Working for a Swiss company while living in Portugal

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hello everybody,

I am currently working and living in ZH and I was thinking to go back home to Portugal. From my research I've found that would be possible to live in Portugal while keeping my curent job with a Swiss company, in a similar setup to the cross-border commuters. Anyone with experience with this type of setup in Portugal (idealy) or countries that do not share a border with CH?

Thanks,

Lloyd

2
First question that pops into my mind is if you expect a Swiss salary or a Portuguese salary

3
Does your employer allow you to work from Portugal? Do they have a presence there?

4
Concerning my employer, it is yet to be discissed but most of my job could be done remotly. I am trying to understand the impact of such move before presenting the case to my company. Regarding the salary, I don't really know how does it work with taxation, that is what I amtrying to understand. Ideally, I would land somewhere between a Swiss and a Portuguese salary

5

It is not the point whether your job can be done there, a lot of jobs can be done anywhere. More importantly is whether your employer allows it as it could have an impact on the employer (tax wise and/or social security).

6
This may not be as straight-forward as it seems, as this can present tax headaches for your employer (like the risk of permanent establishment), plus you will become a round-peg-in-a-square hole with regards to issues like healthcare, social security contributions, etc. You will carry all of the obligations of being a Portuguese employee, governed under Portuguese law. From a personal standpoint, you will also become a Portuguese taxpayer.

Where I've seen these "work from abroad" arrangements in practice, usually one of two things has to happen: 1) the employee transfers legally from the Swiss entity to the foreign entity of their employer (which only works if they have a foreign entity in the country you want to work in), or 2) you become an independent consultant to the company, coming off their payroll and billing them as a vendor. Then all of the corporate tax / HR issues become your problem, not theirs.

7
I believe there are a certain number of days you can spend in Portugal before tax and social security obligations kick in. I would suggest to consult wîth a lawyer to get the details straight. Your main residence would have to remain in Switzerland though and you would need an address here as well as health insurance etc. You would also need to keep plane tickets and things in case anybody doesn't believe you and thinks you may have overstayed.

But as I said. Get professional advice. A misunderstanding could turn out to be costly.

8
I signed a 100% home office contract earlier this year. Checked with HR and my manager and the new flexibility is understood as you're free to go 1-2 months anywhere and work from there, but center of life must be in CH . That means keeping an address here, health insurance, etc.

If you spend a long time working in another EU country, your employer needs to declare you to local authorities as a posted worker https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=471 All these regulations are designed to prevent illegal job conditions. Your employer will face more paperwork which might make you less attractive as employee. After all, they can hire any other EU willing to live in CH.

Maybe try first working a month from there before quitting CH altogether. See how things work, get feedback from employer and then reassess the feasibility of the move.

9
Make sure you're well insured abroad if you use that option. While SUVA covers non-work accidents abroad, there may be details you don't like and want separate insurance for.

10
Thanks! i'm planning to go back home where I keep paying full private health insurance. So, no prob, I'm not a digital nomad.

11
Read carefully the fine prints: even a full private health insurance may refuse to cover some injury, because it may assume it is work-related and should be covered by a work-related insurance (i.e. SUVA) which in turn may refuse to cover because it happened outside its mandate.

Even doing a desk job, you may have very expensive, accident such as sudden epilepsy crisis with serious&long-lasting consequences, etcetc...

12
Hi! I am in the same situation, what was your solution, can I ask? Did it solve since then? Do you guys know where to look for what taxes and fees the company would have to take over if they open an official location in Portugal?

13
expect to be paid a portuguese salary (slightly higher) if you move there and work for a swiss company.

Tax wise if you are in Portugal permanently you will loose the B/C permit and expect to pay Portuguese style taxes, social security. Same for the employer - 23.75% + 11%SS. (btw your tax rate in portugal will probably go into the high 40's-50% with a swiss salary).

The only way to keep it here is by having an address and being registered at the gemeinde (meaning keep paying taxes, health insurance and so on here).

The other thing is about data moving outside CH borders - the company might not like it. My wife's company has forbidden any remote work outside CH (despite having a global presence).

Mine is more lenient... up to 25% abroad... as above that taxes must be paid in Portugal, both for the employer and employee.

Plus... don't try to be a smartass about remote work. You get a swiss salary as you are expected to work and live here. There is no incentive for the swiss company to have you abroad, specially a high tax rate country as Portugal while paying you a swiss salary.

If the expectation is that you are not in CH, then the salary will drop accordingly. But that then also shows to the company that they might not need to have all resources in CH and lead them to a reorganization in search of near-shoring and off-shoring models... funny stuff

Having a swiss salary in Portugal would be fabulous (if your company allows it, please let me know the name... I want to apply for a job, any job in reality).

Also, doing it under the table and not informing the company might cause you some financial issues later on - as in the company might seek back compensation, and could even lead to immediate termination due to breach of contract (I'm pretty sure your contract states your place of work being in Switzerland).

14
On of my colleagues is planning on leaving Switzerland for an EU country. Her salary will be reduced, but still good for that country. She will set up a limited liability company and work through that. Of course she loses what little employee protection there is in Switzerland, and we've had to figure out a way of covering times of sickness - we're looking at a retainer model.

15
I'm about to move from Switzerland to another EU country. I will be employed by a legal entity based in that country and my salary will be aligned to that market. I will keep my manager in Switzerland but I will officially report to someone locally for admin reasons (someone has to approve my annual leave and the likes).

Being employed by a Swiss company and living all the time in another country may cause many tax-related issues for you and your employer, not to mention many others which have been largely mentioned.

16
Hi,

I was wondering if you ever figured out the logistics of working for a swiss company and living in Portugal ? My situation is slightly different as I'm a childminder I'm working on a rota : 2 weeks on living in the family's home and 2 weeks off where I can live wherever I want as long as I can easily commute to work.

My boyfriend is Brazilian (with a EU passport) and we were thinking of moving to Portugal.

But I thought maybe someone here might have information for me or maybe in your research you found something that might be able to help me.

I would appreciate any help that you can give me.

17

If you're going to spend in Portugal only your non-working days, I guess it's 100% fine for accounting you as a cross border commuter in Switzerland.

18
If you are living two weeks on and two weeks off in two countries you will be tax resident in two countries and that can get very complicated and expensive.

19

Nop, in EU you became tax resident only when you spend more than half of the year in that country. If you don't spend at least half a year in any country, because you're moving between many countries, the center of life decides. So simple, just watch out to spend at least 1 days more in Switzerland than abroad. If no actual work was performed abroad, I bet there's no tax obligation