This is the first time we ask for help with cleaning from an external person.

I have a recommendation, but he doesn't speak English well enough for me to ask if he's doing his taxes himself (being Spanish, he's just gonna say "yes yes" on everything he doesn't understand ).
The monthly amount is not much (300CHF) but I'd rather err on the safe side with the paperwork.

Do I need to be worried if he just takes the cash and won't register his own company to account for the income?
Do I owe any social insurance bits after his fees to anyone? Do I need to register him working for us?
Can I assume he's going to tax his income properly and pay his own dues?
Do I need an official (paper based) contract with him?
Do we need to exchange (or keep) any sort of paper receipts for any reason?

First and foremost I don't want any trouble with the law. Second, I'd like that he also does it the most legal way, but for that end I obviously don't have any influence.

How many hours per week/month?

That amount is peanuts so likely to be ‚black‘

2 hours per week

All household work must be declared and the insurances paid, or else it's illegal.


if you don't want to employ someone illegally then you can use a payroll service like 'quitt' to handle the contract.


For cleaning, a reasonable Zurich rate is 30-40chf hour (which includes 8.5% for casual work in replacement for paid holidays, and all the taxes, insurances etc. Remember, your cleaner also has to travel in between jobs....



Oh, and have you checked that this person actually has a work/residency permit ?



And finally, if you employ someone directly, you're also responsible for things like accident insurance, if they have an accident whilst working for you...


taxes will depend - if they have a 'c' permit or swiss passport, or are married to someone with those things, they may be paying their own taxes. If not, then you need to work out the tax at source.

What swisspea said

We also have 3 or so hours of help every other week, and I've done everything through Quitt and it's quite useful.

Regarding taxes, quitt is keeping tax at source, and if the employee is doing a tax declaration the tax already paid will be accounted for in any case so no harm done other than (miniscule) cash-flow timing.

I wanted to be on the up and up, did not to have any issues with a potential accident at home, and also felt that a small extra percentage was worth it to be fair to the employee and their benefits as well.

Highly recommend you do it through quitt

__________________
Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool

Thanks both, I just took a look.

Basically they want about 300 CHF a year for all of these (initial setup fees plus rolling 5% commission), which reduces to 180 a year afterwards, which seems pretty fair.

If you do declare this person with whom you are unable to communicate due to language issues- you may drop them in very hot water- important for you to be aware.

How so? OP says the cleaner doesn't speak English. I know plenty of folks who employ cleaners that don't speak English, although they usually have some other language in common, such as Portugese or French. Said cleaners are here 100% legally as EU citizens or spouses of legal residents.