Musicians often earn their living from several different sources: fees from concerts, a teacher’s salary from the music school, fees for commissioned works, or remuneration collected by SUISA on their behalf.
The different cantonal compensation offices have no uniform position on whether the remuneration distributed by SUISA qualifies as income from gainful self-employment – which would be subject to AHV/AVS contributions.
AHV/AVS – mandatory insurance for all
All Swiss residents and persons gainfully employed in Switzerland are subject to mandatory retirement, disability, and survivors’ insurance. And all those insured (except children) are accordingly required to pay social security (AHV/AVS) contributions. The contributions are normally assessed on the income earned from gainful employment.
For persons who are gainfully self-employed, contributions are assessed on the income earned from one’s own entrepreneurial, commercial, or business activities.
In principle, the following guidelines apply: AHV/AVS contributions must be paid on the earnings declared in one’s tax return. This is not the case for income from capital investments or real property, for example, which is taxable income but is not subject to AHV/AVS contributions.
Royalties: income from employment or from capital investment?
For SVA Zurich, the social security institution, royalties basically qualify as income from self-employment and should be declared accordingly. As a result, authors must register as self-employed.
The SVA Zurich distinguishes between active and passive utilisation, but has slightly changed its previous practice in 2025. The interpretation of active utilisation has been extended and passive utilisation restricted. Recently, all income from royalties from authors has been included under active utilisation. This also includes collective management by SUISA. The proceeds from such types of employment are subject to AHV contributions.
Only third parties such as heirs, who have not made a personal contribution to the work, can invoke passive utilisation and thus the qualification of such income as capital gains. Authors of the works do not have that option. The SVA Zurich refers to a ruling by the Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich dated 29 August 2024.
Different practice from one canton to the other
Whether AHV/AVS contributions are payable on remuneration distributed by the collective management organisations is decided differently by the compensation offices depending on who is asking, and the amount involved.
Unlike SVA Zurich, the compensation office of the canton of Vaud, for example, holds that remuneration for the creation of works is by definition subject to AHV/AVS contributions, while the remuneration from subsequent uses distributed by the collecting societies qualifies as capital gains and is not subject to social security contributions. It follows, therefore, that none of the remuneration distributed by the collecting societies is subject to AHV/AVS contributions.
The different approaches taken by each Canton as to the obligation to pay AHV/AVS contributions for copyright royalties does not provide any legal certainty and is unsatisfactory. The assessment of this social security issue ultimately lies with the compensation funds, not the collective management organisations. For this reason, Swiss collective management organisations recommend that their members clarify the obligation to pay AHV/AVS contributions directly with their compensation fund providers or consult a tax advisor. SUISA cannot offer any further consulting services in this area.
Article updated in July 2025.
Ich bin erstaunt bezüglich unterschiedlicher Handhabung von Ausgleichskassen von Urheberrechten/-entschädigungen. Jede AHV-Ausgleichskasse hat die gesetzlichen Grundlagen anzuwenden und wenn etwas unklar ist, ist dies durch das BSV klarzustellen. Der unterschiedlichen Handhabung wären u.a. auch Autoren (mit oder ohne Vorlesung) ausgesetzt. Dies meine Ansicht als Eidg. Dipl. Sozialversicherungsexperte.