Company Formation in Switzerland

Incorporation - Types of Business Entities

The company formation in Switzerland process can be completed in 10-12 working days – provided all the required documents to the satisfaction of the authority are available. The various types of entities which YourGlobalPro professionals can assist you to with setup for:

·       Sole proprietorship

·       General partnership [Kollektivgesellschaft]

·       Limited partnership [Kommanditgesellschaft]

·       Joint stock company [Aktiengesellschaft or AG)]

·       Limited liability company [Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung or GmbH]

·       Cooperation

·       Association

·       Foundation

·       Subsidiary

·       Foreign subsidiary

·       Other forms of organization [associations, foundations, cooperatives, and companies under the Collective Investment Schemes Act]

Benefits of Registration of a Company

·       Apart from first class location for research and innovation – Switzerland is one of the very attractive places of business from point tax standpoint.

·       Excellent regulatory environment for companies and individuals

·       Is center of Europe

·       Different types of tax privileged companies

Tax Registration and Filing

The Financial Statements of all the companies are required to be filed with the Tax Authorities.

Double Tax Treaty

Double taxation agreement helps to prevent double taxation by two countries on same item. Switzerland is having Double tax agreements with 84 countries. Below is the list of some countries which have double-tax treaties with Switzerland: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam

Trademark registration

The Swiss law grants protection for intellectual property autonomous and independent of foreign regulations. And Switzerland law recognizes and allows trademarks, designs, copyrights, plant varieties and other intangible assets to be registered for protection from infringement. Further the registered trademarks can be easily expanded internationally. The trademark registration in Switzerland comes into effect from the registration date of the words, letter combinations, combinations of numbers, graphic images.

Secretarial Compliance

For all the Swiss companies, the board of directors is considered responsible for the overall management and the Swiss Code of Obligations allows delegation of management to Individual members of the board, Boar committees or the third parties.

·       All the corporate entity is required to be registered in Commercial Registry.

·       The prescribed process for any corporate amendment like change of Director, shareholder, increase in share capital, amendment in articles need to be followed with the authority.

·       All the business entities are regulated by the Civil Code or the Swiss Code of Obligations.

·       The registered legal entities are domiciled in a particular canton where the Commercial Register is held and the Register is a public document.

Accounting Services

As the country requires all the companies to maintain proper books of accounts and records for the business carried on in the jurisdiction. Accounting system is based on any internationally accepted standard – i.e. Swiss GAAP/FER, IFRS or US- GAAP.

YourGlobalPro professionals can assist with the accounting services.

Auditing service

All the Companies in the Country are mandatorily have prepared Balance sheet and income statement including annual report.

·       Except the personal corporations all companies are required to undergo comprehensive audit on annual basis.

·       Company can also have limited audit in case have less than 10 full time employees.

YourGlobalPro professionals can assist your company with comprehensive auditing services based on your business requirement.

Banking

The Banks in Switzerland protects the privacy of the Banking clients – the protection and the secrecy provided by Swiss law for banking client is similar to confidentiality between doctors and patients.

The Swiss banking services allow access to your bank by post, courier and internet secure banking facilities. We facilitate all the paper work in relation to banking process for your business need.

Legal and Compliance

Below are the Switzerland Legal and compliance requirements

·       Minimum one shareholder is required for incorporation

·       There must be at least one resident Director in Switzerland Company and corporate directors are not permitted.

·       There is no requirement under Swiss Law for a company secretary to be appointed.

YourGlobalPro professionals can assist you with Switzerland Legal and compliance requirements.

HR and Employment Law and Immigration / VISA

For the employee, the employment contract is regulated by the Swiss Code of Obligations and can be entered into for definite or an indefinite period, on a full or part-time basis.

·       There is no minimum wage unless stipulated in a collective employment contract

·       Maximum working hour depend on the industry and vary from 45 and 50 hours per week.

·       The holidays depend on employer, contract and the age and legal standard for employment holidays is four weeks

·       20% of the average salary makes up the accommodation cost.

·       Switzerland became a member of the EU Schengen Group in December 2009 therefore EU/UK nationals do not require visas, but a valid passport for the duration of their visit. Other foreign nationals also called Third Countries who want to work in the country for them the entry process is more complex – therefore must obtain visa before entering the country.

·       There are four types of entry permit: Short-term residence and trainee permit (L), Long-term residence permit (B), Cross-border commuter permit (G), Settlement Permit (C)

Your global pro can assist you with the entire visa process – for more details on Immigration laws please feel free to write us.

Country Statistics