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Canton of BernRegister a caregiver in Bern:
legally and simply.
Found a caregiver for your parents or for yourself? Clino turns it into a proper employment relationship: registration with the compensation office, contract, insurance and payroll. For CHF 19.90/month, whether it's a few hours or around the clock.
30 days free · then CHF 19.90/mo. · cancel anytime
AHV-compliantAusgleichskasse des Kantons Bernset up in 5 minutescancel anytime
No placement agency. You keep your caregiver. Clino prepares the official paperwork for you.
Authorities & registration
AHV registration with AK Bern: how to register your caregiver
AHV compensation office
Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern ↗Chutzenstrasse 10, 3007 Bern
+41 31 379 79 79
Responsible for AHV/IV/EO, ALV, the family-allowance fund (FAK) and the wage declaration for household staff, and in the simplified procedure for withholding tax too. In the ordinary procedure withholding tax goes to the cantonal tax administration.
Open registration formAll about AK Bern: contact, registration, our experience →- 1
Register with the Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern
Register as a private-household employer. Online or by form. You'll receive a billing number. Clino prepares everything.
- 2
Sort out accident insurance
Occupational accident cover is mandatory, NBU from 8 hrs/week. In the simplified procedure every compensation office offers the plus option with accident insurance: select it actively when you register, it never happens automatically. Otherwise the policy runs directly with an insurer. Clino compares the providers, prices the premium and prepares the application. You sign it.
- 3
Sign the employment contract
Workload, wage, holidays, probation period. For live-in additionally room, board & lodging and presence time. Template from Clino.
- 4
Settle monthly, declare at year-end
A ready-made payslip every month, and the annual wage declaration to the Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern at year-end. Clino generates both automatically.
Verified by Clino
The registration facts for Bern
Rates and registration route last checked on July 17, 2026.
The right form
Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern uses the federal form 318.147 (online). No office visit needed.
Important: under «Employment for», pick «Domestic service», only then does question 4.2 about accident insurance via the compensation office appear.
Simplified procedure
The simplified procedure plus (accident insurance included) is offered, but you must actively request it; it is never automatic. Above CHF 22,680 annual wage, quickly reached full-time, the ordinary procedure with individual withholding tax applies.
Deadlines
Register: within 30 days of the start of employment. Annual wage declaration: by 30 January for the previous year.
After submitting
The confirmation with your settlement number arrives by post. You may already pay wages in the meantime.
Canton Bern specifics
The Bern office lists two forms: the federal form 318.147 and its own «BZ 100». The described path with question 4.2 applies to the federal form.
Free, no signup, every step, ready to tick off.
Which model fits?
By the hour, fixed days or live-in
Care by the hour
e.g. 2–3 mornings per week
Shopping, cooking, accompanying to appointments, companionship. The most common starting model. Often complementing Spitex or relieving family members.
Fixed part-time
fixed half-days or days
Reliable structure in daily life: the same person, the same times. From 8 hours per week, non-occupational accident insurance (NBU) is added.
24h care (live-in)
the caregiver lives in the household
Round-the-clock presence with her own room. Board and lodging count as payment in kind (CHF 990/month). The cantonal standard contract (NAV 24-Stunden-Betreuung BE, Art. 24) pays presence time at 10, 15 or 20 % of active working time, depending on night call-outs.
Your personal plan
What does a caregiver cost in Bern?
Set hours and wage. Cost, procedure and insurance appear instantly. Clino costs CHF 19.90 a month.
h/week
20
CHF/h
30
Your postcode3001Canton Bern
Your Bern care plan
Responsible office
AK Bern
online via ePortal
Your procedure
Ordinary procedure
Above CHF 22,680/year: quarterly advance contributions, wage declaration at year end, plus BVG pension (risk cover from 18, retirement savings from 25).
Accident insurance
- Occupational accident (BU): paid by the employer
- Non-occupational accident (NBU): mandatory from 8 h/week
Your cost per month
CHF 3'113.80/ month
≈ CHF 34'547.06 / year
Gross wageCHF 2'816.69
Social contributions (employer)CHF 277.21
ClinoCHF 19.90
Your caregiver receives net CHF 2'555.61
What Clino does for you
- Employment contract ready
- Registration with AK Bern prepared
- Wage & contributions calculated every month
Financing
Money you are entitled to
Many families pay for care entirely themselves, although part of it would be covered.
AHV helplessness allowance
Up to CHF 1'008 a month, regardless of income and assets
- Entitlement once the person has depended on help for 6 months without a break.
- The AHV pays back at most 12 months. Applying late costs money.
Apply to: IV-Stelle Kanton Bern, 3001 Bern
Per month at home, by degree
- MildCHF 252
- ModerateCHF 630
- SevereCHF 1'008
With an application pack: cover letter to the IV office, help sheet and help diary.
Before pension age the IV pays more: CHF 504, 1'260 or 2'016 a month.
Supplementary benefits (EL)
If pension and savings do not cover living costs, the EL also refund costs of help, nursing and care at home, under the canton's rules. The invoices must be submitted within 15 months.
Tax deduction
With a helplessness allowance, nursing and care count as disability-related costs: deductible as far as the allowance does not cover them, and for federal tax without the 5 % threshold for illness costs.
Care credits
If you care for a relative with a helplessness allowance (any degree) who lives nearby, you can get AHV credits towards your own future pension. Apply again every year with form 318.270 at the cantonal compensation office.
UNDECLAREDThe dark reality.
Compensation Office
Employer audit
RRegistered
Keller family
Employer audit of your household
- ✕No contract: in a dispute, only what you both remember counts
- ✕Accident: the substitute fund pays, you owe 5 years of premiums
- ✕AHV: up to 5 years of back contributions (7 after an offence), plus a possible criminal penalty (Art. 87 AHVG)
REGISTEREDThe bright reality.
Employment contract
PDFbetween Keller family · Maria Silva
- ✓NAV contract: holidays, notice and sick pay settled
- ✓Accident cover from the very first hour
- ✓AHV years for her, payslips for you
Signature EmployerSignature Employee
⇄
DRAG THE LINE: WHERE DOES YOUR HOUSEHOLD STAND?
Canton of Bern at a glanceHome care in Bern
Compensation office
Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern
registration
FAK employer
1.50%
2026
Minimum wage
CHF 20.35
NAV, from 5 hrs/week
Administration
0.53%
AHV office fee, typical household
Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern charges an administrative fee of 5.00% of the AHV/IV/EO contributions (capped at 5% by SR 831.143.41, Art. 1). Expressed against the gross wage that is 0.53%.
If she falls ill: how long you keep paying the wage
How many days of full wage you owe in Bern depends on the year of service. This is the table that binds here when no policy sits behind it.
- Year 130 days of full wage
- Year 230 days of full wage
- Year 360 days of full wage
- Year 560 days of full wage
- Year 1090 days of full wage
- Year 20120 days of full wage
The duty only applies once the job has lasted more than three months or was agreed for more than three months.
Sick-pay insurance is mandatory in canton Bern.
It pays 80 % of the wage from day 31 of the illness.
Up to 720 days.
It applies to open-ended contracts and those of more than 3 months.
The contract may deviate from it in writing.
An employer who does not insure is liable for exactly the benefits the insurance would have paid.
Check what applies in your caseSource: NAV Hausdienst BE (BSG 222.153.22), Art. 31 Abs. 3 · Sick-pay insurance: NAV Hausdienst BE (BSG 222.153.22), Art. 35 Abs. 3 lit. b und Art. 36
Specific to canton Bern
What's different in Bern
FAQ Bern
Frequently asked questions
Do I really have to register a caregiver in a private household: even by the hour?
Yes. As soon as you set the wage, tasks and hours, you are an employer. From the first hour and from the first franc. AHV/IV/EO (5.3% each side), ALV (1.1% each side) and accident insurance are mandatory. The exemption for very small wages (CHF 2'500/year) explicitly does not apply in private households. Your caregiver takes out health insurance (KVG) herself, but check that she has it. The Bern NAV for domestic service (Art. 36), for example, requires this explicitly.
Which compensation office is responsible in Bern?
The Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern. That's where you register the employment and then settle the contributions. Clino prepares the registration and produces a ready-made payslip every month.
What may the caregiver take on and what counts as nursing?
Care covers daily life and the household: cooking, shopping, accompanying, companionship, structure in the day. Basic and treatment-related nursing (e.g. preparing medication, wound care) belongs to nursing professionals or Spitex. Which requires a licence depending on the canton. The two combine without any problem.Spitex or private care: the comparison →
What applies to 24-hour care with board and lodging?
Accommodation and meals are payment in kind: CHF 990 per month (CHF 33 per day) is added to the cash wage and is subject to AHV. The cantonal standard contract (NAV 24-Stunden-Betreuung BE, Art. 24) pays presence time at 10, 15 or 20 % of active working time, depending on night call-outs. If the caregiver falls ill or has an accident, you owe her care and medical treatment on top of her wage: for 3 weeks in the first year of service, then for an appropriately longer period. The same applies in pregnancy and childbirth (Art. 328a OR).In detail: hiring a caregiver in Switzerland →
Can I use the simplified billing procedure?
Only up to CHF 22'680 annual wage per person. A caregiver with a larger workload usually exceeds this limit. Then the standard procedure with a wage statement applies. Above CHF 22'680 annual wage the pension fund (BVG) is added as well: from 18 for death and disability, from 25 for retirement savings too. Exempt are fixed-term employment of at most 3 months and a side job, if she is already insured compulsorily through her main job or self-employed in it. Clino settles both correctly.Simplified procedure: the downsides →
My caregiver comes from abroad: what do I need to consider?
In the ordinary procedure her wage is taxed at source if she has no C settlement permit and is not married to a Swiss citizen or a C permit holder. In the simplified procedure the 5 % withholding tax applies to everyone, whatever the nationality or permit. Exception: if she lives in France and works in BE, SO, BS, BL, VD, VS, NE or JU, the simplified procedure is ruled out and, with form 2041-AS, her wage is taxed in France. For EU/EFTA citizens, the notification or permit procedure applies depending on duration; cross-border commuters need a G permit. From non-EU/EFTA countries you cannot hire a caregiver directly from abroad: permits are only granted to qualified specialists. If she already lives in Switzerland with a permit, employment may be possible depending on that permit; your cantonal migration office can tell you. Clino guides you through withholding tax and registration.
What do I risk without registering?
Back-payment of contributions plus default interest. An employer who does not join a compensation office and settle the wages also commits an offence under Art. 87 of the AHV Act: a monetary penalty of up to 180 daily units. If an accident happens without insurance, the Ersatzkasse UVG pays and charges you substitute premiums (Art. 95 UVG). Retroactive registration with the Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern is possible at any time; the sooner, the cheaper.Step by step: registering retroactively, the calm way →
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All cantons & overview: register a caregiver in Switzerland →
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Bilingual
German + French
Salary certificate
issued by the fund
Canton of BernAll of Bern: one office, one registration
Every municipality, one office: Ausgleichskasse des Kantons Bern.
Register in Bern
In every municipality of Bern
Registration works the same across the whole canton, whether care takes place in Bern, Biel/Bienne, Thun or one of the 425 other localities: same compensation office, same procedure, same flat fee.
BernBiel/BienneThunKönizAbländschenSangernbodenMünchenwilerLa CibourgTüscherz-AlferméeTwannLigerzPrêlesLamboingDiesse+425
Canton Bern compared
FAK contribution
1.5%
The FAK contribution is 1.5%, rank 12 of 26 across Switzerland (ascending).
Child allowance
CHF 250
The child allowance of CHF 250/month is CHF 35 above the federal minimum of CHF 215.
Binding minimum wage
CHF 20.35
There is no cantonal minimum wage; the NAV domestic-work minimums apply from 5 hours a week with the same household.
Public holidays in Bern (2026)
Only 1 August is paid by federal law. The other days are assimilated to Sundays, whether they are paid is set by the contract or the NAV.
- ThuJan
New Year's Day
- FriJan
Berchtold's Day (2 Jan)
- FriApr
Good Friday
- MonApr
Easter Monday
- ThuMay
Ascension Day
- MonMay
Whit Monday
- SatAug
Swiss National Day
paid by law - FriDec
Christmas Day
- SatDec
St Stephen's Day
2 of these days fall on a weekend in 2026. Basis: Art. 20a Labour Act. Source: SECO, as of 12.12.2024.
New to Switzerland, or cross-border?
Hiring as an expat works exactly the same, in English. And if your helper lives in France, the cross-border rules apply, AHV and accident insurance stay Swiss, withholding tax depends on her country of residence. The guide explains your case.
Are you the caregiver?
Pay, insurance, your rights, plus a ready-made pack you can send your employer so they register you legally.
In the same household
Who else has a key?
Each role has its own rules in Bern.
- Register a cleaner in Bern
- Register a nanny in Bern
- Register a caregiver in BernThis page
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Your caregiver in Bern: properly employed
Registration, contract, insurance, payroll. CHF 19.90/month. Cancel anytime.
Register your caregiver in BernNo placement commission · you keep your caregiver
Register your caregiver in Bern
Then CHF 19.90/mo · Nothing charged before day 30
Ready? First payslip in 5 minutes.
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