Registering with the Ausgleichskasse.

The Ausgleichskasse is the AHV office of your canton. Registering there is the one compulsory step of self-employment — a form, three invoices, a few weeks.

When you are employed, your employer pays the AHV. When you work for yourself, nobody does — so you tell the Ausgleichskasse, it checks that you really are self-employed, and from then on you pay about 10 % of your net income yourself, four times a year. This page walks through the form, the evidence, the rates and what happens if they say no.

1. Collect three invoices or quotes.From different clients. That is the evidence that you work at your own risk.
2. Fill in the form.“Anmeldung Selbständigerwerbende” of your cantonal Ausgleichskasse. Twenty minutes, online.
3. Get the decision and the first bill.Recognised as self-employed; provisional contributions on your estimate, quarterly.
4. Settle after the tax assessment.Real income replaces the estimate; a final bill or a refund.

The rate, the floor, the evidence.

The form, the evidence, the answer.

Estimate, pay, report, settle.

1. Estimate the year.You tell the Ausgleichskasse what you expect to earn net. It sets provisional contributions on that number.
2. Pay quarterly.Four bills a year, due within ten days of each quarter’s end. On CHF 10 000 net that is about CHF 180 a quarter.
3. The tax office reports the real figure.After your tax assessment, the Ausgleichskasse learns your actual income — a year or two later.
4. Settle the difference.A final bill or a refund, with interest if the estimate was far off. Adjust the estimate during the year if business changes.

Net income and main job.

Six things the form does not explain.

• What makes you self-employed in the AHV’s eyesYou work in your own name, bear the economic risk, decide how the work is done, have several clients, and perhaps your own premises, tools or staff. A contract that says “freelancer” does not decide — how the work is actually done does. [2] [3] [4]
• Side income: the CHF 2 500 lineIf you have an employed main job and your self-employed income stays at or below CHF 2 500 a year, the Ausgleichskasse collects contributions only if you ask. Above the line, contributions are due on all of it. Without a main job there is no exemption — you pay at least CHF 530. [1] [3]
• The sliding scaleFull rate 10 % from CHF 60 500 net a year; below that it slides down to 5.371 % at CHF 10 100; under that, the minimum CHF 530. The Ausgleichskasse may add up to 5 % administration costs. All of it is deductible in your tax return. [1]
• Family allowances tooSelf-employed people also join a family compensation fund (FAK) and pay its contribution on income up to CHF 148 200. The cantonal Ausgleichskasse handles it in the same letter. [7]
• If the answer is noWhen the Ausgleichskasse decides you are in fact an employee of your “client” — one client, their tools, their schedule — the client owes employer contributions with interest, and you are insured as an employee. You can appeal. Platforms learned this in the Uber judgments. [2] [8]
• Register early, not lateContributions run from your first invoice, not from the day you register. Late registration means back-payment with interest. Three invoices in hand is the moment to send the form. [2]

The seven steps around this one: Becoming self-employed in 7 steps. Employed or self-employed in doubt: Employed or self-employed?. The CHF 2 500 rule from the employee side: The CHF 2 500 AHV rule, explained.

Short answers.

• The CHF 2 500 AHV rule, explained→
• Becoming self-employed in 7 steps→
• Freelancing on a B permit→

Where the rules come from.

1. [1]
   AHV/IV information centre — Merkblatt 2.02 — contributions of the self-employed 2026: 10 % (AHV 8.1, IV 1.4, EO 0.5); sliding scale from 5.371 % below CHF 60 500; minimum CHF 530; side income up to CHF 2 500 on request; quarterly provisional contributions; fully deductible. www.ahv-iv.ch
2. [2]
   Ausgleichskasse Basel-Stadt — Selbständige — criteria (own name, own risk, independence, investments, own premises, staff), documents (invoices, quotes, contracts, lease, website, business card), consequences of refusal. ak-bs.ch
3. [3]
   Federal Social Insurance Office (BSV) — Wegleitung über die Beiträge der Selbständigerwerbenden und Nichterwerbstätigen (WSN) — Rz 1066 (who is self-employed), Rz 1134 (secondary self-employment). www.koordination.ch
4. [4]
   AHV/IV information centre — Merkblatt 2.09 — employed or self-employed: contracts alone do not decide. www.ahv-iv.ch
5. [5]
   AHV/IV information centre — Merkblatt 2.01 — small wages: CHF 2 500 per employer (2026). www.ahv-iv.ch
6. [6]
   SVA Zürich — Anmeldung als Selbständigerwerbende — the Zürich form and process. www.svazurich.ch
7. [7]
   AHV/IV information centre — Merkblatt 6.08 — family allowances for the self-employed (FAK contributions). www.ahv-iv.ch
8. [8]
   Federal Supreme Court — Judgments 9C_70/2022 and 9C_76/2022 (Uber) — organisational dependence makes the platform the employer. www.bger.ch

Checked against the sources above on 5 October 2026; figures are for 2026 and change each January. The “last updated” date at the top changes whenever a figure is refreshed. Rates are the 2026 figures from Merkblatt 2.02; forms and practice differ slightly between cantons. This page is general information, not legal advice — your Ausgleichskasse gives binding answers.