Employing someone in your home entails a series of formalities — affiliations, statements, salary certificate, withholding tax — whose weight lies above all in their regularity. Two routes allow part of them to be delegated: the chèque service, a canton-supported scheme, and a management mandate entrusted to a professional third party. They do not sit on the same plane, and the right choice depends less on comparing fees than on an honest reading of their respective scope. That reading is what we offer here.
What the chèque service does
The chèque service is an administrative service for private households in the canton of Geneva. Its main role is to declare the salaries of staff employed at home to the mandatory social insurance schemes. According to the official description, this covers AVS-AI, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance, family allowances, and also occupational pension (LPP) and accident insurance (LAA). It also advises employers and employees on their rights and duties, and ensures the salary certificate is drawn up. In other words, it takes on the core of social affiliations and declarations, including LPP affiliation. The exact scope is described on the Chèque service: administrative support page and on the Declaring your employee to social insurance page.
What the chèque service does not necessarily cover
A standardised scheme, by nature, covers the common core of situations. It is highly effective for what it is designed to do: the social declaration of a simple domestic job. It is not, however, intended to handle configurations that spill beyond that frame — an employee shared between several households with fine apportionment of shares, an interaction with other parts of your wealth organisation, a judgement on withholding tax, coordination with an employer located out of canton, or the integration of the job into a broader household accounting. These are not shortcomings of the chèque service: they are simply the limits of a service designed for the general case.
What a management mandate brings
A management mandate, within the meaning of the Code of Obligations, entrusts a professional third party with conducting your formalities according to your instructions. Its value lies not in doing "the same thing more expensively" but in covering a broader, tailored scope: framing the employment contract, an informed choice of withholding-tax regime, handling multi-employer situations, aligning with your personal tax and, more generally, a single point of contact who knows your whole organisation. The legal framework of the mandate is set out in the Code of Obligations.
Comparing on scope, not on price
The relevant question, then, is not "which costs less?" but "which covers my situation?". For a simple, standalone domestic job, the chèque service performs its function perfectly and it would be excessive to look further. As soon as the situation grows more complex — several employees, several households, an interweaving with your wealth, a need for advice and judgement — a management mandate brings a continuity and an overall view that a standardised service is not there to offer. The two routes do not stand in direct opposition: they answer needs of different magnitude.
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Withholding tax, a point to watch
One of the topics where scope matters most is withholding tax. Depending on your employee's permit, a deduction may be due, and the canton offers a simplified procedure via the compensation fund or a monthly statement that takes family circumstances into account. The choice between these regimes has concrete consequences for your employee: a flat-rate procedure ignores their family situation and becomes final, whereas an ordinary statement opens the possibility of a correction. This is exactly the kind of judgement a standardised service handles uniformly, whereas a mandate can document it and tailor it to your case.
Two routes, one requirement of traceability
Whichever route is chosen, the employer remains legally responsible for their obligations: delegating execution does not transfer responsibility. Keeping a record of affiliations, statements and payments therefore remains essential in both cases. A good arrangement — chèque service or mandate — is one that makes this traceability legible and available to you, rather than diluting it in a black box you would only open when something goes wrong.
Choosing with full knowledge
Our role is not to steer you away from the chèque service when it suffices; it is to help you read your situation honestly and choose the route whose scope matches your real needs. When a mandate is warranted, we hold it with the same rigour a family office applies, brought to your daily life: correct affiliations, documented judgements, a single point of contact. Let's discuss your situation.
The scopes and services described may change: the linked official page prevails, and we verified them on 2026-09-20.