Hi everyone,

Kindly advise, I hold a B-Permit and can work in Switzerland. I have held a few part time jobs and do have AVS. Now I am building a website for a very exciting business venture - operated from home. I am not sure what are the rules in Switzerland for setting up an internet based business in Switzerland? 1) Do I need to register the website as a company if I use my home address here in Swiss - it's rented? 2) Is it wise to register it here in Switzerland - what are the huddles? 3) The bulk of the revenue will be coming from all over the world - what are the tax implications if the account I use is my Swiss account? 4) Is it better to use my other accounts or open a business account e.g. in South Africa or UK.
Do you have contacts of people that I can consult to assist with this - I need reasonable charging consultants.

Thank you in advance for your responding.

They are groups of players trying to decide a strategy, but that's not important right now.
Now you have me worried, where will the rest of the revenue be coming from ?
Seriously though you should spend time studying the business forum in this website where you will fnid much information about how to set up business, and I think your question about overseas revenues has been asked recently already...

dave

It's a travel website open to anyone booking from wherever. I haven't read any info about setting up a website driven business in Swiss.

You mean like this or this or this?

You have picked possibly the most competitive market for an online business.

Additionally the integration work alone to deal with online reservations could quickly run into millions.

Yes the website is almost similar but targeted to a very specific captured market - e.g. vacation club

Sorry forgot I have already investigated the intergration costs and have the website developers sorting that out for me.

Just out of interest what is "vacation club"?

Club Med and the likes I suppose.

Yes just like club med - you are right on.

If you think that this will turn into something bigger you should found a company (GmbH or AG) as this will limit your personal risk (imagine someone has an accident during a trip you organized and sues you for damages) and will make selling the business easier if you ever plan to do so.

Switzerland is generally not a bad place as the corporate taxes are quite low. However, the UK might have lower capital requirements (don't know). I wouldn't start a company that will sell internationally in South Africa unless your business has a strong link to the country (travel to SA or travel for Africans). Otherwise, you will have less credibility - e.g., I don't think someone from Germany would book travel to Greece through a South African company.

For a GmbH in CH you will need CHF 20,000 equity (after founding the company you can use the money immediately). You can either do it from your home or have the company domiciled in a low tax canton such as Zug or Appenzell. Google for setting up company in Switzerland and you'll find many organisations that can do this for you (cost ca. 1500). If you don't want to use your home address, they can provide a post box and office address, too.

For the tax question you need to talk to a tax advisor who understands this topic and will charge you something like 100-150 per hour (google, you'll find many). Corporate/income tax should be in CH as long as your company has no operations in other countries, but you need to figure out VAT implications. I only know that, especially for travel related services, VAT for cross border services is a rather complex topic and there's no straight forward answer (could depend on country where travel originates).

Thank you very much for your comprehensive response, your advise is clear and to the point and is greatly appreciated!!!! That's exactly what I wanted to know and you have pointed me the right direction in just one response. It's clear what I have to do from now on and I will start working on that immediately. Many thanks again - have a Super weekend!

you would need to find out if you need any special licenses in your canton.

generally businesses dealing with travel need to have a travel agency license, be insured and bonded.

especially if you plan to receive deposits from clients.

travel agency licenses are expensive.

Hi there, thank you very much for your pointers, I will be setting up an appointment with a consultant in the near future and will keep you guys posted!

So are these rules applicable to Non EU employed in swiss on a B-Permit as well?
Can i start my own online business but still keep my other job to which my permit is linked?

Nope, you can not.