Taxation - Contract in Ireland, Living in Geneva

Hi all. I am a UK citizen, about to move to Geneva, but will remain under contract from my Irish employer.

My employer has confirmed that I will not be liable for income tax in Ireland as I will not be resident there

I assume that I will be able to register as a Swiss resident under gainful employment and make my taxation contributions here

My employer is concerned that they may have other tax obligations in Switzerland and is asking if I can register as self employed - that seems over the top to me, as I will be employed on a salaried contract

Can anyone advise how this situation can best be managed or suggest an accountant who can advise?

Many thanks

I assume they will have tax/pension/etc obligations here which they need to look into. And no, you wouldn’t qualify as self-employed since you only work for the one company.

Why are you moving to Switzerland? If they have a branch here it might be better to put you on a local contract.

Thanks - my wife is working for the UNHCR in Geneva, so I need to be here with her and I will work remotely in a global role. We do not have an office in CH so no option to have me on a local contract. Pension etc will be done through HQ where I am contracted and I will arrange my income tax via a personal tax return - main questions is if there would be any taxation obligations for an EC company employing someone resident in CH beyond the income taxes

Since you will be on a diplomatic dependent’s carte de legitimation I suggest your wife talks to the UNHCR’s HR department to find out the situation. Rules are different for diplomatic staff.

Unfortunately she is only a contractor, not a full member of UNHCR staff, so I do not think the dependency rules for diplomatic staff apply - but I will explore that. Thanks

This is not a normal case as special rules apply for depends of UN staff. It is possibly that you may be taxable in Ireland or the U.K. rather than CH. Your company needs to get proper legal advice.

This organisation may be able to advise you too.

http://www.geneve-int.ch/services-me…onal-community

I wonder if payrolling could help you. You would work for a Swiss company that has a contract with the Irish one. I discussed with Helvetic Payroll in Geneva and they were very helpful, although I did not end up using them, through no fault of theirs.

I've no idea how this works out, but suspect you need professional advice on this. I don't know how the Swiss authorities will deal with this. For example, EU citizens have the right to settle in Switzerland if they come to work, but that presupposes a work contract with social security deductions (AVS), taxation issues, health insurance and obtaining a work/residence permit, just to get the list started.

I had a similar situation when we moved to Switzerland last year.

My spouse started a job in Geneva (we are living in VD though) and I planned to continue working for my Finnish employer remotely. The process wasn't very easy as the information is scattered around but it is doable. However in my case my employer used a Swiss legal counsel to do all the work.

Your case can be different due to Brexit but generally with EU countries the process should go like this:

- ask your employer to amend your work contract to state that Swiss law is applied.

- ask your employer to sign a form Employer-Employee Agreement in accordance with Article 21, para. 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 987/09. This form states that the employer must pay you in addition to your salary all the necessary Swiss social security contributions which you will then pay to the relevant authority.

- Register to the relevant Social Security Authority (in my case Caisse Cantonale Vaudoise). There should be a registration form available. Include your work contract and the agreement above. In my case in addition to the registration form I had to fill our additional "Questionnaire d'affiliation"

- Submit your application for B permit with request for "Activité salariée de longue durée". You might want to attach all the previous documents to this. This can be done at the same time you register to your Commune. In any case it is important to let them know you have submitted your application to the Social Security Authority because paying the fees is a requirement for getting the permit. You might also want to attach your spouse's B permit and proof that you are married.

- Apply for the required insurances for work: Daily Benefits insurance and accident insurance. These will be paid both you and your employer, usually 50/50. There are many companies that can provide these. I used an agent to handle this (quite cheap).

- Apply for the Pillar 2 pension. This requires quite a lot of paperwork but an insurance agent helped again with it.

That should do it. In addition your salary calculation will need to be done in a Swiss way. My company uses a local legal firm to do it but I don't know if it's a requirement. In any case a yearly "Certificat de salaire" needs to be issued for tax purposes.

Then there is the matter of taxation. This varies greatly between countries so you should ask your UK tax office for help. Usually there are tax treaties that govern who has the right to tax your income. I had to provide proof of residence to the tax authority of my country so that I wouldn't be required to pay any taxes to them. You'll need to also register to the Swiss tax authority (amazingly in my case this could be done by email). The important thing is that you'll be taxed in a "regular manner", the source taxation, which is usually the case with B permit, does not apply to foreign employers (at least in VD). I have checked this numerous times. So you'll have to pay your taxes by yourself. The Swiss tax authority will send you the payment slips.

I'd also recommend using a fiduciaire to do your tax declaration. This is very inexpensive in Switzerland.

As you can see there are several steps. Hiring a local legal counsel will make things very easy but can cost quite a bit. But in any case the arrangement is possible if you submit the necessary paperwork.