Start your business
in Switzerland

No. You see the full invoice one more time on the payment screen, and nothing is charged until you confirm there. Prices are shown in USD. The payroll lines are set in Swiss francs underneath, so those dollar figures move slightly with the exchange rate.

Your Swiss formation starts and you get a single point of contact rather than a ticket queue. For a new company, we open the Swiss capital deposit account so you can pay in your share capital, then the notarial deed is executed and the file goes to the Corporate Registry, with notary and registry fees already covered by your package. For a ready-made company, we run the statutory modifications remotely: company name, business activity, canton, registered address, shareholders, and directors. Once you are on the Corporate Registry, the entity and its filing obligations go onto your compliance calendar.

The company particulars first: proposed name, business activity, canton and registered address, your shareholders, and your directors. Then the entity type, Sàrl/GmbH or SA/AG, and the share capital, which you deposit into the Swiss capital deposit account we open for you. For the banking steps we collect IDs and utility bills for signatories, shareholders, beneficial owners, and directors, a business plan, a description of your operating model, and contracts or other evidence of business prospects. Switzerland requires transparent beneficial ownership, so every beneficial owner has to be disclosed.

For a new company, registration takes about 3 to 4 weeks once your capital is deposited and we have all documents. The capital deposit account in front of that is bank controlled and usually takes about 2 weeks, sometimes up to 4. A ready-made (shelf) company skips the deposit step and transfers in about 2 to 3 weeks, subject to Corporate Registry deadlines. The notary and the Registry set that clock, not us, so we sequence the steps and tell you where the file actually is instead of promising a date.

Yes. Notary fees and Corporate Registry fees are inside the advertised price, so no separate government invoice lands at the end of your formation. The price also covers assistance opening the Swiss capital deposit account, your registered c/o address for year 1, and the nominee Swiss-resident director for year 1. Your share capital is not a fee, it is your own money.

The $12,750 covers incorporation with notary and Corporate Registry fees paid, capital deposit account opening assistance, your registered c/o address for year 1, and the nominee Swiss-resident director for year 1. Everything else is its own line. The registered address plus nominee Swiss-resident director from year 2 is $11,600 a year. VAT registration and quarterly returns, annual accounting up to 100 transactions, the annual tax report and financial statements, mail forwarding, a corporate kit, and post-incorporation administrative follow-up are not in the Start package; they come with the Business package, $19,000 for year 1 and $15,000 a year after that. The ready-made (shelf) versions of those two packages are $17,500 and $23,750. Payroll is separate again: CHF 450 (about $563) once to set up AVS, insurance, the second pillar pension fund, and withholding tax, then CHF 550 (about $688) per employee per year. Your share capital and your operational bank account are not Commenda charges at all.

Yes. Swiss law requires every Sàrl or SA to keep at least one Swiss-resident director with single signature authority on the Corporate Registry, plus a registered Swiss address, at all times. Lose either and the company is removed from the Registry. Year 1 of both the nominee Swiss-resident director and the registered c/o address sits inside the $12,750, which is a one-time charge. From year 2 they renew as a separate annual charge, $11,600 a year on the Start track or folded into the $15,000 a year Business maintenance, so do not read the checkout total as covering every year. If a founder or employee already lives in Switzerland and can act as director and provide the address, you do not need the service.

It happens, and it is the one part of a Swiss formation nobody can compress. Swiss incorporation runs through a notarial deed, and notary approval is jurisdiction controlled, not Commenda controlled. We have had a customer's Swiss entity sit pending notary approval for weeks with everything else ready, so we keep the file moving, tell you where it stands, and stage the accounting, tax, and payroll work to begin the day the entity exists. If your timeline cannot absorb that risk, a ready-made (shelf) company is the way around it: the entity already exists, and name, business activity, canton, address, shareholders, and directors are all changed in one remote notary process.

No. A Sàrl/GmbH needs CHF 20,000 fully paid up at incorporation, and an SA/AG needs CHF 50,000 paid up with a further CHF 50,000 permitted within the first three years. That money is yours. It goes into the Swiss capital deposit account to obtain the bank's confirmation, then becomes your company's working capital once registration completes. Our pricing is quoted for the Sàrl/GmbH, the structure foreign investors commonly establish, and is entirely separate from the capital you deposit.

Two accounts, two answers. The capital deposit account is mandatory for incorporation and assistance opening it is included in every package, but it can only hold your share capital, no operational transactions. An operational corporate account is the bank's own process: expect an application form, corporate documents, IDs and utility bills for signatories, shareholders, beneficial owners, and directors, a business plan, and evidence of business prospects. Some banks want a personal visit to Switzerland, others onboard remotely, and decisions take roughly 1 to 2 weeks. Banks can request more documents or refuse without explanation, so we run and sequence the process but the decision is theirs.

No operations does not mean no obligations. Every Swiss company owes an annual tax declaration at the close of each fiscal year and must keep accurate, up to date accounting, and the Swiss-resident director and registered address have to stay in place whether or not you trade. VAT registration and quarterly returns only start once you sell goods or services, which is why they sit in the Business package instead of being charged to a dormant entity. Your entity goes onto a per-entity compliance calendar built from its jurisdiction, entity type, and fiscal year end, with automated reminders before each due date and a single point of contact for the questions in between.

Yes. Payroll is the clearest case: give us your best headcount estimate for year one and we true it up as you hire, since payroll compliance is billed per employee per year. If you start on the Start package and later begin selling in Switzerland, VAT registration, quarterly returns, accounting, and the annual tax report are what the Business track adds, and your point of contact can move you across. Tell us before a renewal date so the next annual invoice reflects what you actually need.