Hello, I have finally received an offer from a US-based employer and I will start a new job in a couple of months. The company does not have a Swiss presence, I am EU citizen with a C permit, resident in Zurich. I decided to go for the ANobAG route, and pay all contributions by myself. I could of course go to a tax advisory and ask them to set it up for me, but let’s say I want to be cheap. I did some search but, to my surprise, this arrangement seems to be still relatively little-known and poorly documented.
Where do I start the process?
Is it correct that, first thing, I should register for professional accident insurance? Is there options beyond SUVA? Also, I’m currently still employed, will they allow me to “double-insure”?
After that, where should I apply to register as ANobAG? What documents shall I need? What shall the employer provide?
What will be my monthly/quarterly administrative tasks/burden?
What will be more convenient, 2nd pillar or “large” 3rd pillar? What are pros and cons?
Finally, even if I will be working 99% for this employer, what if I want to “occasionally” take smallish contracts from some other (Swiss-based or not) client?
Thank you, I had already found both those links, but as you can read they are not really practical guides, they just explain how an ANobAG works, which I know already. My specific questions are in the first post, but thanks anyway, these are great links to start with for the forum visitors!
Can you elaborate? Why? And, what alternative would you propose?
Unfortunately as it is now I don’t have other choice, at least in the near term. In hindsight I should have tried to push more for a payroll company, and it is possible that this arrangement might happen somewhere in the future, but for now I must set up ANobAG.
My main problem was with the burocracy where the goalposts constantly changed in fact I spent a lot of time trying keep up with the changes as I progressed.
Then if you run into a dry stretch and money gets tight you still have to pay the employee part and the employer part of the Beiträge in full.
And don’t forget…: It is all on your name.
Your insurance goes sky high as does your deductible, you pay the full health thingy and I am not sure about the pillars.
It has been a while.
In short if can be done but it is a giant PITA and in the end the negatives simply outweigh the positives.
And if you do wish to end then get ready to fill in forms the thickness of the New York telephone book.
I don’t know what you are earning but if you have enough money to throw at it, you will be looking at at least six months reserve then it could worked, I didn’t and failed.
Oh yes, and hope you enjoy taxes because you are going to love them.
As far as I know yes, you are for all practical purposes a one man company.
Basically Anobag is best for single persons who don’t want to, or can’t for some reason go down the GMbH route.
In fact, come to think about it, why not explore if a GMbH would not be the better option .
Stupid question: How does a “payroll company” work? Do they essentially act as the employer for the purposes of social security and tax contributions towards the state? I.e. actual employer abroad pays social security to this company and salary to you?
Not really, if one company they pay you the full Brutto and you do all your Abgaben, meaning you pay the Arbeitnehmeranteil and the Arbeitgeberanteil and of course all the taxes and insurance.
Only you can’t have only one company as that is a so-called „Scheinselständigkeit“ and illegal.
So you actually need more than one Arbeitgeber.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone GMbH.
Depends, I must admit I never fully understood how it works and was never able to take advantage of the perks.
I found that the deeper you went down the rabbithole the more complex Anobag got.
either you go for the payroll company: you are legally employed to, e.g., Deel, who is responsible for paying your mandatory employer contribution, but they de facto subcontract you to the non-CH company.
or you go ANobAG: you are employed by the non-CH company directly, but you are responsible for paying your mandatory contributions, including those which would normally be payed by the employer.
Case 2: you work for more than one single employer:
“Einzelfirma” (one-man company) allows you to take as many clients as you want with little administrative burden, but you are personally liable. Also, you must prove that you have at least 3 customers. This is the default for, e.g., barbers, shop owners, etc.
GmbH (LLC): more flexibility, can hire other employees, can take contracts from all over the world, can optimize taxes. But need 20’000 CHF minimum as starting deposit, plus administrative burden becomes hardcore, you’ll probably need an accountant.
SA: it’s basically a GmbH on steroids, didn’t dig too much into this. Need at least 100’000 CHF of initial capital.
The question that I have left is: can I take other clients “on the side” as ANobAG?
Regarding this: yes, in fact I am thinking of converting to GmbH in the future, but since this is my first “self-employment quest”, I want first to see how well it works with ANobAG, less paperwork and I am short on time right now.
Update: it’s a bit of a mess. Registering as ANobAG is as easy as filling an online form on the AHV Zurich website, but in order to do this you must stipulate a UVG insurance, and SUVA does not do that to ANobAGs excpet if you’re a blue-collar worker or similar. I’m asking around to insurers like Axa, Swiss Life, etc, but they all seem confused by my request and try to sell me their crappy 3b products. Lest not talk about the 2nd pillar: all these insurers scream in horror as soon as I mention “US-based employer”.
Oh yes, FACTA is your worst enemy. Have fun getting a bank account.
Perhaps it could be a solution to open a Briefkastenfirma based in CH, it’s a bit dodgy but that way you will avoid the stigma of being American.
I have a bank account already (in Switzerland), that’s not the issue. And I know at least other two people in Switzerland who did ANobAG for US-based employers, both told me it’s “super easy once you enroll”. So maybe I’m doing something wrong.