Company registration and maintenance
- Official formation fee
CHF 420 basic commercial-register fee, plus relevant person/signature and other filing charges; notary and professional fees extra.
- Annual state fee
No fixed nationwide annual registry charge established in this review; cantonal taxes and continuing administration must be budgeted.
- Share capital
CHF 20,000 fully paid for GmbH/Sàrl.
- Directors
At least one Swiss-resident authorised representative; management and signing arrangements need to meet the Code of Obligations.
- Shareholders
At least one member; GmbH members are named in the commercial register.
- Office / registered agent
Swiss registered seat/address; notarised incorporation.
- Published timing
Zurich indicates about one working week to examine complete documents, then around three working days for the entry to appear; no end-to-end guarantee.
What the public can see
- Directors / managers
Public commercial-register management and authorised-signatory details.
- Shareholders
Public GmbH/Sàrl member names and registered holdings.
- Beneficial owners
Non-public TranspaReg for authorised authorities and due-diligence users; new law started 1 October 2026.
- Accounts
Ordinary private-company accounts are not openly published, but creditors with a protected interest have an inspection right under Article 958e(2).
Do not confuse private-company accounts with freedom from bookkeeping, tax reporting or lawful creditor inspection. TranspaReg queries are not yet operational at this check; its official site expects API access no earlier than January 2027.
Profits, company tax and distributions
- Ordinary company treatment
8.5% federal tax on taxable net profit, plus cantonal/municipal profit and capital taxes; no single national combined rate
- Standard headline comparison rate
Not directly comparable — before lower bands and conditional reliefs
- Retained-profit comparison
Not directly comparable — company layer
- Distributed-profit comparison
Not directly comparable — company layer, excluding owner’s tax and outbound withholding
- Conditional reliefs / alternatives
Participation reductions and cantonal reliefs require their own qualifying income/holding analysis; not a general low-rate election.
- Distributions / withholding
Ordinary investment-income withholding is 35%; declaration, treaty refunds and qualifying notification procedures may reduce the final burden.
- Other tax conditions
The federal charge alone understates total company tax. Tax expense is deductible; withholding and the owner’s residence-country tax are separate.
Profit, distributions and the actual location
The Confederation, cantons and communes tax company profits. Select a real canton and municipality before comparing rates. Retaining profit does not create a general income-tax exemption; distributing it introduces the separate withholding and shareholder-tax questions.
Formation and current official fees
Use the dedicated register tariff rather than older formation summaries: the basic company entry is CHF 420. Capital, notarisation, signing entries and local operations are separate commitments.
The October 2026 ownership change
The transparency legislation entered into force on 1 October 2026, starting transition periods. It does not turn TranspaReg into a general public search service, and the official platform distinguishes the legal access framework from technical rollout.
Accounts can still be inspected
The Federal Supreme Court confirmed that a creditor may seek inspection under Article 958e(2) on the required proof and protected interest. A private balance sheet is not immune from a properly grounded claim.