Hi everyone, I am looking for advice, or any pointers by someone who is/has been in my situation:
I am an non-EU student on a B permit at EPFL and recently I have been offered to be a part-time consultant for a Lausanne-based firm. However, since the company is a start-up, they suggested me to open a Payoneer account linked to a bank account coming from my country of origin as a mean of getting my salary. I am worried that this is in some sense "corner-cutting by the firm" and I am worried that I might lose the B permit. I was also told that I don't really need to report anything neither to the EPFL nor to the local authorities.
Do you have any advice or knowledge on if this is a legal way of doing a part-time job, and would I be in jeopardy of compromising my studies if i would okay this?
You'll have to pay tax and social contributions, so definitely the authorities need to know. Tax is due where you physically work.
If the company deducts your tax and social contributions (and passes them on to the authorities) as their supposed to, then there isn't so much an issue.
Use your common sense, if it was legal these people would not be telling you this stuff! Theses people could not give a crap about you or the consequences if it goes wrong in following there dream. Best pass on it,
Of course what they suggest is illegal. But you should be glad for the suggestion because it shows their true colors.
The suggestion demonstrates the moral framework they go by. They have no problem with illegalities, quite the contrary they see it as a means of doing business. Thus they won't care about additional ones when it comes to paying you what they owe you - they know you have no recourse if they decide to pay only half your hours, or whatever, because hunting them for the rest would hurt you more than them.
Expect to get shafted, that's a virtual fact. And frankly, whoever accepts that kind of deal knowingly deserves no less.
Thank you everyone for your comments, I suspected something very shady was going on, but wanted to make a double-check with someone over here to see if there was anyone who had a similar experience. I am glad I stayed away from it. Cheers!