Work has told me that i can work remotely for the next three months.

Planning to return to Ireland during this period to work.

I am currently living in Olten. Paying what i would consider high rent and was planning to cancel with 1 months notice as agreed before moving back.

Then when I was moving back to Switzerland after the 3 months away I was looking at the possibility to move to Solothurn (or maybe Basel).

Would it be allowed to move home to Ireland for 3 months without having any active rented apartment in Olten without notifying the Gemeinde?

If I did not notify them, what issues could I potentially face when arriving back, can I go directly to Solothurn Gemeinde to change address or must I go to Olten Gemeinde initially?

Note: L permit holder

When the new tenants move in and go to register at the Gemeinde, the Gemeinde won’t let them as you will still be registered at that address. It will cause problems for them and land you in trouble.

You need to keep an address in Switzerland, maybe you could register as living with a friend or colleague for a few months. And be careful, you can’t stay out of the country for more than 3 months on an L permit.

Edit: when you leave a Gemeinde you must de register first, then register in the new one afterwards.

Thanks for the information, greatly appreciated.

You think? Most addresses are simply street and number, with multiple apartments not individually named or numbered, so how would the gemeinde know if a new or moving resident is taking somebody else's address? And that the existing tenant isn't still there?

I can't see them even thinking that it's something they should be looking at.

Or just get the new tenant to forward his mail. Or indeed get it redirected by the Post office, even to a foreign address. It's not as if the Post Office needs to notify the Gemeinde of mail redirection so they can investigate every person doing so, just in case. It's such a common occurrence that nobody would even think about it.

Technically, yes, but again it's a question of who's going to notice and/or investigate. Not condoning illegal behaviour, of course, but as long as he continues paying his health insurance etc. and keeps up with any paper correspondence nobody would be any the wiser if he were to slightly exceed the 3 month absence.

Yes I’ve heard on this very forum of this happening. Not saying it will but it could.

I said he needs a Swiss address.... any Swiss address (current one, friends house etc, but need to be registered “somewhere”).

In the (few) places where I lived, there was a specific number per unit and the Gemeinde knew exactly who had lived there before. Also in some Kantons the owner/rental agency informs the Gemeinde.

Find a sub-tenant and ‘rent’ a room from them. You can sort out the internal move after your return.

To keep your permit you need to be a Swiss resident.

Each unit in an apartment building is uniquely identified. Like 3rd floor left, etc.
The register is now probably up to date as this information is also used to send out the SERAFE bills.

But: In canton some cantons the landlord must inform the commune about any change of inhabitants (known as Drittmeldepflicht). In Canton SO only some communes know this rule. Olten does not. Solothurn City does.

This. When I moved and registered, the Gemeinde (community) already knew about it. So best is to check with the Olten migration office what you should/can do. Just tell them you are thinking about doing it. Not "I will do xyz"

When I last moved I was the first tenant of the unit in a newly built block. They allowed people to start to move into the building a couple of weeks before the official start date of the tenancy agreements because the builders had left. When I turned up at the Kreisbüro to register this confused the chap no end. He had been told who was supposed to move into which unit and from when and I wasn’t supposed to be there for another two weeks.

You'd need to time this carefully because if you're out of the country for more than 3 months your permit becomes invalid since it's an L. You would also need to be careful about any changes to quarantine situations in the 2 countries.

Thanks for the info, greatly appreciated.
If I were to keep the lease of the apartment and left for slightly longer than the 3 months. How would the Gemeinde track that I was away for a certain length of time?

Immigration/Passport control have a record of you leaving and coming back if you leave Schengen.

Nosy neighbours probably.

And I guess it depends if Passport Control are tracking EU nationals now due to the virus.

It is unlikely that they would. But don't assume anything. If it were to stretch to 4 or 5 or 6 months, they might get interested. But I'm guessing that everyone understands that there are unforeseen consequences of this virus.

But rules are rules.

When you say your company have said you can work remotely, have they confirmed that Ireland is acceptable?

There are all sorts of social security and corporate taxation issues that allowing you to work from another company can open up.

This is very thin ice.

My employer won't even let us work from abroad for a single day. Home office is only allowed from Switzerland to avoid unwanted social security/taxation effects.
Pe. some countries consider people working there as opening a local branch so tax-wise this might hurt the company as well.

No. This is definitely not allowed. You have to live in Switzerland. They'll find out you don't live there when new Tennants try and register.

You would also be commuting tax evasion in Ireland.

To work in the EU with a Swiss contract you need to have a special certificate from your employer (A1 form concerning social security). Without that one you have have huge issues working in the EU

Social security - If an employee spends more than 25% of their working time, during a 12 month period in Ireland, they are obliged to pay Irish social security. Their employer is required to register as an employing entity in Ireland, and also pay Irish employer social security, even Irish tax on company profits.

Between 14 March and 31 August, the 25% rule was suspended by agreement between EU countries and Switzerland.

By the way, if an employee of a swiss entity becomes subject to social security in Ireland, they will need to be hired and contractually engaged by an Irish employer, and are longer employed by the Swiss entity.

Tax - All working days spent in Ireland are subject to income tax in Ireland. In principle, the days taxable in Ireland are not subject to income tax in Switzerland, however your employer will be required to seek a tax ruling from the cantonal tax authority to exclude the days worked outside Switzerland.

Insurances - Most employment related insurances, require the employee to be tax resident in Switzerland, or a cross border worker (permit G).

Pension - It's not possible to legally contribute to a 2nd pillar pension plan, unless the employee is tax resident in Switzerland.

Unless an employer explicitly consents to working 3 months in another country and can explain how it manages these topics, I would assume that working remotely means at your home in Switzerland, or the local Starbucks (If IT Security allows...)