Simple language

People who do paid work are also called
people in employment, employed people.
These people are split into ‘non-self-employed’ and ‘self-employed’:

• Non-self-employed people work for a company
  or an organisation.
  They have an employment contract and get paid a wage or salary.

• Self-employed people do not have an employment contract with a company or organisation.
  They find work themselves and invoice their customers for the work they do.
  They are responsible for the financial risk themselves.

This difference is important for the different types of social insurance:
AHV (old-age and survivors’ insurance), IV (disability insurance) and EO (Loss of Earnings Compensation Ordinance).

Do you want to be self-employed?
If you do, you must fill out an application at an AHV compensation office.
The AHV compensation offices decide who is officially classed as self-employed.

Do you do self-employed work in Switzerland?

And do you earn a net income of more than CHF 2,300 per year?

If so, you must fill out an application for self-employment.

You do this at an AHV compensation office responsible for you.

Note: after you reach the reference age, you can have an income of up to CHF 16,800 per year tax-free.
This means: if you earn more than CHF 16,800 net income per year from the age of 65, you must register as self-employed.

Social insurance plans give you security against certain risks:
these plans pay certain costs if you become disabled through an accident or illness.
They pay family allowance, your retirement pension or loss of earnings compensation during maternity leave, paternity leave or military service.

All people in employment pay contributions so that the social insurance plans have money.

Employees working for companies or organisations based on an employment contract see these contributions on their payslip.
A contribution is taken from each wage or salary and paid into the social insurance plan.
In return, these employees receive a pension when they reach retirement age (1st pillar, AHV).
Or they are paid their wages or salary if they cannot work due to an accident.
Employees working for companies or organisations are well insured.

If you are self-employed, you will receive a bill for your AHV contributions. Self-employed people are insured differently:
they are not insured against unemployment and not insured against accidents.
They have no occupational benefits (2nd pillar, pension fund).

We recommend the following:

• Take out accident insurance.

• Daily sickness benefits insurance can also be useful:
  if you are ill for a long period of time and cannot work,
  the insurance company will pay you a daily allowance.

• Pay into the 3rd pillar for your retirement pension:
  you will be thankful for this when you are retired.

The contributions for social insurance depend on your income. You can calculate how much your contributions will be here: online calculator.
For people in employment, the duty to pay contributions begins at the age of 18 at the earliest
(1 January after your 17th birthday).
The duty to pay contributions ends when you stop being employed.

Warning: a gap in contributions reduces your pension.
Make sure that you pay the minimum contribution every year.
To do this, you need an income of at least CHF 9,600 per year

(regardless of if you are self-employed or non-self-employed).
Is your income less than CHF 9,600 per year?
Contact your AHV compensation office. You can pay any AHV contributions you haven’t paid at a later time.

Apply as soon as you start your self-employed work.
Or as soon as you send the first invoices to your customers.
It is best to apply in the first few months of self-employment. This is because you will only get social insurance protection
if you are officially recognised as self-employed.

The process for recognising self-employment involves 3 steps:

Various characteristics show that you are self-employed. For example:

• A self-employed person operates in their own name

• and for their own account (through their own efforts).

• They are responsible for the costs and risks.

• They have no direct managers or bosses: they decide for themselves how they do their work.

• They work for several customers.

• They are on equal terms with their customers.

• They have their own business premises.

• They employ staff.

• They invest money: for example, in equipment, materials or in a conversion/new building.

Do any of these characteristics relate to the work you do?

If they do, you should apply to the compensation office.

You must send in various supporting documents with your application.
This will give the AHV compensation office a clear picture of your work.
The following documents are helpful:

• Offers and invoices to customers

• Proof of payments from customers

• Contracts with customers

• Advertising brochure, flyer or link to website

• Leases

• Purchase agreements for investments

• Proof of equity capital you have invested

Do you employ any staff? If you do, you should also have these documents ready:

• Accident insurance: name of the insurance company, policy number (=insurance contract number)

• Occupational benefits: name of pension company, contract

Have you got the documents ready? If so, fill out the application online.
You can find the application form on this website.

Here is the link:
online form

Use the online form to send the application to your compensation office.

The compensation office examines each case individually and very carefully.
This can take some time.

Once your application has been checked,
you will receive the decision in writing by post.

The office may reject your application for self-employment.
In this case, you will receive a detailed response to the decision.
You will then be classified as non-self-employed for the work assessed,
and your employer must pay the AHV contributions for you.