Canton of Obwalden

Register a caregiver in Obwalden:
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.

AHV-compliantAusgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwaldenset up in 5 minutescancel anytime

No placement agency. You keep your caregiver. Clino takes the official paperwork off your hands.

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); on-call presence time is governed by the SECO model NAV.

Your personal plan

Your caregiver in Obwalden: fully planned.

Set hours and wage. Cost, procedure and insurance appear instantly.

Your situation

Hours per weekh/week

Gross hourly wageCHF/h

Your postcode6060Canton Obwalden

Your Obwalden care plan

Personal

Responsible office

AK Obwalden

online via AHVeasy

Your procedure

Ordinary procedure

Above CHF 22,680/year: monthly accounting, plus BVG pension from age 25.

Accident insurance

Occupational accident (BU): paid by the employer
Non-occupational accident (NBU): mandatory from 8 h/week

Your cost per month

CHF 3'070.50/ month

≈ CHF 36'846.00 / year

Gross wageCHF 2'816.69

Social contributions (employer)CHF 233.91

ClinoCHF 19.90

Your caregiver receives net CHF 2'455.26

What Clino does for you

Employment contract ready
Registration with AK Obwalden prepared
Wage & contributions calculated every month

Use this plan30 days free · no power of attorney · cancel anytime

UNDECLAREDThe dark reality.

✕No contract: in a dispute, only what you both remember counts
✕Accident: the substitute fund pays, you owe 5 years of premiums
✕AHV: 5 years of back contributions, fine up to CHF 10'000

REGISTEREDThe bright reality.

✓NAV contract: holidays, notice and sick pay settled
✓Accident cover from the very first hour
✓AHV years for her, payslips for you

⇄

DRAG THE LINE: WHERE DOES YOUR HOUSEHOLD STAND?

Inspection intensity

Sample-basedFrequent

Sample-based inspections

How strict are inspections in Obwalden?

Even in Obwalden, registration is mandatory from the first franc. A single spot check or an accident involving your caregiver can expose an unregistered hire, with fines and back-payments.

With Clino you register your caregiver in minutes. Clino guides you step by step through registration, insurance and payroll.

Official language

German

Undeclared-work checks

Sample-based inspections

AK confirmation

typically ~11 working days

Salary certificate

issued by the fund

Canton of Obwalden

Grüess Gott mitenandGrüss Gott zusammen

All of Obwalden: one office, one registration

Every municipality, one office: Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden.

Canton of Obwalden at a glance

Home care in Obwalden

Hourly wage

CHF 25–33

market rate

Compensation office

Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden

AHVeasy

FAK employer

1.40%

2026

Minimum wage

no cantonal

NAV applies

Avg. household wage

CHF 25

/hr

Administration

0.36%

AHV office fee, typical household

Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden charges an administrative fee of 3.40% of the AHV/IV/EO contributions (AHVV Art. 157, capped at 5%). Expressed against the gross wage that is 0.36%.

If you file online

The rate stays at 3.40% of the AHV/IV/EO contributions all year. Employers who declare through AHVeasy are credited 25% of the administrative fee already billed, after the wage declaration.

Source: Ausgleichskasse Obwalden, Merkblatt Verwaltungskostenbeiträge ab 2026

In rural Obwalden, seniors traditionally stay at home for a long time. Care in the private household builds on that as a matter of course.

Short distances, personal networks: caregivers here are often found among acquaintances; correct registration turns that into a secure employment relationship.

If she falls ill: how long you keep paying the wage

How many days of full wage you owe in Obwalden depends on the year of service. This is the table that binds here when no policy sits behind it.

In canton Obwalden the duty to insure is addressed to the employee herself, not to you.

Check what applies in your case

Source: NAV hauswirtschaftliche Arbeitnehmer OW (GDB 844.1), Art. 20

Financing

Support for care at home

Three levers help carry the cost. The exact amounts depend on the case. The official leaflets are linked.

AHV helplessness allowance

Independent of income and assets, graded by degree of helplessness.

Leaflet 3.01 (ahv-iv.ch) →

Supplementary benefits (EL)

When pension and income do not cover living costs.

Leaflet 5.01 (ahv-iv.ch) →

Tax deduction

Illness- and disability-related costs: canton-dependent.

FTA: taxes (admin.ch) →

Authorities & registration

How to register your caregiver in Obwalden

AHV compensation office · AHVeasy portal

Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden

Responsible for AHV/IV/EO, ALV, the family-allowance fund (FAK), withholding tax and the wage declaration for household staff.

Open registration form & portal

1
Register with the Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden
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. If your compensation office offers VAVplus, select it when you register; 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 IV-Stelle Obwalden at year-end. Clino generates both automatically.

FAQ Obwalden

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 2'300/year) explicitly does not apply in private households.

Which compensation office is responsible in Obwalden?

The Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden. 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.

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. In addition, SECO's model NAV for 24-hour care recommends explicitly regulating and compensating presence time in the contract.

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. From CHF 22'680 annual wage and from age 25, the pension fund (BVG) is added as well. Clino settles both correctly.

My caregiver comes from abroad: what do I need to consider?

Without a C settlement permit the wage is taxed at source. For EU/EFTA citizens, the notification or permit procedure applies depending on duration; cross-border commuters need a G permit. Clino guides you through withholding tax and registration.

What do I risk without registering?

Back-payment of contributions plus default interest and a fine under Art. 87/88 of the AHV Act. If an accident happens without insurance, the Ersatzkasse UVG pays and charges you substitute premiums (Art. 95 UVG). Retroactive registration with the Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden is possible at any time; the sooner, the cheaper.

Caregiver wage calculator

Gross, net & employer costs

Care employment contract

Free template as a PDF

Other cantons

Register a caregiver in another canton

CHF 27–35/hr

CHF 26–34/hr

CHF 25–33/hr

CHF 29–37/hr

CHF 28–36/hr

CHF 31–39/hr

CHF 27–35/hr

CHF 26–34/hr

CHF 25–33/hr

CHF 30–38/hr

All cantons & overview: register a caregiver in Switzerland →

Verified by Clino

The registration facts for Obwalden

Rates and registration route last checked on July 17, 2026.

The right form

Ausgleichskasse IV-Stelle Obwalden 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

After submitting

The confirmation with your settlement number arrives by post, usually within a few weeks. You may already pay wages in the meantime.

Free, no signup, every step, ready to tick off.

In every municipality of Obwalden

Registration works the same across the whole canton, whether care takes place in Sarnen, Kerns, Alpnach or one of the 1 other localities: same compensation office, same procedure, same flat fee.

SarnenKernsAlpnachAlpnachstadAlpnach DorfKägiswilWilen (Sarnen)Stalden (Sarnen)St. Niklausen OWMelchtalMelchsee-FruttSachselnFlüeli-RanftGiswil+1

Canton Obwalden compared

The FAK contribution is 1.4%, rank 8 of 26 across Switzerland (ascending).
The child allowance of CHF 220/month is CHF 5 above the federal minimum of CHF 215.
The typical hourly wage for home care is around CHF 29 (average across cantons: CHF 31).
There is no cantonal minimum wage; the NAV domestic-work minimums apply.

Public holidays in Obwalden (2026)

Thu 1.1.New Year's DayFri 3.4.Good FridayThu 14.5.Ascension DayThu 4.6.Corpus ChristiSat 1.8.Swiss National DaySat 15.8.AssumptionSun 1.11.All Saints' DayTue 8.12.Immaculate ConceptionFri 25.12.Christmas Day

These days are assimilated to Sundays (Art. 20a Labour Act). Only 1 August is paid by federal law, whether other holidays are paid depends on the contract or the NAV. Source: SECO, as of 12.12.2024.

This is how fast it goes in Obwalden

Clino

online

Grüezi! We've found a caregiver in Sarnen, what do we need to do now?

09:12

Great! Done in 5 minutes: we prepare her registration with the AK Obwalden, you sign it, plus the contract + payslips. Valid across the whole canton of Obwalden.

09:14

Message

New to Switzerland, or cross-border?

Hiring as an expat works exactly the same, in English. And if your helper lives across the border, the cross-border rules apply, AHV and accident insurance stay Swiss, withholding tax depends on her country of residence. The guide explains your case.

What applies to cross-border workers →

Are you the caregiver?

Pay, insurance, your rights, plus a ready-made pack you can send your employer so they register you legally.

Info for you →Pack for your employer →

Every role, one flat price

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