Entering Switzerland
Switzerland is not difficult to enter. It is difficult to enter in the wrong order. The canton, the structure, the first employment contract and the VAT position all constrain one another, and most of the expensive corrections we see are the result of one of them being decided in isolation.
01
What Switzerland will actually require of you — substance, tax, employment, VAT — before commitments are made. Which canton suits the activity, not just the tax table. Whether you need an entity at all, or whether registration and fiscal representation would do.
Substance requirements · Cantonal comparison · Entity versus branch versus registration · Indicative tax position · Permit feasibility
02
Incorporation or registration, VAT and fiscal representation, banking introductions, first employment contracts. We sequence these so that nothing waits on something that has not been started.
Incorporation or branch registration · Commercial register · VAT registration and fiscal representation · Bank account introductions · Employment contracts and permits
03
Monthly accounting, payroll and social security, VAT returns, statutory deadlines tracked on your behalf. From here it is the Business engagement, run by the same people who set it up.
Monthly bookkeeping · Payroll and social security · VAT returns · Group reporting · Deadline calendar
04
Annual accounts and tax returns, audit coordination, and a standing review of what has changed — in your business, and in the law. Positions that were correct three years ago are not automatically correct now.
Annual accounts · Tax returns · Audit coordination · Annual position review
We sit on the border, inside the Swiss system. Most of our work has more than one country in it, and the handover between them is the part we are used to holding.
Bellinzona, on the road that leads into Switzerland from the south.
Patrizia Berta / Unsplash
What the running engagement looks like once the entity exists.
The personal side of an arrival: residence, personal tax, social security.
Lump-sum taxation, rulings and equity plans that need settling in advance.
You don't need to know exactly what you need. Describe the situation and we will tell you whether it is something we should handle, and what it would involve.
