The books
Accounting & bookkeeping
The records payroll feeds: salary cost, contributions and withholdings reconciled into the accounts.
Accounting & bookkeepingSwiss payroll
& social security
A Swiss employer must register for and run AHV/IV/EO, unemployment insurance, the BVG pension and accident insurance, and withhold source tax for foreign staff. We set up the registrations, run the monthly payroll and source tax, remit on schedule, and model the fully-loaded cost of each hire — keeping employment costs correct, the filings on time, and the directors clear of the personal liability that unpaid contributions carry.
At a glance
Compliant payroll, and the true cost of a hire.
Registrations, monthly run, source tax, and directors kept clear of liability.
- First pillar
- AHV/IV/EO + ALV
- Second pillar
- BVG occupational pension
- Also
- Accident insurance, family allowances
- Foreign staff
- Source tax (Quellensteuer)
- Director risk
- Personal liability if unpaid
The essentials
What Swiss payroll involves
A Swiss employer registers for and runs the social-security system (AHV/IV/EO, unemployment insurance (ALV), the BVG occupational pension, accident insurance and family allowances), deducting the employee’s shares and remitting the total, and withholding source tax for foreign staff without a C permit. Run monthly, with annual reconciliations and salary certificates, it keeps employment costs correct and the company compliant. Run carelessly, it creates back-contributions and director liability.
Who this is for
- companies making their first Swiss hire;
- foreign-owned entities without local HR or payroll;
- employers of foreign staff needing source tax run correctly;
- companies needing the true, fully-loaded cost of employment.
Where it fits
Payroll feeds the bookkeeping, sits beside VAT as a recurring filing, and centres on the liability a resident director carries for unpaid contributions.
The real number
What a hire really costs
Gross salary is only part of the cost. The employer’s mandatory contributions add a meaningful percentage on top, and the load varies with the pension plan, age and canton. Here is what sits above the headline.
| Component | What it covers | Borne by |
|---|---|---|
| AHV/IV/EO | State pension, disability, loss of earnings | Employer & employee |
| ALV | Unemployment insurance | Employer & employee |
| BVG | Occupational pension (2nd pillar) | Employer & employee |
| UVG | Accident insurance | Employer (occupational) |
| Family allowances | Child & family benefits | Employer |
Together these turn a gross salary into a noticeably larger employment cost, which is why budgeting on the headline figure understates a Swiss hire. We model the fully-loaded number for the actual role and canton, so the company plans on what the hire truly costs.
How it runs
From registration to monthly run
Set up the registrations once, then run the payroll and filings every month. We do both.
- Step 1
Employer registrations
Registering with a compensation office for AHV/IV/EO and ALV, affiliating to a BVG fund, and arranging accident and family-allowance cover.
- Step 2
Set-up & cost model
Setting up each employee, the source-tax position for foreign staff, and the fully-loaded cost model.
- Monthly
Payroll run
Calculating gross-to-net, deductions, BVG and source tax, paying net salaries and remitting contributions and withheld tax.
- Periodic
Filings
The social-security and source-tax filings on their schedules, reconciled to the accounts.
- Year-end
Reconciliation & certificates
Annual reconciliations and salary certificates for employees and the authorities.
Budget
What it costs
Payroll is scoped to headcount and complexity: a handful of staff on standard terms is light, while a workforce mixing source-tax employees, cross-border commuters and variable pay is more involved. The one-off employer registrations are separate from the recurring monthly run.
We scope and quote against the headcount and the mix of staff. Pricing is on request.
Discuss your payroll
What you need
What payroll requires
Compliant Swiss payroll rests on:
- employer registration for AHV/IV/EO, ALV, BVG and accident insurance;
- correct deduction of employee shares and the BVG contribution;
- source tax withheld for foreign staff at the right cantonal rate;
- timely remittance and the periodic and annual filings;
- reconciliation to the accounts and to the year-end certificates.
Unpaid social charges reach the directors personally
Payroll is not an area where falling behind is merely a company problem. Swiss law makes a company’s directors personally liable for unpaid AHV and other social-security contributions, one of the specific personal exposures of a Swiss directorship. A company that defers contributions to manage cash is putting its directors’ own assets at risk, and a resident director who allows it is exposed directly. This is why payroll has to be run properly and the contributions kept current, not treated as a flexible payable. We keep them paid on time, so the liability never crystallises.
Why Goldblum
Payroll, and what it involves
Payroll joins social-security law, source tax, the accounts and director liability. Running it correctly and showing the true cost of a hire is the day-to-day fiduciary work this firm does.
Set up right
Registered from the first hire
The employer registrations and BVG affiliation in place before the first salary, so payroll is compliant from day one rather than corrected with back-contributions.
True cost
Fully-loaded, not headline
The real cost of each hire modelled across all the employer contributions, so the company budgets on the number it will actually pay.
Protected
Directors kept clear
Contributions remitted on time, so the personal liability directors carry for unpaid social charges never crystallises.
Related
What payroll runs with
The missing piece
Resident director & office
The director who carries personal liability for unpaid social charges, and so insists payroll is run properly.
Resident directorIndirect tax
VAT registration & compliance
The other recurring filing a Swiss employer runs, produced off the same reconciled records.
VAT compliance
FAQ
Swiss payroll & social security: FAQ
01What social-security contributions does a Swiss employer pay?
A Swiss employer registers for and pays several mandatory contributions: old-age and survivors', disability and loss-of-earnings insurance (AHV/IV/EO), unemployment insurance (ALV), the occupational pension (BVG, the second pillar), family allowances, and accident insurance (UVG). Most are split between employer and employee, with the employer deducting the employee's share from gross pay and remitting the total. Getting the registrations and the rates right from the first hire is what keeps payroll compliant and the true cost of employment visible.
02What is the second pillar (BVG)?
The BVG is mandatory occupational pension provision, the second pillar of the Swiss retirement system, on top of the state AHV first pillar. An employer must affiliate to a pension fund and pay contributions for employees earning above an entry threshold, with contributions rising by age band and shared between employer and employee. It is one of the larger employment-cost lines and a real obligation, not optional. We arrange the BVG affiliation and run the contributions correctly, so the second pillar is in place and costed from the start.
03What is source tax and who does it apply to?
Source tax (Quellensteuer) is income tax withheld directly from salary by the employer for certain employees: principally foreign workers resident in Switzerland without a permanent residence (C) permit, and cross-border commuters. Instead of the employee filing and paying tax themselves, the employer deducts it at source using the cantonal rates and remits it to the tax authority. The rules on who is in scope and at what rate are specific and cantonal. We administer source tax so it is withheld and reported correctly for the staff it applies to.
04When must an employer register for social security?
Before or as soon as it employs anyone in Switzerland. The employer registers with a compensation office (Ausgleichskasse) for AHV/IV/EO and ALV, affiliates to a BVG pension fund, and takes out accident insurance, with family-allowance and source-tax registrations as relevant. Employing staff without these in place creates back-contributions, interest and exposure for the company and its directors. We complete the registrations as part of setting up payroll, so the first salary is paid compliantly rather than corrected later.
05How is Swiss payroll run each month?
Each month the employer calculates gross pay, deducts the employee's social-security shares, BVG contribution and any source tax, and pays the net salary, then remits the contributions and withheld tax to the relevant bodies on their schedules, with annual reconciliations and salary certificates at year-end. Accuracy matters because errors flow into social-security accounts, the employee's tax position and the company's accounts. We run the monthly payroll and the periodic and annual filings, so the cycle is correct and on time.
06What does an employee actually cost beyond salary?
Meaningfully more than the gross salary. On top of gross pay, the employer bears its share of AHV/IV/EO, ALV, the BVG pension, family allowances and accident insurance, which together add a significant percentage to the headline figure. The exact load depends on the pension plan, the age profile and the canton. Budgeting on gross salary alone understates the real cost of hiring in Switzerland. We model the fully-loaded employment cost so the company plans on the true number, not the headline.
07Can payroll be run for a foreign-owned company without local HR?
Yes. It is commonly outsourced. A foreign-owned Swiss company without its own HR or payroll function can have its payroll, social-security administration and source tax run by a Swiss fiduciary, which keeps the registrations, calculations and filings correct and local. This is more reliable than attempting Swiss payroll from abroad, where the contribution rules, the cantonal source-tax tables and the filing schedules are easy to get wrong. We run payroll in full for foreign-owned entities as part of keeping the company compliant here.
08What happens if social-security contributions are unpaid?
It is serious. Unpaid AHV and other contributions attract back-payment and interest, and, importantly, a company's directors can be held personally liable for unpaid social-security contributions, one of the specific personal-liability exposures of a Swiss directorship. This is why a resident director insists on payroll being run properly. Letting contributions fall behind is not just a company problem; it reaches the individuals responsible. We keep the contributions current so that exposure never arises.
09How does payroll connect to the accounts and a resident director?
Payroll feeds the bookkeeping (salary cost, employer contributions, withheld amounts) and the social-security and source-tax filings must reconcile to the accounts. It also sits at the centre of a resident director's personal-liability exposure, since directors answer for unpaid social charges. Running payroll correctly therefore protects both the accounts and the people responsible for the company. We keep payroll, the books and the filings on one reconciled basis, which is how the obligation and the liability are both kept in order.
10What does Goldblum do on payroll and social security?
We register the employer for AHV/IV/EO, ALV, BVG and accident insurance, run the monthly payroll with the correct deductions and source tax, remit contributions and withheld tax on schedule, and prepare the annual reconciliations and salary certificates. We model the fully-loaded employment cost, keep payroll reconciled to the accounts, and run it in full for foreign-owned companies without local HR. The aim is compliant payroll that protects the company and its directors and shows the true cost of employment.
Hiring in Switzerland?
Tell us about the staff and the entity. A partner sets up the social-security registrations, runs the monthly payroll and source tax, and shows you the fully-loaded cost of each hire.