The preparation phase for starting a business is the most time-intensive. But you will save on complications when you start your business if you have all your documents together and have already clarified details such as insurance, authorizations and financing.
Generally, you should be able to tick off these points on the checklist:
- Make a business plan: Before you can start your actual preparations, you have to know what your company’s concept will be.
- Clarify legal issues: What contracts will you need during your activities? Find answers to this question promptly and prepare them before you start your activities.
- Get authorizations: Before you start, you should know which authorizations your work requires and get them. More information on relevant authorizations can be found at The link will open in a new window bewilligungen.admin.ch.
- Declare self-employment: As a sole proprietorship, your company is not a legal entity and does not have its own legal entity; you as the owner and natural person must be the legal entity. You should therefore declare to your compensation office as soon as possible whether your activity fulfils the preconditions of self-employment under AHV insurance law.
- Clarify insurance issues: Get offers for occupational insurances from entities like SUVA or private insurance companies. What you have to insure depends on whether you have employees or not.
- Generally, these types of insurance are recommended for you as the owner:
- Obligatory: old-age and surviving dependants insurance, disability insurance, loss of earnings compensation and child allowances
- Optional: pension fund
- Optional: daily allowance insurance
- Optional: accident insurance
Please note that although only old-age and surviving dependants insurance, disability insurance, loss of earnings compensation and child allowances are obligatory, the optional insurance types are recommended depending on your situation.
If you employ staff, you must register them with the insurance entities and handle their insurance. The following types of insurance:
- Obligatory: old-age and surviving dependants insurance, disability insurance, loss of earnings compensation and child allowances
- Obligatory: occupational accident insurance
- Partially obligatory: pension fund from an annual salary of CHF 22,050 (as of 2023)
- Optional: daily allowance insurance
- Get tax advice: A new company also changes your tax situation. Get advice on how your taxation and progression levels are likely to change.
- Secure financing: A sole proprietorship does not need start-up capital but, depending on the activity, you may need to make investments and arrange funding. As soon as your financing is planned and secured, you can open a business account with your bank. More information on opening a business account can be found at ‘Business account in CHF: The basis for payment transactions’.
- Organize premises: If you need premises for your activity, you must of course find and finance these. Don’t forget that you usually have to pay for several months as a rental deposit.
- Choose your company name: Creative preparation is just as important. Remember though that your last name must be included in the company name of a sole proprietorship.
- Buy domain names: You need a website and a domain for your digital presence. Check that the domain name you want is available and buy it.
- Create your company’s visual appearance: Create a logo and a brand identity to support your brand both online and offline. According to the Swiss Code of Obligations, you must state the company listed in the commercial register, or the name given there, on official documents like correspondence, invoices and order forms. Of course, you can add extras like short names, logos, business descriptions, signs and similar details.
- Protect your logo: Perhaps you’d like to protect your logo. If so, you must register it with the Institute of Intellectual Property.
- Check your obligation to be entered in the commercial register: From an annual income of CHF 100,000, you are obliged as an ‘activity of a commercial nature’ to register your sole proprietorship in the commercial register. Consider whether it makes sense for you to register your company even below this annual income.