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Freelancing in Switzerland: What foreign nationals need to know

Whatever industry you are in, you might be tempted to use your skills and abilities as a freelancer. These are some of the rules you need to comply with in Switzerland.

There are some rules freelancers in Switzerland must comply with.
Whether you freelance from your home, a rented office, or out in the open, you must follow some rules. Photo by George Milton from Pexels

Before covering the rules and regulations of freelancing, one question that many people may ask is whether there is a difference between freelancing and self-employment.

Both fit under the category of  “independent workers” or “independent contractors”, but the lines between the two can be a bit murky.

All freelancers are self-employed, but not all self-employed people are freelancers. The latter usually have more structured business models, while the former are more “free” in their activities (hence the term “freelancer”), handling multiple projects and clients at once, often without the need for a physical office.

Legally speaking, however, both are pretty much the same.

What rules should you follow if you are foreigner?

If you hope to get a visa or a work permit to work as a freelancer in Switzerland, that is not going to happen. As many Swiss residency permits are tied to an employer, moving to Switzerland in order to become a freelancer will not confer a work permit. 

You can become a freelancer only if you are already living in the country, with a legal status that allows you to work here, which usually means either a C or B permit.

Do you have to officially register as a freelancer?

This is where another difference between being a self-employed entrepreneur and a freelancer lies.

The so-called sole proprietorship commercial registration is required only when the annual income from a business exceeds 100,000 francs, which some small, owner-operated businesses may earn, but most freelancers can only dream of.

If, however, you are lucky enough to make that much money, you must register here.

For all the other one-person businesses, registration is optional.

However, you do have other obligations as a freelancer. These are the regulations you must comply with:

Taxes

Even if your income is sporadic, you should keep detailed record of all your earnings and business-related expenses, which you will need to declare for tax purposes.

Keeping records for your taxes is a must for a freelancer. Photo by Recha Oktaviani on Unsplash

If you have a high volume of clients and income, this site can help you manage your accounting.

The amount of taxes you have to pay will depend on your income and the canton where you live.

You can find more information about how to file taxes as a freelancer here.

READ MORE: What freelancers in Switzerland need to know about paying tax

Social security

You have received your social security (AHV / AVS) number when you moved to Switzerland and you have automatically become affiliated with your cantonal compensation office.

Making social security contributions at a maximum rate of  9.7 percent of your income is a must as well.

This is a requirement even if you are in Switzerland temporarily; if you leave the country before you retire, you will receive old-age payments proportional to your contributions even if you live abroad.

Insurance

You must take out a compulsory health insurance policy, including, if you are self-employed, accident coverage.

And if you rent an office, you also need to get a personal liability insurance (Haftpflichtversicherung / responsabilité civile / la responsabilità civile) to cover any damages you may inadvertently inflict on the rented space.

READ MORE: What is Swiss liability insurance and do you need it?

Do you actually need an office?

While some freelancers like to have a physical space to work in, others prefer to work anywhere with decent wi-fi connection.

This kind of work / lifestyle has given rise to the term “digital nomads” — people who are not tied down to any one physical or geographical location, but work from wherever they happen to be.

You can find our more about this growing trend here:

Working remotely from Switzerland: What are the rules for foreigners?

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WORKING IN SWITZERLAND

Why does Zurich have the highest wages in Switzerland?

Various studies show that when it comes to salaries, Switzerland’s largest city has an edge over other regions. What is the reason for that?

Why does Zurich have the highest wages in Switzerland?

Switzerland’s wages are famously high overall, but if you analyse them closer, you will see that, salary-wise, some regions fare better than others.

Logically, earnings are higher in large cities than in small towns and rural areas, as that is where most economic opportunities are.

However, income disparities exist even between the urban centres.

This has been shown in various surveys, including the latest one, released this month by HES-SO, the umbrella association of Swiss universities of applied sciences (UAS). 

Unlike general universities, UAS doesn’t offer Master or Doctorate degrees, but rather Bachelor’s programmes linked with a specific professional field. They are often attended by people who had completed their vocational training and wish to further their education.

What did this survey find?

What emerged from this study is that graduates of universities of applied sciences earn significantly more in 2023 that they did two years ago, when the last study was carried out.

Their median annual wage currently amounts to 104,000 francs, compared to 100,000 in 2021.

However, the results also indicate that there are regional disparities, with wages being higher in German than in French-speaking Switzerland.  

Among the cantons, Zurich is in the lead, with a median income of just over 111,000 francs per year.

This is not exactly a new piece of information: statistics show that salaries in Zurich are 10.8 percent higher than in Geneva, and 5.4 percent higher than in Basel.

How can this discrepancy be explained?

The Local put this question to Fabian Büsser, director at Michael Page recruitment agency.

He said that it is a matter of what kind of jobs are most in demand and their geographical location.

“Some of the highest paying jobs are in finance, insurance, IT, and engineering,” he pointed out, most of which are located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

“This region accounts for nearly 90 percent of advertised jobs in these sectors and is home to the largest banks, insurers and technology companies, as well as other firms requiring engineers, such as real estate and property,” Büsser said.

According to the latest Michael Page Swiss Job Index, while 89 percent of these jobs can be found in the German-speaking region, only 10 percent are in the French-speaking area (and even fewer — 1 percent — in Ticino).

There is, however, some positive news for the Swiss-French part

The HES-SO survey found that while this region trails behind the German-speaking part, the wages there have increased significantly.

The median annual salary in the Geneva area is 92,300 francs, which corresponds to an increase of 8.4 percent compared to two years earlier.
This is particularly the case in the IT branch, with a median salary of 112,000 francs, followed by finance and insurance, with 106,000 francs.

How do these wages compare to those who graduate from ‘regular’ universities?

Switzerland has several kinds of higher education establishments: cantonal universities and two federal polytechnic institutes: one in Zurich (ETH) and the other in Lausanne (EPFL).

They are considered the ‘highest’ educational institutions.

Graduates of these establishments can earn as much as 10,170 francs a month, which amounts to 122,000 a year.

READ ALSO: How much can you earn with a Swiss university degree?

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