Dear all,

I have read through the existing posts regarding sole trader but none that answer my question, so I'd be grateful if someone can help me?

I have dual nationality Swiss/UK, looking to register as a Sole Trader in Switzerland, however I am not registered anywhere in Switzerland, currently residing in the UK, assume I will need to do this before I can proceed?

Also, please can someone provide me with a company/individual that can help me set this up as I need to discuss where would be the most appropriate canton re tax etc....

Thank you :-)

Are you looking to register as a sole trader in Switzerland but live in the UK or are you moving to Switzerland?

Hi miniMia,

My work at this stage is phone based and international, so for obvious tax reasons I choose Switzerland over the UK....I'm looking to run the company from any global location for flexibility. I have no plans to move to Switzerland at this stage but it may be a consideration down the line but no solid plans as yet.

Appreciate you making contact.

You can not register as a sole trader in Switzerland without being a resident. One of the criteria is that you have an actual address, register for and be approved as a sole trader by the AVS (pension), etc.

If you want to start a company that's another story where we will need more story tellers. LOL. The least investment in a company is a CHF20,000 investment plus set up fees. A full on corporation is CHF100,000 investment plus fees.

Good luck.

Thanks for clarifying the Sole Trader, residency, this is not an issue given my flexibility I can go register at any point....

I've looked into my options already, even with a 20K initial investment one of the Directors has to be a resident, so either route I choose I will need to go and register.

If anyone out there knows of an individual or company that is cost effective that can help me set this up I would be very grateful?

I hope you understand that "going to register" means taking up residency there. You'll have to pay health insurance and provide an address where you live as well as one where your company is registered.

Good luck!

Actually you can, but with domicile address and local agent,and that will cost you 2k a year approx.

Residency is not a mandatory, but contributions are.

I mean not a company but Einzelfirma.

Also note that you can’t work on a Swiss territory without permit (or residence in your case). So it is very useless type of establishment, only for some distance transactions may be.

Thank you Minimimoa, I am fully aware of what "going to register" means, it was not what I planned but I have complete flexibility in terms of where I base myself and if that's what I have to do, then so be it!

I have plenty of family in Switzerland, I have zero issues with address etc etc, I just wanted clarification that I actually need to register to set up as an einzel firma and wanted a contact for someone that can actually do that, and a potential option which seems to have presented itself.

Thanks for your help.

Thank you Amaras, my work is phone based (I travel 100% at the moment) and all are International transactions, so this maybe an easier option for me at this stage. Can you please send me your details to have a further discussion?

I will reply to you PM because some links can be considered as advertising by moderators. In about a day (must check some old files).

It would be nice that you post on the forum as there are other people on the forum that are interested, like me for instance, was what you write contradicts what my understand and research tells me. So, I'm definitely very interested in your reply.

Look, I’m not confident about how it’s working exactly, but the point is that:

Economic freedom, which is guaranteed under the Swiss Constitution, allows anyone, including foreign nationals, to operate a business in Switzerland, to form a company or to hold an interest in one. No approval by the authorities, no membership of chambers of commerce or professional associations and no annual reporting of operating figures is required to establish a business. However, foreign nationals must have both work and residence permits in order to conduct a business personally on a permanent basis. Corporate structures

To register and conducting on a permanent basis are very different things.

I really don’t know exactly how it works, because it’s not a case of foreigner controlled company where if you are not resident two resident directors needed then you get a signatory rights. In this situation sole proprietorship can only appoint resident agent for tax filling. That is how it’s done in Hong Kong. But complicated to register since summer for offshore activities.

Hope this topic is not about the same.
Changes are coming for self employed

On the other hand, may be there is no need for any representative to fill in tax forms.

Anyway, there is that links.
http://blog.startups.ch/en/category/...roprietorship/
In German also.
http://blog.startups.ch/category/einzelfirma/

Energy Girl
I will suggest that you just go to Commercial Register and do it with an address you are able to provide. But I don’t know if professional domicile can be your relatives residential address. Normaly it’s a rental contract for business premises.Then register with social insurance and open a bank account. Note that even if you don’t do anything in a year a minimum contribution is around 500 fr, that is mandatory.

Also note, that you can work up to 8 day in a year (not to be confused with 30 days limit for tax non residents), so you can perform some work in a country as well, or at least your visits to bank or so on will not be considered unlawful.

This is applicable to self employed non residents as well .
http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home/...verfahren.html
Good luck.

who's that??? lol.

I ask becuase there are two types of "registering". One is registering as being a resident in Switzerland. The other is registering the business.


@Amaras
The Startup site is the only place I see it listed that you can be "domiciled" and not a resident in Switzerland to be a Sole Proprietor. Do you have any other sources? None of the ones I've read specify this. Thanks.

Page 12

http://www.ctistartup.ch/upload/doku...ch_Apr2010.pdf

Domicile means where you live in Switzerland , in the UK it has a different meaning.

It reads : Nationality and residency
(See comment 4)
The proprietor does not have to be domiciled
in Switzerland.

That is what we are talking about.

The point is that: For foreigners who conduct a business personally on a permanent basis a work and residence permit is required.

Do you have this from an official site and in French or Italian? The only time I've seen "domicile" mentions is in English and even in the notes it say that you need a valid resident permit. If you need a valid resident permit, it would seen to me that you must be a resident in Switzerland.

Note 4:
"Before taking up employment foreign nationals require both a work permit and a residence permit entitling them to pursue
gainful employment."

Energy Girl said she does not want to take up residency in Switzerland. That would seem to me that she is not working in Switzerland in ANY basis never mind a "permanent one".



Now, I'm even more confused.

I think Energy Girl is going to have to find the canton she wants to set up in and then talk to them about what her exact plans are.

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@ Amaras - thank you so much for your efforts and insight you have been very helpful.

@ miniMia - thank you for your efforts and sorry for the typo in the name, the joys of the iPad auto correct and my lack of checking before hitting 'submit reply'

I have all the information I need for now and will post an update on steps, when I've put this into practice to help any future individuals in a similar situation.

No problem I was just playin'. Do let us know what you find out! Good luck.

No, not really, but I didn’t search for it. In german there is some web-sites that mentioning it.

You see, a lot of info is just copy pasted on 90% of web-sites, and very often is not correct. Even very reputable companies doing that. Recently for example I had to proof hard to someone about Macau branch taxation exempt. Absolutely wrong info almost everywhere.

I think this point was clarified in 2008, when they allowed Ich AG, but actually there is nothing about restricting non residents from sole proprietorship in a Swiss Code of Obligations, in contrast with companies requirements .

Yes, but you forgot about magic Burmese week gap.

I didn’t like an idea telling this at first place, but there is actually nothing to hide, so I will…

I know, it looks confusing, but I had an intensive consultations 2 years ago and I was planning to register one, for a purpose of getting residence after one year as an exceptional, useful to canton economic, culture and so on. (Article 19 of Aliens Act). In my particular non EU case chances of approval was about 99%, but for a number or reasons I give up that idea.

First of all I didn’t like an idea of surname attached, besides person can register a trade mark separately, second is that they told me that generating 80k+ a year may not be enough, 120+ will be better, but the last, and most important thing is that there is no hallmarking at Cointrin and no free zone at Kloten, and because of that it would be very complicated to run it distantly. Of course there was other things to do as well, but that part of work was also important for me.

Then of course a global crisis point, some priority changes so I decided not to take chances.

But registration for non resident is absolutely possible. There is a need for address and fiduciary, but I strongly suspect that only address is good enough.

EnergyGirl , I think this is very important.

Expresseintragung
The clock starts from application logging moment.

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“All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions”