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What is required to form anonymous Swiss GmBH or AG ?
- Thread starter lostguy
- Start date
Can you please explain what it is you mean with the Swiss GmBH not to be useful if you live abroad?
Well, all i know is that a the shareholders of a GmBH in Swizerland is on public record, whereas the shareholders of an AG is not. For an AG the shareholders are not disclosed anyware (exept as UBOs if you open a bank account) and even taxes are put on the company as such. With a GmBH I guess the only way to stay anonymus is to have a nominee shareholder, but I do not know how far that will get you.
but you can't have a nominee shareholder and / or director in Switzerland or can you?
Yes, you can.
Directors: this is normal as one of the directors needs to be resident in Switzerland. Most lawyers have this type of assignments as well, but they are not nominees in the "offshore sense" of the word as they will not let you do whatever you want.
Shareholders: In an AG there are no issues, and frankly you do not need it as only the company keeps records of their shareholder. So, unless the company is publicly listed, no one will know. The only thing is that if you incorporate in your name, the incorporation document will name you, and that is publicly availible. The shareholders of a GmBH are made public, so you will have a hard time finding a guy that wants to do be a nominee. I have been dealing with swiss law lawyers for many years and the way they normally do it is to have a corporate sharholder as a nominee. This way, you can stay relatively anonymus. But, please note that all companies are required to have a list of UBOs. So, the company will know.
To be honest I have never checked the regulations on this in Switzerland, but I know that most countries do not have any spesific ban on nominees. Honestly, it is also extremly difficult to enforce that type of ban.
Your lawyer might setup the AG for you and you then buy the AG from him. His name will be in the founding document.
With an AG there is no reason for a nominee, you do need however a swiss director.
Yes, that is the way it is normally done. This is a routine for Swiss lawyers.
Yes, you need a Swiss director. You would want to have the lawyer to do this. As his client you are protected by the lawyer-client privilege.
No. The shareholders of an AG is not public. The only entity that knows about this is the AG itself, and the chances of getting that information is close to zero if you are not the governement. The lawer director will see to that. There is no automatic or systematical reporting of shareholders to the government either. In fact, the governments policy is that they do not need to know. So, the only situation where governmental bodies will ask for this is where there is a spesific investigation.
If an AG is publicly listed, there will be a certain disclosure of shareholders as this is required by the stock exchange.
All companies are required to have a list of their UBOs. This is not public and cannot be accessed by the public. But, normally you would not need this for an AG as the list of shareholders is just as private.
Not bad, no restrictions, you are sure? Is there a public link in Switzerland where you can lookup companies? I wouldl ike to double check this.
I know the price range is between 15K and 20K euro to get a AG + the share capital that you will have to restore within 12 months time. But if this is really the case with the anonymity then I see a good business opportunity for me, thanks a lot for the infoYes it true. And yes, as this is Switzerland it comes not cheap
For a price range: How to open a new company or buy a shelf firm in Switzerland (Zurich/Zug). You can also consider buying a shelf-company, there is no need to pay into the company then.
But apart from possible anonymity, the advantages probably aren’t that great? Most likely, a Swiss AG still has to pay quite high taxes?
Until it is known what exactly Switzerland is planning I would avoid like the plague right now. If you don't live there don't expect any privacy.
Switzerland pushes for more financial transparency
The fedral tax is 8,5% on net income, but because of the way it is calculated the effective tax is around 7,8%. In addition to this there will be taxes on kanton and local level. So, total taxes are typically between 12% and 24% depending on where the company is situated.
Note that Switzerland has a witholding tax of 35% on dividends, but you can use the EU parent directive also on a swiss company (Not that you would want to take your money out of Switzerland, when they are there).
Yes, it has deteriorated a lot already. Personally, I belive that Switzerland is a good option in some cases. But, you are right; privacy is not what it used to be.
Thanks. I have been thinking about moving to Switzerland, thus my question.
But I guess if it’s taxed 12-24% on the corporate level already, and then personal income tax on top, it’s just not that good a deal.
But I guess if it’s taxed 12-24% on the corporate level already, and then personal income tax on top, it’s just not that good a deal.
It also has a tax treaty with HK, so if the shares of the AG are owned by a HK company dividends are not taxed.
But then you will have the trouble with the HK company and lots of extra expenses for accounting etc. I would never setup something in HK any longer. Switzerland looks for me lake something to relay on. It may be true what people say, they may be forced to joing various regulations but at the end of the day I believe it will still be the less regulated country with focus here on business compared to most other EU countries.
That's just my thoughts. I'm looking at what other large business people have done, and many of them are relocated to Switzerland.
That's just my thoughts. I'm looking at what other large business people have done, and many of them are relocated to Switzerland.
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