Plan contractor hiring in Switzerland

For an activity accepted as self-employed, the Swiss individual works on their own account and pays the full OASI, DI and IC contribution rates personally. The compensation office decides that status separately for the remuneration paid for each activity and uses the economic facts over the contract wording. The same person can be self-employed for one occupation and employed for another during the same period. Record what work is being bought, whether it is performed from Switzerland, whether the contractor still has several customers, and whether an existing written decision covers this engagement.

Sources: OASI/DI Information Centre, leaflet 2.02, Self-employed contributions to OASI, DI and IC

If the line is crossed

Misclassification first changes who pays and administers Swiss social insurance. If the activity is accepted as self-employed work, the contractor pays OASI, DI and IC personally and lacks compulsory unemployment, accident and occupational-pension cover in that capacity. If an EU, EFTA or UK employer is contribution-obliged for a worker insured in Switzerland, the employer can register with a Swiss compensation office or sign an Article 21 or UK agreement for the worker to handle contribution administration. The employer still funds its share and remains liable. If the employer is outside those states and has no Swiss contribution duty, the worker may be treated as ANobAG and settle both employee and employer shares with the cantonal compensation office.

Sources: OASI/DI Information Centre, leaflet 2.01, salary contributions to OASI, DI and IC, OASI/DI Information Centre, leaflet 2.02, Self-employed contributions to OASI, DI and IC, SVA Zurich, employees of employers based abroad, German, Swiss social security authorities, Article 21 employer-employee agreement, SVA Aargau, ANobAG registration and contribution branches, German

AHV self-employed application and written notification

Activity-specific social-insurance recognition record

Recognition depends on evidence about the activity. The contractor applies to an AHV compensation office and submits documents such as customer offers or invoices, signed customer contracts, proof of equity capital, advertising, or a website. After review, the office sends a written notification. A buyer should read that record against the work now being purchased; a notification for a different occupation leaves the new engagement unresolved.

Issued by: The contractor submits the application to the AHV compensation office. The compensation office sends the written notification after review.

Timing: Before relying on self-employed treatment for the engagement, and again when scope, delivery model or customer concentration materially changes.

Sources: AHV compensation offices, self-employment portal, English page on German canonical domain, OASI/DI Information Centre, application for self-employment form 318.146

Arbeitnehmende ohne beitragspflichtigen Arbeitgeber (ANobAG) Anmeldung / Article 21 agreement

Employee-without-contribution-liable-employer registration or contribution agreement

Use this document only after the relationship is treated as employment. The employer's country, the worker's nationality and the applicable coordination rules decide which filing applies. When EU, EFTA or UK coordination makes the employer contribution-obliged, both parties can sign the applicable Article 21 or UK agreement so the worker handles contribution administration; the employer still funds its share and remains liable. For other nationalities or a non-contribution-liable employer, ask the cantonal compensation office whether ANobAG registration applies. An ANobAG settles both employee and employer shares directly.

Issued by: The worker files with the cantonal compensation office. Both worker and employer sign an Article 21 or UK agreement when the applicable nationality and coordination rules allow it.

Timing: Before running an employee-style Swiss engagement through worker-paid contributions; confirm the employer country, worker nationality and applicable social-security agreement first.

Sources: SVA Zurich, employees of employers based abroad, German, Swiss social security authorities, Article 21 employer-employee agreement, SVA Aargau, ANobAG registration and contribution branches, German

Article 26 VAT invoice

Swiss VAT invoice issued on request

A VAT-taxable Swiss supplier must issue the recipient an invoice on request that satisfies Article 26 of the VAT Act. For a foreign buyer, this is the document that proves what the contractor is treating as supplied, where the recipient sits, and whether Swiss VAT is being charged or left off. The duty to issue a valid VAT invoice does not mean Swiss VAT belongs on every cross-border service invoice.

Issued by: The VAT-taxable supplier issues it to the recipient of the supply on request.

Timing: When the supplier is VAT-taxable and the recipient requests an invoice that satisfies the Swiss VAT invoice particulars.

Sources: Article 26 of the Swiss VAT Act, invoice-on-request duty

An ordinary Article 8(1) B2B service to this foreign buyer sits outside Swiss domestic VAT because the recipient has no Swiss registered office or receiving permanent establishment. The general rule places the service where the business recipient has its registered office or the permanent establishment receiving it. That conclusion is narrow. Article 8(2) carves out specified services, including services connected with immovable property and certain services performed in the physical presence of individuals. Settle the service category before accepting an invoice with or without Swiss VAT.

Sources: Federal Act on Value Added Tax, Article 8

What an invoice has to show

• No VAT details from a person outside the VAT Register

  Article 27 creates the correction risk. A person who is not entered in the VAT Register may not include VAT details on invoices. A person who states unauthorised or excessive VAT owes the tax shown unless the invoice is corrected or the statutory no-tax-loss route applies. Return a premature VAT number, rate or amount before booking an invoice that charges tax the supplier had no authority to show.

  Sources: Unauthorised VAT details under Swiss VAT Act Article 27

When invoices are settled

The Swiss-law settlement window is the agreed deadline, with immediate due date as the statutory fallback when the contract is silent. After the obligation is due, default starts when the contractor gives a formal reminder. A fixed contractual deadline starts default automatically when it expires. A debtor in default on a money debt owes 5% annual default interest even if the contract set a lower rate, while a higher agreed rate can still apply. Governing law still has to be settled before applying this clock to a foreign buyer.

Sources: Swiss Code of Obligations, Articles 75, 102 and 104

The currency on the invoice

Under Swiss law, a money debt is paid in the currency in which the parties incurred it, so the contract should state that currency expressly. If the debt is expressed in a currency other than the national currency at the place of payment, Article 84 lets the debtor pay in that national currency at the due-date exchange rate unless the contract requires literal payment in the named currency. Use that literal-currency wording when CHF, EUR or USD must be the actual settlement currency.

Sources: Swiss Code of Obligations, Article 84

Accepting OASI recognition for a different activity

The compensation office assesses self-employment against remuneration from a given activity. A notification for one occupation does not answer a different service line, and it can become thin evidence when a new foreign buyer becomes the contractor's only customer. Match the written notification, contracts and invoices to the actual scope being bought. If the facts have changed, treat the OASI status question as open until the contractor obtains a current decision from the compensation office.

Sources: OASI/DI Information Centre, leaflet 2.02, Self-employed contributions to OASI, DI and IC, AHV compensation offices, self-employment portal, English page on German canonical domain

Using CHF 100,000 to decide whether Swiss VAT belongs on the invoice

The CHF 100,000 figure decides whether the Swiss business is exempt from mandatory VAT liability. It does not decide the place of supply. A contractor can count foreign service turnover toward the threshold while an ordinary B2B service to a foreign business remains outside Swiss domestic VAT under Article 8(1). Test the threshold, the service category and the recipient location separately before asking for Swiss VAT to be added or removed.

Sources: Federal Act on Value Added Tax, Articles 8 and 10, Federal Tax Administration, Tax liability VAT

Treating register evidence as social-insurance proof

A Commercial Register extract, UID appearance or SARL record can support the supplier's identity and legal form. These records are weaker evidence for the OASI question, which is activity-specific and decided by the compensation office. Keep the company or sole-proprietor identity record separate from the self-employed recognition for the paid activity. Mixing them is how a buyer ends up with a complete-looking file that never proves the contractor's OASI status for the work being bought.

Sources: OASI/DI Information Centre, leaflet 2.02, Self-employed contributions to OASI, DI and IC, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SME Portal, legal form: sole proprietorships, Federal Tax Administration, register for Value Added Tax, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SME Portal, limited liability company SARL