How is pseudo-self-employment determined in Switzerland?

The cantonal social security office checks whether a pseudo-self-employment exists. Only criteria of an economic nature are used for the assessment. The individual case is always examined, and no general statements can be made as to which category the person concerned will ultimately be placed in. However, if one of the following two criteria is met, the suspicion of pseudo-self-employment is very likely, as a financial dependency can be derived from these criteria:

  • the contractor generates 50% or more of its income from a single client
  • the contractor has less than three different clients

It is important to note that the following circumstances are NOT indications to eliminate the suspicion of pseudo-self-employment:

  • in the business contract, the contractor is expressly designated as self-employed
  • the client transfers the responsibility for social insurance to the contractor in the contract
  • Presentation of a certificate of self-employment of the contractor issued by the social security office.
  • Contractor is registered with AHV and pays regular contributions