Dears, Can i get some advices on the following possible situation that i see in the next months?
- My wife can start as a 100% freelancer with - 100Chf per hour for one client.
- Say after 6 months of her joining, I can join as 100% freelancer with the same client, same department with say same hourly rate.
- Since we are married, can we both work as freelancers under one client? OR need to start one company where I bill the client on behalf of both of us?
- Moving forward i see the possibility to bill two departments under the same client where then i would need additional hands as freelancers (offshore may be) to assist me in my commitments,
- I also want the flexibility to bring in more clients where i lead/represent my group and the work is done by my wife and other freelancers.
What i know but not sure are the following
- one person can be a freelancer only with more than one client
- cannot be a freelancer if earning more than 100K chf per annum
- there are payroll companies who could help but is the payroll is really complicated if i have all the additional hands as freelancers? may be i need to understand more in this direction...
Any tips and advices? I know am missing a lot, need guidance to look in the right direction and help my initial thought process?
BR and wish you all good health,
Jaidee
If you only have one client, especially if you work for them 100%, Switzerland will consider you employed.
Exactly. Less than three, you are an employee.
Tom
No, most IT contractors only have one client. There are some rules against "fake independence" in the low cost sector... but I think you will earn enough to be out of that...
I am not sure you are aware of Zurich income levels... I'd ONLY freelance if I'd get significantly over 100k a year. At 100 CHF an hour working 42 hours a week will you guys be a lot over as well...
Of course there are. They tend to be rather expensive though. If both of you freelance full time, I'd consider setting up a small legal entity and hire somebody to do my books instead.
How about my 40 hours is divided between 3 different cost centers/departments under one client. Logically they are 3 separate billings based on my hours. Means i will be billing each department separately. Will this still be considered as one client?
Yes, as it IS one client.
Practically, We both can end up earning together 500K being a freelancer than being an employee where we would end of with max 250K together.
Any directions or links to know more about the small entity?
If you are a cleaner and you work "independently" for one agency but bill 20 different jobs a day will this still be a problem if the whole construct was just set up to circumvent minimum salary, social insurances or other duties an employer has... and this is common enough that the authorities will no every trick you could possible come up with.
If you however are clearly not slumming it to be fake independent is it normally not an issue at all. I once set up an AG and only had one client for a year. I am lazy, so I only set up one cost center and sent one invoice a month. Nobody cared about the fact that it is one client as long as I had enough revenue, paid my taxes... and were generally not a problem.
I see the demand that could raise gradually with that client. As i have written, we start with 100% to one department and as the demand raises then i need to divide my 40 hours to cover those additional demands with additional hands supporting me. I see its possible as we have the skills to commit and deliver and they need our skills.
The above cannot be done being an employee but i see the advantage of working with different departments and earning more giving them what they want. I feel its straight forward with no complications. May be this is seen differently by authorities. Not sure.
If you are self-employed, the authorities might get a bit antsy if you don't have multiple clients.
If you work through your own GmbH or AG, then this is usually perfectly doable. The GmbH/AG is your employer and accounts for all your taxes, insurances, pensions and social contributions. No problem both of you working for the same company. You can take dividends, retain profits. Just be aware that dividends are taxed (at a lower rate for company owners), and you have to pay employer social contributions as well.
You can take on additional staff as employees quite simply.
I worked for 15 years as a one man band through my GmbH. Sometimes multiple clients, but for several years, just one.
If you are going to try and freelance with a significant company, it is unlikely to happen unless their legal people are dummies. Doing so would expose the company to legal and financial consequences so they will be advised not to proceed.
Another issue is work permits, yes an EU citizen is entitled to establish a business in Switzerland but you need to apply for such permits and submit a viable business plan to support it. It's unlikely you with a single client will be acceptable.
So the practical choices are either a payroll company or establish a company.
Dears, Seems time has come to think about small entity.
I want to thank Island Monkey, Roegner, st2lemans, Treverus, NotAllThere for your personal time spent to share your thoughts and possible ideas. You all helped me with very useful information to think in the right direction.
I wish you all a great weekend .
Best Regards,
Jaidee
A former coworker works for us from time to time, Legally, he is an employee.
Tom
Do the math carefully. Since neither of you are Switzerland and you don’t have anything to hold you here it is likely that AHV and/or the VAT authorities will require a bond or pledge which can be expensive.
Such things vary by canton.