Company registration in Switzerland
We will pick the canton before the legal form, file with the cantonal register office, and hand over the entry with the capital, the resident representative and the yearly charges settled.
Register fee
Пошлина регистра
CHF 420
420 франков
GmbH capital
Капитал GmbH
CHF 20,000 in full
20 000, полностью
AG paid in
Оплата в AG
CHF 50,000 minimum
не менее 50 000
Federal profit tax
Налог федерации
8.5% of net profit
8,5% с прибыли
When you need company registration in Switzerland
The canton is still undecided
Every canton runs its own register office and sets its own rates, so the address decides more of the yearly bill than the legal form does.
You are choosing between AG and GmbH
The forms part company where it costs money: an AG needs CHF 100,000 of capital with CHF 50,000 paid in, a GmbH needs CHF 20,000 paid in full.
The whole team lives abroad
The company must be able to be represented by one person resident in Switzerland, and that person has to sit on the board or hold an executive office.
The franc turnover keeps climbing
Liability for value-added tax begins once a year of supplies passes CHF 100,000; below that line the company is exempt from it.
The founding has to be notarised
Founders declare the formation by public deed, and in law the company exists only from the day the register enters it.
What you get
- The entry in the cantonal register
- A canton chosen on its own numbers
- Articles matched to AG or GmbH
- A representative resident in Switzerland
- The federal and cantonal charges, counted
What is required to register a company in Switzerland
Two decisions sit under a Swiss company, and people arrive with only one of them. The form, AG or GmbH, is visible at once. The canton is the quiet one, and it reaches both the tax rate and the office that reads your file.
What else we do in Switzerland is gathered on the Switzerland page, and the country list for this service sits on the company registration page.
What the cantonal file holds
- A public deed in which the founders declare the formation, adopt the articles and appoint the governing bodies.
- Articles naming the capital, the shares or capital contributions and the rights attached to them.
- Evidence that the capital has been paid to the extent the chosen form requires.
- An address in the canton of the seat, because that is the register office your file goes to.
- The persons authorised to represent the company, one of whom is resident in Switzerland.
The capital, by form
| Requirement | Figure |
|---|---|
| AG — capital in the articles | from CHF 100,000 |
| AG — paid up on foundation | 20% of each share, at least CHF 50,000 |
| GmbH — capital in the articles | from CHF 20,000 |
| GmbH — paid up on foundation | the full issue price, in cash |
| Either form, in a foreign currency | the same value at foundation |
The signature that lives in Switzerland
The law asks for no Swiss director. It asks that the company be capable of being represented by one person resident in Switzerland, and narrows who that may be: a member of the board or an executive officer, with access to the share register. A team living abroad settles this seat before the deed is signed.
The federal fee and its surcharge
A new entry of a capital company costs CHF 420 under the federal fee ordinance, and the figure is the same for an AG and a GmbH. Where the ordinance sets a range instead of a flat amount, the office bills by time at CHF 100 to CHF 250 an hour, and for unusual size, difficulty or urgency it may add up to 50%.
Three things the canton decides
The office that reads your file
Cantons run the register offices and the Confederation supervises them. Every entry is then examined and approved by the federal register office before it reaches the main register.
The rate on your profit
Federal profit tax is 8.5% of net profit everywhere. The cantonal and municipal layer sits above it, and setting those scales and rates is reserved to the cantons.
The tax on your equity
Cantons also levy a capital tax on legal entities, which has no federal counterpart. A company with a large equity cushion feels the choice of canton here.
Year one in a Swiss company
- Federal profit tax at 8.5% of net profit, and the cantonal and municipal charge on the same profit.
- The cantonal capital tax on equity, at the rate the canton has set.
- Registration for value-added tax once supplies pass CHF 100,000 in a year.
- The seat of the resident representative watched, so that it never falls vacant unnoticed.
Sources: articles 621, 632, 643, 718, 773, 777c and 928 of the Code of Obligations; article 32 of the Commercial Register Ordinance; the CHF 420 new-entry fee in the fee ordinance; article 68 of the Direct Federal Taxation Act; articles 1 and 2 of the Tax Harmonisation Act; article 10 of the VAT Act.
Stages of work
The canton, before the form
We compare the cantons you would sit in on the numbers that repeat every year: the cantonal and municipal charge on profit, and the capital tax on equity.
The form, once the canton is known
AG or GmbH is then a narrower question: the capital each demands and the way shares change hands are weighed against a rate you already know.
The capital into the notary's hands
The amount goes into the articles and the money moves before the deed, since the register expects proof of payment in the file.
The address and the representative
We arrange the address in the canton of the seat and settle who holds the seat of the resident representative, with the office that makes them eligible.
The public deed, then the canton
Founders sign the public deed before a notary, the file goes to the cantonal office, and the entry becomes final once the federal office has approved it.
What repeats every Swiss year
Three run the first year: the profit charge at both levels, the cantonal capital tax, and the turnover figure that makes registration for value-added tax compulsory.
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