Folks,
Thanks for your earlier advice. I am looking for advice on the pay process in an IT Independent Contract situation.
Does anyone know of a good processing company in Lausanne with low overhead? I have an offer at hand to work as an Independent Consultant in Lausanne (6 month)
I understand that unlike in the States, I have to go through a GMBH company??

a) I am a US citizen
b) My wife is a EU citizen with a Swiss B permit, and employed in Lausanne
c) I may be eligible for B-permit through family reunification clause (applied for)


Any advice to avoid unintentional bumps in an Independent Consultant situation will be appreciated

Hi Rusman,

I don't think it is necessary to form a company. The Swiss business who will be paying you wants to be sure they won't be liable for your social deductions. You need to pay these yourself and you can do this by registering at your town hall tax office as self-employed.

I think this thread will help:
branching out professionally

Setting up a GmbH:
I've heard some say that the Swiss authorities don't like these one-man outfits with one customer, but then I know plenty of people who have them.

Personally, I feel it isn't worth the hassle compared to UK/US.
Far more expensive to set up, more expensive to run.

If you like, I can recommend a payroll agency who'll sort you out.
Please PM if interested.

I start again with a thank you for your advice; slowly I feel the strength to walk in the right direction. The change for me has been quite daunting.

So, if I understand correctly, I could use a payroll agency or do a self filing (locally).
I am not looking to form a GMBH.

Would anyone have a recommendation for an efficient payroll agency in Lausanne? And what they may charge for their services?

an agency would charge possibly 10% commission if you present the job and yourself and they have nothing to do - and you'll get invited to lots of aperos and perhaps provide yourself with opportunities in the future.

I used to be with Interskill who became Computer People and are now Ajilon (in Neuchatel)

Hi There,

Unfortunately it is not so easy to be an IT contractor in Switzerland! First off in order to register as a self-employed person for social security purposes you need to have a minimum of 7 concurrent clients at the time of registeration. In all other cases the client is responsible for collecting and paying over the social security etc... This is one of the main reason why many companies don't want to deal with individual contractors.

Setting up a limited company (GBMH) is also not an option as there are certain rules relating to body shopping. Basically if your company is directly body shopping to a client, then you need to enter into a bond with the social security agency for CHF50,000 regardless of the size of the operation. Most of the banks will be happy to give you such a bond provided you deposit CHF50,000 with them.... The bond will be held for about 2 years after you close down the company, so for a 6 months contract this is not really the way to go.

I expect that the best solution would be to get some kind of deal with one of the agencies. Given that you have found the client and got the permit you should be able to get a low commission rate on it.

Best Regards,

Jim.

You can do it with three, in fact the SVA has space for three example clients. You need to make a case to them and send them the contracts to demonstrate that you really are self employed.

Payroll agencies charge from 5% of your bookings upward.
dave

Who told you that to be self-employes (einzelfirma) you need to have 7 concurrent clients? It's no ones business if a self-employed person has 1 or 100 concurrent clients.

Also as far as I know the client has nothing to do with paying your social security if you are a self-employed (einzelfirma) person.

Correct me if I am wrong and throw more light please.

Probably the best way...

There is no problem being self employed from a tax point of view provided you have got a valid permit. But there is from a social security point of view. Somewhere in my filing is a letter from the social security people rejecting my application for registration on these very grounds. Also in my files are letters from former clients asking me to compensate them for the cash they had to pay over when they were audited by social security. Both I and the clients expected this and we had a clause in the contract for me to compensate them if needed and I had put the money aside. Basically if you have only one client and you work full time for him, then you are not really self employed as far as the social security are concerned.

Best Regards,

Jim.

Ok that is clear. What if you want to become self employed and in the first year you get a project for 20k from one client and then another for 5k from a second client. Can you then register to be self-employed?

It is clear that you won't always have more than one client active, although you only need to demonstrate that you have had multiple clients when they do the assessment. What I am saying here is that if you have had three "customers" in the last year, and you have contracts that prove this , then the fact you may only have one (or even none) from now on is not important. It is not clear how often they reassess the situation, my guess is they do it annually (and the onus is on you to inform them when your situation changes).

If you cannot demonstrate "customers" ... lateral thinking required here...you could have multiple customers from UK sources , then I suggest either umbrella payroll agency or a Gmbh if you are more ambitious.

Gmbh is hassle and 10k minimum paid up share capital.

dave

I would suggest you need at least three clients to make a convincing case.
dave

Thanks Dave for the advice here and on the other thread. I have 5 clients so it's not a problem according to the guy from SVA. Not bad considering that I only started 2 months ago...so I think I am gonna bite the bullet.

Go for it and good luck !

You can look forward to buying innovative tools for your trade, holding important meetings in sunny places, and attending training courses that are only run in beach resorts usw.

dave