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A trustworthy MCP server for Swiss household employment should never return a bare number as if it were universal. It should first collect the facts that change the answer—especially canton, pay, work pattern, age, hours and cross-border circumstances—then return the applicable rule with its source, date, geographic scope and conditions. That matters for questions such as whether to register a cleaner, which payroll route may apply, whether accident insurance is required, and what minimum wage is current.
What the server should answer—and what it should not assume
Paid work in a private household can create an employment relationship and social-insurance obligations even when the work is occasional or the pay is small. The worker’s label for the arrangement does not settle their status: the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) says classification depends on the actual circumstances, and the competent authority decides when they are mixed or unclear.
A contract may be oral or written; SECO recommends putting the terms in writing for clarity. An MCP answer can explain that distinction without implying that a written contract alone determines worker status.
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- The canton where the work takes place.
- The task, such as cleaning, childcare or another household service.
- Whether the work is recurring or occasional, and when it began.
- Expected pay and the period it covers.
- The worker’s age where a narrow contribution exception may be relevant.
- Average weekly hours for this employer.
- Whether the worker or employer has cross-border residence or employment circumstances.
If key facts are missing, ask a follow-up instead of silently choosing a default. For uncertain classification or eligibility, direct the household to the competent compensation office; tax or migration questions may require the relevant authority.
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Make every number traceable
Return a compact evidence record alongside each material figure. A household should be able to tell what a number measures, where it applies and whether it is current—not just see a value embedded in confident prose.
- Value and unit: for example, a currency amount, hours per week or percentage.
- Meaning and conditions: the threshold or rate, who it applies to, and any age, pay-period or eligibility conditions.
- Source identity: owner and exact page or document title.
- Dates: publication or document version, effective-from date when applicable, and the server’s retrieval or review date.
- Scope: federal, canton-specific or otherwise geographically limited.
- Reference: the exact official source URL and a stable internal source ID.
Keep effective dates separate from publication dates. Preserve source wording and context, and label historical values as historical. If two figures conflict, prefer the current primary legal or agency source and surface the discrepancy rather than blending the figures.
Store typed facts, not just prose
Represent currency, period, threshold type, age condition, weekly hours, canton or federal scope, effective-from date and source ID as separate fields. Attach a review date to volatile values; flag or expire entries whose freshness can no longer be established. This makes it harder for a dated wage figure or a canton-specific rule to leak into a general answer.
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Do not tell a household that low pay automatically removes AHV obligations. The Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO/BSV) describes domestic-worker AHV contributions as due below CHF 2,500 in annual pay; its FAQ identifies that statement as the 2025 position. This is not a universal threshold for every sector.
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SECO’s payroll guide also summarizes a narrow exception for certain household workers aged 25 or younger who receive no more than CHF 750 from an employer in a calendar year. Because the age and calendar-year conditions need to be checked against the underlying guidance before automating an eligibility decision, the server should treat this as a prompt for verification, not a blanket exemption. Route edge cases to the compensation office.
For the employment relationship itself, SECO says a contract can arise when an employer accepts work over time that would ordinarily be performed for pay. Calling the worker self-employed in an agreement does not, by itself, settle classification.
Route eligible households through simplified accounting
SECO describes simplified accounting as a voluntary procedure intended for short or low-volume employment, including private-household work. Its published eligibility ceilings are CHF 22,680 in annual pay per employee and CHF 60,480 in total annual payroll for the employer. For a worker employed for less than a full year, the procedure assesses pay over the actual employment period rather than annualizing it.
The procedure accounts for all employees, combines social contributions with withholding-tax administration, and collects a unified 5% withholding-tax rate described by SECO as including direct federal and cantonal tax. SECO says this treatment applies to Swiss and foreign workers within the procedure; it is not general tax advice. Contributions under the simplified procedure are paid annually.
Compare the routes before recommending one
| Question | Simplified accounting | Ordinary payroll |
|---|---|---|
| Who may use it? | Voluntary; subject to SECO’s CHF 22,680 per-employee and CHF 60,480 employer-wide annual limits, plus other eligibility rules. | Use when simplified accounting is unavailable or not chosen; confirm the applicable duties with the compensation office. |
| Withholding tax | Procedure includes the stated unified 5% rate for direct federal and cantonal tax. | The simplified procedure’s combined treatment does not apply; the applicable tax handling depends on the case. |
| Contribution payment frequency | Annual payment under the procedure. | Frequency is not established by the cited simplified-procedure guidance; do not infer it from that procedure. |
| Accident insurance | The 2026 application form says a household employer may arrange compulsory accident insurance through the compensation office using the “plus” option. | Compulsory accident cover still needs to be arranged; do not assume the simplified application route applies. |
| Important restrictions | Unavailable to corporations and cooperatives; cross-border exceptions apply; all employees must be accounted for under the procedure. | Case-specific requirements should be checked with the relevant authority. |
The ceilings and process description above are from SECO’s current guidance reviewed in 2026; the registration timing comes from the Central Compensation Office/AHV-IV simplified-procedure application dated January 2026. That application states registration within 30 days after the employment relationship starts. The server should show that timing with its source and date rather than presenting it as a timeless rule.
Answer accident-insurance questions with the hours condition
Employees in Switzerland, including household staff and private-household cleaners, are compulsorily insured against occupational accidents and occupational illness. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) says an employee who works an average of at least 8 hours a week for the same employer is also insured for non-occupational accidents. Ask about hours for that specific employer before answering the second part; do not conflate occupational and non-occupational cover.
Handle the 2026 domestic-work minimum wage as a freshness problem
SECO announced on 5 December 2025 that the federal domestic-work standard employment contract was extended by three years and its minimum wages rose by 2%, effective 1 January 2026. The announcement reviewed here confirms the increase but does not give the revised wage table. Therefore, an MCP response should not calculate a current hourly amount from an older table or repeat historical rates as if they were valid in 2026.
The older SECO caregiver information sheet lists CHF 19.20, CHF 21.10 and CHF 23.20 gross per hour for specified qualification categories. Those are historical figures from a 2021 document, not verified 2026 rates. To answer “What is the minimum wage for domestic workers in Switzerland in 2026?”, retrieve and check the current official wage table or ordinance, and identify the applicable category and canton before returning an amount.
Federal minimum rules are not the whole check: SECO’s overview notes that Geneva has its own domestic-worker minimum wage. Ask for the canton and consult its official current rule rather than reusing a federal figure. Exact current cantonal rates are not established by the cited material here.
SECO also reported that 6% of household employers inspected during 2023–2024 breached mandatory provisions. The denominator is inspected employers, not all household employers; this figure should not be presented as an estimate of sector-wide non-compliance.
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- Classify the question. Identify whether the user is asking about employment status, AHV registration, simplified accounting, accident insurance, tax, or minimum wages.
- Ask for missing inputs. Request the canton, task, work pattern, start date, pay, age if relevant, weekly hours and cross-border facts needed for that rule.
- Apply only supported rules. Keep federal rules distinct from canton-specific rules and respect eligibility limits and exceptions.
- Return the answer with evidence. Include the number’s meaning, source owner and title, publication/version and effective dates, geographic scope, conditions, review date and exact official URL.
- Escalate uncertain cases. Send unresolved worker-status or procedure questions to the competent compensation office, and tax or migration questions to the relevant authority.
Useful user-facing questions include “Do I have to register my cleaner in Switzerland?”, “Do I need to pay AHV for a cleaner who only comes a few hours?”, “How do I pay a babysitter legally in Switzerland?”, “What is the simplified accounting procedure for household employees?”, “Do I need accident insurance for my cleaner?” and “What is the minimum wage for domestic workers in Switzerland in 2026?” These are practical examples, not measured search-query data.
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Offer payroll support only after checking the canton
FSIO names Service Check and chèque-emploi as examples of payroll-support services in some cantons. Their current geographic availability, fees, included services, language support, reporting duties retained by the employer and accident-insurance arrangements are not established here. A server should ask for the canton and verify current terms before recommending a service; otherwise it should point the household to official federal or cantonal guidance without naming a provider as universally available.
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