All employees working in Switzerland are automatically insured. (It is obligatory that all employees working in Switzerland are insured through the AHV/IV).

Self-employed workers, on the other hand, must make sure themselves that they have sufficient social insurance cover. This means that they carry no small responsibility towards themselves and any employees. Whoever founds an incorporated company and has a contract with this company is considered from a social insurance point of view, to be an employee.

Self-employed workers who decide to work under the legal form of sole proprietorship need to be recognised as self-employed by the social insurance offices of the canton Grisons (SVA). If an application for recognition is denied, the assured party remains employee and his employer is obliged to pay state pension (AHV) contributions.