Is there a possibility for a US Citizen (living in the US) to own an AG or a GMBh?
The reason I ask is that a US resident/ Citizen will not be able to open a Swssi bank account, so logic says that his company won't too.
Thanks.
A
Hello.
A resident US citizen can open a bank account with limited functions (think basic current account) with several ban ks, not all , but all the ones a US citizen would look at first.
Company may be harder, depends on a lot of factors, may be discuss with your accountant as their are ways around it, quite easily.
It will not matter if the company is Swiss or not. The laws and agreements require that banks and like organizations to look at ownership, purpose and transactions. In other words you can’t just use a corporation to circumvent the laws. The drafters of the legislation are professionals well aware of what people will try to do to circumvent it.
The first hurdle will be that you need a board member with "Einzelunterschrift", that is the ability to singlehandedly sign for, and thus bindingly decide on behalf of, the company.
...and who LIVES in Switzerland
If the question is "can a US citizen acquire an existing or form a new Swiss ltd company?" then the answer is yes unless it owns real estate or an airline company (and knowing switzerland probably some other restricted industries e.g. military goods).
If the question is "can I circumvent the Swiss banks' allergic reaction to US consumers wanting to purchase a consumer product (banking services) by forming a Swiss company?" then the answers are as above
I have formed a Sarl as a US citizen. Took me a looong time because in order to register a company you must first demonstrate its capital by opening a specialized Capital Deposit Account (also known as CApital Payment Account) at a Swiss bank.
Given that a minor mistake in the paperwork can instantly trigger CHF 200K in fines by US government, Swiss banks are far from eager to deal with Americans. It is still possible, but you would have to make one hell of a good impression on the right people.
The Capital Deposit Account is a form of an escrow with a very specific purpose: to incorporate. You cannot make payments from it or accept payments for your products/services into it. Your company will need to open regular commercial account/s and then transfer your capital from the Capital Deposit Account there (you have oine year to get it done).
Once your Swiss company is registered you are NOT guaranteed that any Swiss bank would open the regular accounts for it - it is still an American-owned institution and the risk of violating some US anti-money-laundering process is still there and still expensive.
Granted, if you come with $5 million, your needs would be handled by the bank's Private Client Services team, and many doors will open quite magically. So I strongly recommend that you become rich first (and tell the rest of us if it's worth it :-)
Good luck!
$5 mio is chicken feed, they don't bother with this as the hassle and necessary due-diligence just doesn't make it worth it for them.
Add at least 1 zero to your figure.