Hi All!

I've recently moved to Switzerland and it's the first time in my life that I'm going to be earning a living through freelance work, so my questions may be very obvious to somebody more experienced.

I've applied for a visa which will allow me to work as a freelance graphic artist in Zürich. I will be taking irregular work doing photo editing, graphic design, etc...

Can I invoice my clients even though I don't have a registered company? If the answer is 'yes', what information should the invoice contain?

Many thanks in advance
Chris

Why don't you register your company and do it all legally?
Registration only costs around CHF100. but you need to read one of the official languages.
You could proabably do a lot of things, but if the tax man comes looking for you, you better have your books in order with all your documents and "ability to invoice".

In addition to PC designs:

add on the invoice:

nicht mehrwertsteuerpflichtig (= providing you don't pay VAT - Mehrwertsteuer)

and

inklusive Sozialleistungen (= including social contributions, which you have to sort out yourself with the AHV)

I have invoiced here for the last 12 years without being a registered company. You must however register with the SVA to pay your state pension/unemployment contribution. (See other threads here on that.)

You need to have your name and address. The business name must include your surname. ie Peter Smith's Graphic Arts or Smith's Graphic Arts but not Peter's Graphic Arts. You SHOULD also include your telephone number and email address but you MUST not.

You must include the name of the person/company which you are invoicing and their correct and full address.

You must include the date of the invoice.
You must include a broken down description of the work and the amount for each part of the work. This can be either SFr. 60 or 3 Hours and then at the end an hourly rate which gives a total figure.
You need to expressly state if there is VAT or Not included in this total and if there is VAT you need to ensure your 6 digit VAT code is correctly displayed under your Address.
You need to include your bank details.
You need to include the payment conditions ie 30 days net, 7 days 2% Skonto etc.

And it is usual but not mandatory to include a cover letter.

Thats it.

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

Unfortunately, it does appear to be a little contradictory so I need to clarify a few things.

I don't have a company to register. My intention is solely to work freelance. Going on Richards advice on the How to freelance in Switzerland thread (assuming I've understood it correctly!), it's not necessary to create a company in order to work freelance; plus it's cheaper and involves less paperwork.

Please can you elaborate on your situation, AbFab. Do you also work freelance, taking different jobs from week to month? In your case, did registration regarding freelancing only ever involve the immigration office, SVA and AHV (I'll ask my girlfriend about the differences between the latter two and check out other threads as suggested)?

To clarify; you've included a business name as being compulsory on the invoice. Do I therefore need to set up a business after all or can I just write my name instead?

Thanks for the advice!
Chris

I would also be interested in knowing about this one, as I'm currently doing work for 2 different clients invoiced through my existing employer, thought the agreements for the work are with me and me alone (e.g. no contract between client and my employer)

At the moment, I'm strongly debating ditching the job and just doing the freelance stuff full time, and to that end I'm investigating setting up a company over here compared to in the UK. Is it true that you only need 100CHF to set up your company here??

Sorry to hijack...

I am self-employed and invoice for assorted freelance jobs (using my name). It's nothing to with the immigration - I started at my local tax office asking what I had to do to go selbstandish. They added Hillfsbaltt A to my tax forms to complete and informed the SVA Socialversicherungsanstallt) which is is the office/department that administers AHV (pension).

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So you need no permit at all ?

Thanks, AbFab! That's the kind of information I was looking for.

I think I can reply to that one although not comprehensively as I haven't yet gone through the whole process.

Yes, you do need to apply for a permit but state, when doing so, that you intend to work freelance. The cost of this application is no different than the usual application.

What happens then happens is that you're ability to earn a living from freelance work is investigated. So, instead of providing the immigration office with a work contract, which is the usual route, you may need to provide evidence of previous freelance experience, a business plan, etc... This is the stage where I'm at now with immigration.

Perhaps somebody else can provide some information regarding what an permit applicant such as myself may need to provide for the immigration office further down the line.

No problem at all, Terry. I'd like to know myself.

[QUOTE=cas;111464]Thanks, AbFab! That's the kind of information I was looking for.


I think I can reply to that one although not comprehensively as I haven't yet gone through the whole process.

Yes, you do need to apply for a permit but state, when doing so, that you intend to work freelance. The cost of this application is no different than the usual application.

What happens then happens is that you're ability to earn a living from freelance work is investigated. So, instead of providing the immigration office with a work contract, which is the usual route, you may need to provide evidence of previous freelance experience, a business plan, etc... This is the stage where I'm at now with immigration.

Perhaps somebody else can provide some information regarding what an permit applicant such as myself may need to provide for the immigration office further down the line.


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would be interesting to know if they give you a permit when you submit your business plan and previous freelance experience. Keep us posted as this will help several people. Thanks

'Will do.

I haven't found a one-stop answer thread to questions regarding my situation so I'd be happy to post a step-by-step experience once it's all over.

Chris