🏠 Registering a home help: private household as employer
In brief
If you employ someone in your own home, you are an employer. This applies, for example, to a cleaner, a gardener or childcare.
For a mini-job in the household there is a simple procedure: the Haushaltsscheck (household cheque) at the Minijob-Zentrale. You register the person there. The Minijob-Zentrale debits the contributions from your account twice a year.
Contributions for mini-jobs in the household are lower than for companies. According to the Minijob-Zentrale they are at most 14.62 percent of earnings. Statutory accident insurance is included.
Minimum wage, leave and continued pay during sickness also apply in the household.
Step by step
- Check earningsUp to €603 a month it is a mini-job. Above that, other rules apply.
- Fill in the household chequeRegister with the Minijob-Zentrale, online, by phone or by post.
- Issue a direct debit mandateSign the SEPA direct debit mandate on the household cheque.
- Observe minimum wage and leaveHourly wage at least €13.90 (from 1 January 2027: €14.60). Hand over the written record of the contract terms.
Deadlines
- Employment without registration is undeclared work, including for a home help.
- Accident cover only applies if you have registered. Otherwise an accident in the household can lead to high costs.
- Above €603 a month it is no longer a mini-job; normal registration and contribution rules then apply (see Mini-job and midi-job).
- Whether your help is self-employed or employed is not a matter of the label but of the actual circumstances.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Haushaltsscheck procedure
According to the Minijob-Zentrale, employers in a private household pay flat-rate contributions of at most 14.62 percent for mini-jobs of up to €603. Components named: health insurance 5 percent, pension insurance 5 percent, levies U1 0.8 percent and U2 0.22 percent, statutory accident insurance 1.6 percent, where applicable uniform flat-rate tax 2 percent. Together this makes at most 14.62 percent (Minijob-Zentrale).
If the mini-jobber is subject to compulsory pension insurance (no exemption applied for), she herself pays 13.6 percent in a private household (employer 5 percent, together 18.6 percent), and 3.6 percent in a commercial mini-job.
Tax
For earnings up to the mini-job limit, employers can choose between the 2 percent flat-rate tax (paid to the Minijob-Zentrale) and taxation according to the wage tax characteristics. The 2 percent flat-rate tax is based on § 40a Abs. 2 EStG. A flat-rate tax of 25 percent under § 40a Abs. 1 EStG applies only to employment that is short-term for tax purposes (occasional, at most 18 consecutive working days, at most €150 per working day). This is not the same as short-term employment under social insurance law (three months or 70 working days, § 8 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 SGB IV).
Debit
The contributions are debited every six months: for January to June on 31 July, for the rest on 31 January of the following year (Minijob-Zentrale). For tax purposes: under § 35a Abs. 1 EStG, income tax is reduced for a mini-job in a private household (§ 8a SGB IV) by 20 percent of the expenses, by at most €510; this is a deduction from the tax, not a flat-rate deduction.
Documentation
§ 17 MiLoG exempts employment under § 8a SGB IV (marginal employment in a private household) from the duty to record working hours. According to its wording, the Nachweisgesetz continues to apply (see the page Employment contract).
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