Plan contractor hiring in Liechtenstein

A resident individual can supply B2B services through an Einzelfirma and invoice the foreign customer directly, provided the activity has the required business authorization and the relationship remains self-employed for AHV. Liechtenstein keeps those checks separate. The Gewerberegister records permission to carry on a trade, and the Handelsregister records the business where its entry rules apply. AHV-IV-FAK decides whether the earnings are genuinely self-employed from the working reality. Start with the contractor's exact registered business purpose, then test whether they act in their own name, set their own organization and bear collection, cost and loss risk throughout the engagement.

Sources: Liechtenstein Office of Economic Affairs, trade activity with an establishment, Liechtenstein AHV-IV-FAK, self-employed persons

If the line is crossed

Reclassification turns the contractor's fee into relevant wages for AHV and changes who registers and remits contributions. Under Liechtenstein's national rule, the buyer in this scenario has no local permanent establishment and is therefore a non-contribution-liable employer. The worker registers with AHV-IV-FAK and pays 8.25% of relevant wages. The parties may agree to collection as 4.025% from the worker and 4.225% from the employer. A separate branch applies when EEA social-security coordination reaches the parties: the foreign employer then performs the contribution obligations as if established in Liechtenstein, and an agreement for the worker to pay on its behalf leaves the employer's underlying obligation intact. Confirm that branch before allocating the cost in the contract.

Sources: Liechtenstein AHV Act, Articles 34bis, 39 and 47, EEA Joint Committee Decision No 76/2011, Regulation (EC) No 987/2009, Article 21

VAT treatment starts by asking whether the customer is in Switzerland. Liechtenstein adopts the material Swiss VAT rules, and the two states form one common VAT territory. A Swiss customer is therefore inside that territory even though it is a foreign legal person. For a general B2B service, the place of supply is the customer's business seat or the establishment receiving the service. A customer elsewhere puts the service outside the common territory, subject to the statutory exceptions for particular services. A Liechtenstein contractor supplying only services placed abroad is exempt from VAT registration and may opt in. Mixed local, Swiss and other activity requires the annual turnover test.

Sources: Swiss-Liechtenstein VAT agreement, Articles 1 to 4, Liechtenstein VAT Act, Articles 8 and 10

What an invoice has to show

• The contractor's Liechtenstein VAT-register number, when the contractor is registered

  Article 26 identifies a registered supplier by the name and place used in business and the number under which it appears in the VAT register. Match that number to the supplier whose service was contracted. An exempt contractor has no number to supply, so its absence should trigger a registration-status check instead of an automatic rejection. The number answers who is registered; the customer's location and the service type still decide whether the particular invoice carries Liechtenstein VAT.

  Sources: Liechtenstein VAT Act, Article 26

• No VAT amount from a contractor that is not entered in the VAT register

  An unregistered person may not refer to VAT on the invoice. If a contractor shows tax without entitlement, or shows too much, the displayed amount becomes payable to the tax authority unless the document is corrected or the contractor establishes that no tax loss arose. Hold the invoice for correction before paying the disputed tax line. Removing it from the payment internally leaves the contractor's issued document and resulting tax exposure unchanged.

  Sources: Liechtenstein VAT Act, Article 27

• A correction document that refers to and revokes the original invoice

  Liechtenstein's VAT correction rule requires a document that reaches the customer, identifies the original invoice and revokes it. A revised file with no link to the earlier document does not complete that statutory correction path. Keep the original and the received correction together so the accounts record shows why the VAT amount changed. This matters most when a contractor treated a customer outside the common territory as local, or displayed tax before confirming registration.

  Sources: Liechtenstein VAT Act, Article 27

Contractors should bill the agreed fee against a defined delivery or period and put the due date in the contract or invoice. If Liechtenstein law governs and no date was fixed, performance can be demanded without unnecessary delay. Where the amount becomes certain only when the invoice arrives, the payer must give the payment instruction without unnecessary delay after that trigger. If the payment time is otherwise undefined, a judicial or out-of-court demand starts the default consequences. The contract should therefore state the billing trigger, acceptance step, due date, currency and place of payment together, leaving no gap between delivery and an enforceable money claim.

Sources: Liechtenstein Civil Code, sections 904, 907a and 1334

When invoices are settled

Liechtenstein law lets the parties set the payment date, while its B2B late-payment rules constrain how acceptance and delay are handled. A service acceptance or verification procedure is capped at 30 calendar days from performance. A longer review period must be agreed expressly and must not be grossly unfair to the contractor. A payment term up to 60 days is never grossly unfair under the statutory test; a longer term is assessed rather than automatically void. For culpable delay, interest runs at eight percentage points above the half-year reference rate and the contractor may claim a CHF 60 collection-cost lump sum. State the acceptance owner and deadline so an internal sign-off process cannot leave the invoice suspended indefinitely.

Sources: Liechtenstein Commercial Code, Articles 336a to 336e, Liechtenstein Civil Code, section 1334

The currency on the invoice

The invoice may use Swiss francs or the foreign currency the parties specify. The Swiss franc is Liechtenstein's exclusive legal currency. A foreign-currency debt payable in Liechtenstein can be discharged in domestic currency unless the contract expressly requires payment in the named foreign currency. Conversion then uses the local rate at payment. If the payer is late, the contractor may choose the rate at due date or at payment. That default is conditional on Liechtenstein law and a Liechtenstein place of payment. Write the pricing currency, settlement currency and place of payment expressly when treasury needs the foreign-currency amount to remain fixed through settlement.

Sources: Liechtenstein Currency Act, Article 1, Liechtenstein Civil Code, section 907b

Treating a register extract as proof of AHV self-employment

A Gewerberegisterauszug proves that the named activity is authorized, and a Handelsregister entry proves the recorded business identity. AHV-IV-FAK answers a different question from the actual economic relationship. A contractor who works inside the customer's organization, carries no collection or loss risk and depends on that customer can be treated as employed even with both extracts in place. Keep the records for identity and authorization, then design the statement of work and operating model around independent organization, customer choice, cost responsibility and real delivery risk. Recheck those facts when the engagement is extended or its working pattern changes.

Sources: Liechtenstein AHV-IV-FAK, self-employed persons, Liechtenstein Office of Economic Affairs, trade activity with an establishment

Treating a Swiss customer as foreign for Liechtenstein VAT

Switzerland and Liechtenstein are one VAT territory, so a Swiss customer sits on the domestic side of the decisive boundary. A contractor who applies the exclusive-foreign-services exemption while serving Swiss customers can miss registration and issue invoices with the wrong tax treatment. Establish the recipient location for every service, then test whether a statutory special-place rule applies. For a customer outside Switzerland and Liechtenstein, a general B2B service follows the recipient's business seat. For a Swiss customer, run the shared-territory analysis and check the contractor's annual worldwide turnover and registration number before accepting the invoice.

Sources: Swiss-Liechtenstein VAT agreement, Articles 1 and 2, Liechtenstein VAT Act, Articles 8 and 10

Leaving acceptance open while the invoice waits for internal approval

A B2B service-review procedure under Liechtenstein law is limited to 30 calendar days from performance unless a longer period was expressly agreed and is not grossly unfair. An undefined sequence of stakeholder approvals creates a poor defense once the due date and default rules begin to operate. Culpable delay can add interest at eight percentage points above the reference rate and a CHF 60 collection-cost amount. Put one acceptance owner, objective rejection grounds and a final review date in the contract. If the service is rejected, send the specific defect within that period instead of leaving the contractor's invoice in an approval queue.

Sources: Liechtenstein Commercial Code, Articles 336b to 336e