swiss company registration

Starting a business in Poland as a foreigner

admin-sig — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 17:15:41 +0000

Starting a business in Poland as a foreigner admin-sig Tue, 01/31/2023 - 18:15

Poland is among the few EU countries that boasts of a constant rise of GDP. This is owed to its stable economic policies. The country has even managed to gain a 2% growth during difficult times in 2015! The secret to this success are clear business regulations, tax breaks, and readiness to accommodate foreign investors. Poland welcomes foreigners who possess a temporary or permanent residence permit to start businesses in the country. Evidently foreigners are taking advantage of these regulations to start businesses in the country. Types of businesses you can start in Poland There are a variety of businesses you can start in Poland. Other than a sole proprietorship ship, you can opt for either of the following: a partnership (e.g. limited partnership, general partnership, limited joint-stock partnership); a civil company; a limited liability/ shareholding company. All these forms of businesses provide a variety of opportunities. However, a sole proprietorship proves to be the most beneficial at the initial stages. It attracts very low charges,i.e. only 19% income tax accompanied by a flat tax and various concessions. How to start a business? To start a business in Poland, you are required to fill in and provide several documents stated by the law. The procedure itself is not complicated and does not take much time. Starting a sole proprietorship CEiDG-1 registration form This is a very important document, critical for the legal registration of your business. In order to complete this document, you should produce an identification document (e.g. a passport/ national ID) and you have to reveal your entrepreneur's PESEL number. This number can be acquired easily in the state. The other information you may need to provide on the CEiDG-1 form is your residence address and the company's registered office address. You should also be prepared to provide to the authorities a document (tenancy agreement) that gives you legal right to occupy the place you're staying. Furthermore, you are expected to fill out the type of business in accordance with the Polish classification system. A list of codes that classify various business activities is available and you can use the search engine at pkd.com.pl to identify the specific code for your business. After all has been done, you should submit your application for approval. As soon as it has been approved, the authorities may need 2 weeks to complete the registration process. Nevertheless, you can begin to enjoy your business the next day after the approval. To legally start making profits out of your business, you need to have a REGON (RG-1 form) and the company's stamp from the statistical office. You should also visit the tax office. Starting a private limited company (LTD) You can easily start a private limited company in Poland by registering online or completing a company agreement that needs a notarial deed. Here are the registration steps you can take. 1. Registering as a new user in the eKRS system. This system can be used by both citizens and foreigners. 2. Preparing information required for the business registration such as: the company's name the company's address the registry court according to the headquarters of the business List of the members of the management bodies, branches, shareholders, and the appearing party. 3. Introduction of information to the system's application form: entering all relevant data required for the registration process and filling out information for entry in the court register; stating the business activity of the company by choosing the appropriate Polish Classification of Activities code; 4. Generating the required documents 5. Signing the documents. You can sign the documents using: a qualified electronic signature that has been bought from the provider of qualified certificates; a signature that has a Trusted Profile (in order to register on the Trusted Profile page). 6. Paying the application fee using the external e-payment system: paying the legal fee for the PLN 250 application in the National Court Register Paying for the PLN 100, (the first entry in Court & Economic Monitor) paying the operator for the handling fee. 7. Submitting the company's documents for registration in the preferred registration court. 8. Making an entry to the country's National court register. According to the law, the management board of the company should submit a declaration of members of the board that make cash contributions for their share capital to the registration court. This has to be done in a period of seven days from the entry date into the register. 9. With regard to tax on civil law, you should provide a correctly completed PCC-3 document. Additionally, you should be able to calculate the tax and pay within 14 from the execution date of the deed of business formation. Usually, the amount that is taxable is the share capital minus the fee of entry in the National Court Register.

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The Real Impact of Coronavirus on Swiss Companies

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 19:49:05 +0000

The Real Impact of Coronavirus on Swiss Companies Anonymous Sun, 07/05/2020 - 21:49

Switzerland is one of the hardest hit countries by the novel COVID-19. Being a popular tourist destination, the state was hugely exposed to this contagion through visitors from all over the world. Whether the government did a plausible job to protect its economy or not, is not so hard to see if you look closely.

The world over, faced an unprecedented economic mayhem as countries laid desperate measures to contain the disease. Apparently, the lives of people matter, no government could overlook that fact. Nonetheless, the cost of saving human lives also involved temporarily suspending some economic activities. While this sounds irresponsible, the human race didn’t have many cards on the deck.

The COVID-19 situation in Switzerland
Early this year, Switzerland imposed restrictions on public life and businesses to minimize the spread of COVID-19. The number of new cases were soaring at a tremendous rate and this was one way of containing it. Later, beginning in April, the country started re-opening and allowing some businesses to resume. Although this was a necessary maneuver, some damage was caused.

Effects of COVID-19 on Swiss Business
We all wonder if any country did enough to combat this disease. To date, the world has lost close to half a million people to this pandemic! But that’s not all; stock markets also tumbled and the global economy contracted. Some of the effects of COVID-19 to Swiss business were:

Interrupted supply chain
Apparently, this problem is still affecting a number of EU member states today. Swiss companies faced the challenge of an interrupted supply chain. Modern industries rely on outsourcing materials for their productions. When some countries fail to deliver, it has a ripple effect on the global economy.

During the country’s lockdown, there was delay of deliveries owed by the closure of industries and ineffective movement of goods from one place to the other. Some raw materials that were needed for the manufacture of goods were depleted.

Decreased sales
The closure of international borders affected the country’s exports. The decrease in sales was not only on international business but also on local business. The travel restrictions and the prohibition of personal contact with customers made it really hard to do business.

On the other hand, industries could not operate at full capacity. Engineering jobs that required technical people from foreign countries could not continue. If a company needed new machines to be installed and or their old ones repaired, it could not be done easily. Thus, there was a general decrease in stocks.

The country’s tourism sector also suffered a heavy blow. In Switzerland the tourism industry contributes around 2.8% of the country’s GDP. In monetary value, this is a staggering CHF 17.4 billion. The temporary shutdown of the tourism sector meant a dramatic drop in the number of visitors who came into the country. As you can guess, it resulted in lower revenues.

Reduced economic growth
The general decrease in supply and demand which occurred during the lockdown significantly affected the economy. Although the government increased its spending to assuage the impacts of the pandemic, damages could not be averted totally.

Focus Economics panelists anticipate a GDP contraction of 6.1% by the end of this year. From the forecasts made in May, the GDP was observed to be down by 0.9 points. It will be a while before investors like what they see on the stock market.

Economic measures
The government endorsed measures which are specific to various sectors of the economy. This was done to maintain a balance; to effectively sustain business and to protect the general wellbeing of people.

Switzerland has been successful in safeguarding jobs; assuring that people get their normal wages and supporting small businesses. The economic stimulus packages helped to effectively prevent bankruptcy and other financial pitfalls.

Since no vaccine has yet been produced, COVID-19 is likely to stay for a little longer. The government of Switzerland made provisions that allow the payment of mortgages, leases, loans and other fiscal disparities to be delayed. This waives late payment penalties that individuals or companies would face under normal circumstances.

Direct and indirect Tax measures
Companies were allowed to postpone deadlines of tax payment without being charged interest on arrears. Interest rates were reduced to 0.0% for incentive taxes, VAT, some customs duties and special consumption taxes. This regulation will be active until year end. However, withholding tax and stamp duty will not benefit from these privileges.

Switzerland’s Reaction to the economic meltdown
In spite of these figures, the government of Switzerland could not have done a better job of protecting its economy. On 13 March, the government introduced effective measures of cushioning the economy from the effects of COVID-19. About CHF 8 billion was directed to this cause. Later on 20 and 25 March, the Federal Council approved yet another economic stimulus package of CHF 32 billion. At this point, over CHF 40 billion became available for the implementation of measures to counter the impacts of COVID-19.

After further assessments, another CHF 20 billion was injected into the economy on 3 April 2020. Suffice to say, Switzerland had commitment to save its companies against the prevailing situation.

In brief, what’s COVID-19?
COVID-19 is a newly discovered infectious disease that is caused by coronavirus. The term COVID-19 was derived from Coronavirus Disease 2019. This contagion is known to cause flu like symptoms that range from mild to moderate symptoms in most cases. However, aged people and those with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, heart diseases, respiratory problems and cancer have shown to be more vulnerable to the disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this disease a ‘’pandemic’’ that requires a stronger commitment by all individuals, organizations and governments to eradicate it.

Symptoms of COVID-19
The mild symptoms of this dreadful disease are sneezing, coughing, sore throat, aches, conjunctivitis and loss of smell and taste

In some instances, patients may show acute symptoms such as:

Headaches
Shortness of breath
Chest pain
Diarrhea
Loss of speech

How to mitigate its spreading?
Primarily, COVID-19 is spread through droplets that include discharges from the nose or saliva. When an infected person coughs or sneeze; it’s imperative to exercise respiratory etiquette (e.g. coughing or sneezing into a flexed elbow).

Health experts encourage people to stop making unnecessary movements; maintain a social distance of 2 meters in public places; practice personal hygiene by washing hands and avoiding handshakes. The washing of hands and cleaning of surfaces should be done with alcohol based detergents.

The Final Verdict
To a larger extent, companies in Switzerland were not affected much compared to businesses in other states. Switzerland did not indulge too long under ‘’lockdown’’ restrictions, which evidently have negative effects on business. At the same time, the government introduced measures that saved companies from their hardships.

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EHP survey and application platform [Recent Update]

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 20:18:30 +0000

EHP survey and application platform [Recent Update] Anonymous Mon, 06/01/2020 - 22:18

The web-based survey and application platform EHP is now accessible to supervised institutions and their audit firms, as well as supervisory organisations. They can now leverage the platform to submit encrypted supervisory data and authorisation applications to FINMA online. The use of this website is free of charge.

FINMA ensures that Switzerland’s financial markets are operating at their optimum levels. It serves as Switzerland’s independent financial-markets regulator and holds responsibility for supervising financial institutions, banks, insurance companies, collective investment schemes, and their asset managers and fund management companies. It’s also FINMA’s mandate to regulate insurance intermediaries and protect investors, creditors, and policyholders.

Note that the FINMA portal serves as the central entry point for using the survey and application platform (EHP). For users from the institutions to get access to the FINMA portal, it’s essential that they register first. If the registration process is successful, the user will be able to log in to the FINMA portal. They’ll also be able to process all notifications directly online via the EHP. To ensure security, the platform implements two-factor authentication.

One more step the institution should take before they can start to use EHP is to provide FINMA with the name of one or more authorisation coordinators (AC). Having at least one authorisation coordinators is mandatory. The AC is responsible for authorising other individuals from the institution for the EHP.

How to Register AC: institutions authorised by FINMA
If your organization is already authorised by FINMA, registering as an authorisation coordinator is quite straightforward. You can simply fill in the registration form on their website.

How to register AC: institutions not authorised by FINMA
Keep in mind that notification to EHP is not sufficient to obtain a license. For institutions that have not yet attained the FINMA license, there is an alternative path—the self-registration form on the FINMA webpage. This is the only way to become an authorisation coordinator and access the EHP survey and application platform without a FINMA license.

At present, the self-registration form is only accessible to institutions that are applying authorisation as:

Representatives of foreign collective investment schemes (CISA)
Managers of collective assets
Fund management companies
Representations (FinIA)
Portfolio managers
Trustees

Simplify your AC registration process with SIGTAX
There are a lot of factors that come into play when registering as an authorisation coordinator. To streamline the process and avoid mistakes in your EHP survey and application, you can seek the guidance of SIGTAX experts in the subject. Our team comprises of highly qualified professionals who hold enough experience to understand the Swiss financial landscape and its associated legal, financial and regulatory compliance obligations.

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Switzerland Initial Coin Offering (ICO) guidelines - Feb. 2018

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 13:34:55 +0000

Switzerland Initial Coin Offering (ICO) guidelines - Feb. 2018 Anonymous Fri, 02/16/2018 - 14:34

In its guidelines published on February 16, 2018, FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority sets out how it intends to enforce financial market legislation with respect to ICO organizer enquiries. The guidelines set forth the principles on which the answers will be formulated and what type of information is needed, thus ensuring clear action directions for market participants.

As the number of ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) planned or already executed in Switzerland has been constantly increasing, there is also a significant increase of enquiries regarding the applicability of regulation on this market. ICOs are a digital blockchain-based form of public fund raising for all kinds of entrepreneurial purposes.

As the legal regulatory framework and its applicability were not entirely clear, FINMA published a set of guidelines, complementing an earlier version from 2017. In these new guidelines, FINMA establishes how it intends to treat certain enquiries from ICO organizers. Given the high demand and the dynamic nature of this market, creating transparency was one of the main priorities.

Individual assessments for each case

The financial laws and regulations in order are not applicable to all ICOs. In certain cases, they may not be a subject to regulatory requirements; depending on the manner the ICOs were designed. Therefore, it is necessary to consider circumstances on case-by-case basis. ICOs are potentially affected by financial market regulations in certain areas, as previously established in the FINMA Guidance 04/2017. At the current time, there is no specific regulation for ICOs, nor a consistent legal doctrine or a relevant case law to set an example.

Functionality and transferability of tokens

Part of the assessment process is focused on the economic purpose and function of the blockchain-based units, known as tokens, which are issued by the ICO organizer. The main factors are the fundamental purpose of the tokens and if the said tokens are transferable or if they can be traded. At the moment, neither in Switzerland, nor internationally, is there a general recognizable terminology used to classify tokens. FINMA classifies tokens into three categories, but hybrid forms are not excluded. Tokens are classified into:

Payment tokens, which are synonymous with cryptocurrencies and have no other connections to development projects or any further functions. In some cases, tokens may develop the necessary functionality to become recognized as means of payment over time.
Utility tokens are used to provide access digitally to a certain service or application.
Asset tokens are used to represent assets, for example participations in companies, entitlement to interest or dividend payments. In terms of their economic function, they are the analogues of bonds, derivatives or equities.

Anti – money laundering and securities

According to FINMA’s analysis conducted so far, for the ICOs the most important aspects are money laundering and securities regulation. Projects which fall under the Collective Schemes Act or the Banking Act are not typical.

However, the Anti – Money Laundering Act contains certain requirements for financial intermediaries. One important requirement is the disclosure of the identity of the beneficial owners. The legislation is designed to protect the financial system against money laundering activities and the financing of terrorism. Money laundering risks are considered high in a blockchain-based system that is decentralized. Decentralization enables the anonymous transfer of assets without using regulated intermediaries.

On the other hand, securities regulation aims to ensure market participants that they can make their investment decisions having at least a minimum reliable set of information. In addition, trade activities should be fair, reliable and favor efficient price formation.

Considering all the above mentioned criteria, FINMA will handle enquiries from ICOs as follows:

Payment ICOs –When the token is meant to function as a means of payment and can be transferred, it is necessary to ensure compliance with the anti – money laundering regulations. However, payment tokens will not be treated as securities.
Utility ICOs – Tokens do not qualify as securities if their only purpose is to provide digital access to a service or an application. If the utility token functions only as an investment in economic terms, FINMA will treat them as securities.
Asset ICOs – Tokens are treated as securities, which means that there are securities law requirements for the trade of such tokens, as well as requirements established by the civil law under the Swiss Code of Obligations.

ICOs can also exist in hybrid forms. For example, utility tokens that are used as means of payment or are intended to be used as such can also fall under the anti – money laundering application.

Innovative potential of blockchain technology

FINMA recognizes and supports the innovative potential of the blockchain technology and is participating in the Blockchain/ICO Working Group formed by the Swiss federal government. Clarity in the civil law framework is an important factor in consolidating this technology in a sustainable and successful manner.

Risks faced by investors

Although FINMA is supporting this technology, it has also drawn attention to the risks that ICOs can pose for investors. Acquired tokens may be a subject of high price volatility. ICOs that are still in early stages of development present several uncertainties, which is an aspect investors should consider. In addition, under current civil law, it is unclear whether contracts executed using blockchain technology are legally binding or not.

ICOs will be further investigated

As previously announced in September 2017, FINMA conducts several investigations in cases involving ICOs. If ICO business models have breached the supervisory law, if they were intended to avoid regulation or if they conduct fraudulent activities, FINMA will launch regulation enforcement proceedings.

Download the Initial Coin Offering Guidelines 2018