an extra CHF 12,000 pays the marginal tax rate on it under ordinary assessment: 32.3 % in Zurich, 37.1 % in Geneva, 38.5 % in Bern. With the flat rate it is 5 %. Saving: CHF 3,277 to 4,022 a year. The rule that was created for “small amounts of remuneration” hits the lowest earner hardest and relieves high-earning households the most.
The ranking: CHF 444 to 600 a year that the tariff never asks for
Worked example: a domestic worker with a gross wage of CHF 1,000 a month, her only job, no children, no C permit. Under the simplified procedure, CHF 50 a month goes to tax, CHF 600 a year. Under the ordinary procedure, the canton's withholding tax tariff A0 applies. The difference is the price she pays for her employer's convenience.
| # | Extra cost/year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berntariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 2 | Basel-Countrytariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 3 | Basel-Citytariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 4 | Fribourgtariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 5 | Genevatariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 6 | Grisonstariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 7 | Neuchâteltariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 8 | Schwyztariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 9 | Vaudtariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 10 | Valaistariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 11 | Zugtariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 0.00/month | CHF 600.00 |
| 12 | Aargautariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 2.00/month (minimum tax) | CHF 576.00 |
| 13 | Zurichtariff A0: 0.21 % · CHF 2.10/month | CHF 574.80 |
| 14 | Juratariff A0: 0.29 % · CHF 2.90/month | CHF 565.20 |
| 15 | Ticinotariff A0: 0.30 % · CHF 3.00/month | CHF 564.00 |
| 16 | Appenzell Inner Rhodestariff A0: 0.31 % · CHF 3.10/month | CHF 562.80 |
| 17 | Obwaldentariff A0: 0.31 % · CHF 3.10/month | CHF 562.80 |
| 18 | Thurgautariff A0: 0.34 % · CHF 3.40/month | CHF 559.20 |
| 19 | Appenzell Outer Rhodestariff A0: 0.43 % · CHF 5.00/month (minimum tax) | CHF 540.00 |
| 20 | St. Gallentariff A0: 0.51 % · CHF 5.10/month | CHF 538.80 |
| 21 | Schaffhausentariff A0: 0.51 % · CHF 5.10/month | CHF 538.80 |
| 22 | Uritariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 6.00/month (minimum tax) | CHF 528.00 |
| 23 | Solothurntariff A0: 0.72 % · CHF 7.20/month | CHF 513.60 |
| 24 | Nidwaldentariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 8.00/month (minimum tax) | CHF 504.00 |
| 25 | Glarustariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 10.40/month (minimum tax) | CHF 475.20 |
| 26 | Lucernetariff A0: 0.00 % · CHF 13.00/month (minimum tax) | CHF 444.00 |
Flat rate: 5 % of CHF 1,000 = CHF 50 a month, CHF 600 a year. Minus what the ordinary withholding-tax tariff A0 (single, no children, no church tax) takes on the same wage, including any cantonal minimum tax. In 11 cantons the tariff takes nothing, so the whole flat rate is extra cost. Jura: only the with-church-tax variant is published. Source: ESTV withholding-tax tariffs 2026.
The map: eleven cantons where every franc of the flat rate is extra cost
Eleven cantons charge nothing at all on CHF 1,000 under the ordinary tariff, not even a minimum tax, so there the full flat rate is extra cost. Five more sit at 0 % but carry a minimum tax of a few francs. The “cheapest” canton is Lucerne, not because the tariff is high there, but because the canton has a minimum tax of CHF 13 a month that applies even to the smallest wages. Glarus (CHF 10.40) and Nidwalden (CHF 8) are similar. Zurich taxes from the first franc, but at 0.21 %: CHF 2.10 a month instead of CHF 50.
The darker, the more the employee pays compared with the ordinary tariff A0. Lightest cantons: there the ordinary tariff is 0 % at CHF 1,000 but carries a minimum tax (Lucerne CHF 13 a month, Glarus CHF 10.40, Nidwalden CHF 8). Source: ESTV withholding-tax tariffs 2026, Clino calculation.
Up to the ceiling: the tariff never catches up with the flat rate
The simplified procedure is only permitted up to an annual wage of CHF 22,680 per person, CHF 1,890 a month, and up to a total payroll of CHF 60,480 per household. The higher the wage, the closer the progressive tariff gets to the 5 %. It never reaches it: at the ceiling, tariff A0 in the most expensive canton, Jura, charges CHF 53.87 a month, church tax included. The flat rate charges CHF 94.50. In 8 cantons the tariff still charges 0 % even at the ceiling.
CHF 22,680 a year is the highest wage the simplified procedure allows. Even there the ordinary tariff A0 stays below the flat rate’s CHF 94.50 in every one of the 26 cantons; Jura comes closest (CHF 53.87, with church tax). Ten cantons shown, all 26 in the table and the CSV. Source: ESTV withholding-tax tariffs 2026.
At no wage that the simplified procedure even permits would the ordinary withholding tax tariff for a single person be higher than the flat rate. In none of the 26 cantons.
The zero band: where the state waives tax on small wages, except under the flat rate
French-speaking Switzerland and Basel-Stadt leave the lowest wages tax-free for longest: up to CHF 2,500 in Valais, up to CHF 2,450 in Geneva, Vaud and Basel-Stadt. That is more than the ceiling of the simplified procedure. There, a domestic worker pays zero under the ordinary procedure at every permitted wage, and always 5 % under the simplified one. Seven cantons, by contrast, tax from the first franc, all of them in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.
| # | 0 % up to | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valais | CHF 2,500 |
| 2 | Basel-City | CHF 2,450 |
| 3 | Vaud | CHF 2,450 |
| 4 | Geneva | CHF 2,449 |
| 5 | Schwyz | CHF 2,250 |
| 6 | Aargauminimum tax: CHF 2.00/month | CHF 2,150 |
| 7 | Grisons | CHF 2,050 |
| 8 | Zug | CHF 2,050 |
| 9 | Bern | CHF 1,700 |
| 10 | Glarusminimum tax: CHF 10.40/month | CHF 1,650 |
| 11 | Neuchâtel | CHF 1,600 |
| 12 | Fribourg | CHF 1,550 |
| 13 | Uriminimum tax: CHF 6.00/month | CHF 1,500 |
| 14 | Basel-Country | CHF 1,200 |
| 15 | Lucerneminimum tax: CHF 13.00/month | CHF 1,200 |
| 16 | Nidwaldenminimum tax: CHF 8.00/month | CHF 1,000 |
| 17 | Jura | CHF 900 |
| 18 | Appenzell Inner Rhodes | CHF 800 |
Upper limit of the zero band of tariff A0 (single, no children). Eight cantons tax from the first franc (ZH, SO, SH, AR, SG, TG, TI) or almost (OW from CHF 401) and are not listed. In ten cantons a minimum tax of CHF 2 to 13 a month partly replaces the zero band; see the table. Source: ESTV withholding-tax tariffs 2026.
Winners and losers: a flat tax with reverse progression
The 5 % applies to everyone settled under the simplified procedure: to the cross-border worker without a C permit just as much as to the Swiss woman who works a few hours a week alongside her partner's income. What differs is the benchmark. The first would otherwise be taxed under the withholding tax tariff, the second under ordinary assessment, together with the household income. The ESTV tax calculator makes the difference visible.
| Zurich | Bern | Geneva | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic worker, only job, tariff A0 | CHF 25 | CHF 0 | CHF 0 |
| Single, taxable CHF 12,000, ordinary assessment | CHF 250 | CHF 1,600 | CHF 25 |
| Spouse, household taxable CHF 150,000, ordinary assessment | CHF 3,877 (32.3 %) | CHF 4,622 (38.5 %) | CHF 4,449 (37.1 %) |
| Flat 5 %, same for everyone | CHF 600 | CHF 600 | CHF 600 |
Flat rate: 5 % = CHF 600, the same for all three. Row 1: ordinary withholding-tax tariff A0 2026 on CHF 1,000 a month, minimum tax included (people without a C permit). Rows 2 and 3: ordinary assessment 2025 in the cantonal capital, federal + cantonal + communal, no church tax, ESTV tax calculator; row 2: single, taxable income CHF 12,000; row 3: married couple with taxable income CHF 150,000, the CHF 12,000 on top (marginal tax). Taxable income, not gross wage.
Loser: the domestic worker for whom this is the only job
- •CHF 1,000 a month, tariff A0: 0 % owed in 16 cantons
- •Flat rate: CHF 600 a year, deducted from her wage
- •No tax return, no subsequent ordinary assessment, no refund
- •The employer chooses the procedure; she has no say
Winner: the spouse in a high-earning household
- •CHF 12,000 of extra income on CHF 150,000 taxable: marginal tax rate 32.3 to 38.5 %
- •Due under ordinary assessment: CHF 3,877 (Zurich) to 4,622 (Bern)
- •Flat rate: CHF 600, equally final
- •Saving: CHF 3,277 to 4,022 a year, without anyone doing anything wrong
The same CHF 12,000, the same 5 %: the single worker pays CHF 600 instead of zero in eleven cantons and 24 times the tariff in Zurich, the spouse in a high-earning household saves up to CHF 4,022. That is not a simplification, that is redistribution upwards.
Why the employee cannot object
The employer chooses, for everyone
AHV Merkblatt 2.07 is unambiguous: “All wages of the staff subject to contributions must be settled under the simplified procedure.” The household decides, the employee goes along with it. The canton of Bern writes in its TaxInfo: “The taxable person has no influence on settlement under the simplified settlement procedure.”
Final, with no way out
Art. 37a DBG: “The income tax is thereby settled in full.” Anyone taxed at source under the ordinary tariff has been able to request a subsequent ordinary assessment and claim deductions since 2021. There is nothing of the kind for the flat rate. Bern: “The tax deduction of 5 % is therefore final in character.”
The compensation office keeps 10 %
Of the flat rate it collects, the AHV compensation office (Ausgleichskasse) keeps a collection commission of 10 %; the ESTV tariff files list it as a separate record in every canton. For the employee this changes nothing, her 5 % is gone. For the compensation offices, the flat rate is a business that under the ordinary tariff would never arise at all in 16 cantons.
No deductions, no marital status
The 5 % is levied “without regard to other income, any professional expenses and social deductions” (Art. 37a para. 1 DBG). Tariff A0 is already the least favourable ordinary case; married persons (tariff B or C) and single parents (tariff H) pay even less under the ordinary procedure. For them, the gap to the flat rate is wider than shown here.
Surprising Findings
SECO calls the flat rate “often more advantageous”. It does not say for whom.
On its page about the simplified settlement procedure, SECO justifies the flat rate by saying that the income is “disregarded under ordinary taxation” and that the rate is “often more advantageous”. That is true for the spouse in a high-earning household. For the domestic worker with a single job it is true in no canton at any permitted wage.
For small wages, French-speaking Switzerland is the tax-free part of the country
Geneva, Vaud and Valais charge nothing under tariff A0 up to a monthly wage of around CHF 2,450, as does Basel-Stadt, Schwyz up to CHF 2,250, Aargau up to CHF 2,150, Zug and Graubünden up to CHF 2,050. The cantons with the highest minimum wages for domestic work (Geneva CHF 24.59) are also the ones that waive tax on it for longest. The flat rate overrides that political decision for domestic employees.
Lucerne is the “best” canton for the flat rate, because of a minimum tax of CHF 13
Ten cantons have a minimum tax of CHF 2 to 13 a month in their withholding tax tariff, due even when the rate is 0 %. Lucerne tops the list at CHF 13; on a wage of CHF 1,000 that is 1.3 %, more than in any other canton. Even so, the flat rate there remains almost four times more expensive.
Order of magnitude: around CHF 8 to 10 million a year, a large part of it from wages in the zero band
Nobody publishes the tax collected through the flat rate. For 2024, SECO reports CHF 26.4 million in social insurance contributions settled through the procedure. Working back from the 12.8 % AHV/IV/EO/ALV (plus family allowances, depending on the compensation office) to the total payroll gives roughly CHF 170 to 210 million in wages; 5 % of that is CHF 8 to 10 million in withholding tax a year. This is a Clino estimate, not an official figure, and it does not say how many of these employees have several employers.
What this means for households
The simplified procedure remains the easiest legal route for most households, and the alternative, undeclared work, is always worse for the employee: no AHV, no accident insurance, no salary certificate. But anyone who chooses it should know that the 5 % is borne not by the household but by the employee, and that in 16 cantons she would pay nothing on CHF 1,000 under the ordinary procedure. A fair employer tells her so. If the household job is her only income, the ordinary procedure with the withholding tax tariff is cheaper for her; for the household it means more administration, but no higher costs. And anyone with a small job in the household of a high earner may happily take the flat rate for what it is: a gift from the legislator.
All 26 cantons in detail
| Canton | 0 % up to | A0 at 500 | at 1,000 | at 1,500 | at 1,890 | Min. tax | Extra/yr at 1,000 | at 1,890 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bern | 1,700 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.88 | – | 600 | 943 |
| Basel-Country | 1,200 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.05 | 2.08 | – | 600 | 1,109 |
| Basel-City | 2,450 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | 600 | 1,134 |
| Fribourg | 1,550 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 24.19 | – | 600 | 844 |
| Geneva | 2,449 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | 600 | 1,134 |
| Grisons | 2,050 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | 600 | 1,134 |
| Neuchâtel | 1,600 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.64 | – | 600 | 1,018 |
| Schwyz | 2,250 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | 600 | 1,134 |
| Vaud | 2,450 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | 600 | 1,134 |
| Valais | 2,500 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | 600 | 1,134 |
| Zug | 2,050 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | 600 | 1,134 |
| Aargau | 2,150 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 576 | 1,110 |
| Zurich | 1st fr. | 1.25 | 2.10 | 2.10 | 11.53 | – | 575 | 996 |
| Jura * | 900 | 0.00 | 2.90 | 30.00 | 53.87 | – | 565 | 488 |
| Ticino | 1st fr. | 3.50 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 24.57 | – | 564 | 839 |
| Appenzell Inner Rhodes | 800 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 18.30 | 39.31 | – | 563 | 662 |
| Obwalden | 400 | 3.15 | 3.10 | 3.00 | 3.02 | 3.00 | 563 | 1,098 |
| Thurgau | 1st fr. | 1.70 | 3.40 | 4.05 | 3.97 | – | 559 | 1,086 |
| Appenzell Outer Rhodes | 1st fr. | 5.00 | 5.00 | 5.10 | 23.25 | 5.00 | 540 | 855 |
| St. Gallen | 1st fr. | 5.25 | 5.10 | 5.10 | 17.01 | 5.00 | 539 | 930 |
| Schaffhausen | 1st fr. | 5.25 | 5.10 | 8.10 | 16.07 | 5.00 | 539 | 941 |
| Uri | 1,500 | 6.00 | 6.00 | 6.00 | 6.05 | 6.00 | 528 | 1,061 |
| Solothurn | 1st fr. | 7.35 | 7.20 | 7.05 | 9.07 | 7.00 | 514 | 1,025 |
| Nidwalden | 1,000 | 8.00 | 8.00 | 8.10 | 29.30 | 8.00 | 504 | 782 |
| Glarus | 1,650 | 10.40 | 10.40 | 10.40 | 30.24 | 10.40 | 475 | 771 |
| Lucerne | 1,200 | 13.00 | 13.00 | 13.20 | 17.20 | 13.00 | 444 | 928 |
Ordinary withholding-tax tariff A0 (single, no children, no church tax; Jura: with church tax), tax in CHF per month including any cantonal minimum tax. Flat rate: 5 %, i.e. CHF 25 / 50 / 75 / 94.50. Last two columns: extra cost of the flat rate per year. Source: ESTV withholding-tax tariffs 2026 (record type 06, A0N/A0Y), read 17.09.2026.
Sources
- ESTV: withholding tax tariffs 2026 (tar2026txt.zip), all 26 cantons (2026), Recordart 06, tariff codes A0N/A0Y; structure per D_DVS no. 0005
- Kantonales Steueramt Zürich, tariff A without church tax 2026; Genève, barèmes 2026; Ticino, tabella A 2026 (2026), Line-by-line check against the ESTV files, no deviation
- Art. 37a DBG; Art. 11 para. 4 StHG (in force), “The income tax is thereby settled in full”
- AHV/IV: Merkblatt 2.07 Simplified settlement procedure for employers (as of 1.1.2026), CHF 22,680 per person, CHF 60,480 total payroll, all employees
- Steuerverwaltung Kanton Bern, TaxInfo: simplified settlement procedure (28.7.2025), “final in character”, no influence of the taxable person
- SECO: simplified settlement procedure for low total payrolls (2026), “often more advantageous”
- SECO: Report on the enforcement of the BGSA 2025, table 7.1 (17.6.2026), 65,669 employers in 2025, 74,660 employees and CHF 26.4 million in contributions in 2024
- ESTV tax calculator (swisstaxcalculator.estv.admin.ch) (tax year 2025), Marginal tax rate married couple CHF 150,000 → 162,000; single CHF 12,000; ZH, BE, GE
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