Swiss Company Formation | Comparing Swiss Anonym Company (SA) and Swiss Limited Company (SARL)

In this post we will compare the Swiss Anonyme Company (SA) and the Swiss Company with Limited Responsibility (SARL). Since the last reform of Swiss company law a Swiss SARL presents the same advantages than a Swiss SA but for two points which we will discuss below. For more information on investing is Switzerland do not hesitate to contact me at corporate@offshorepremium.com

Advantage of a Swiss SARL over a Swiss SA

The major advantage of a Swiss SARL is that the minimal capital requirement is quite lower at 20,000 CHF only which need to be fully paid on a consignation bank account prior to the incorporation of the Company and will be available to the company once the certificate of registration of the company has been issued. By comparison a Swiss SA needs to be incorporated with a 100,000 CHF minimum capital of which 50,000 CHF needs to be paid

Also the SARL is less expensive to maintain as it does not need to have its yearly accounts audited.

Disadvantages of a Swiss SARL over a Swiss SA

The two mains disadvantages are as follows:

The name of the shareholders of a SARL are published at the company registrar and the names are accessible to the public while the name of the shareholders of a SA company are not published anywhere which guarantee a full privacy. However in case of privacy nominee shareholders may be used for a SARL

The formalities to transfer the shares of a SA are easier as it suffice to execute a share transfer documents while they are more cumbersome in the case of a SARL.

 Comparaison Table   

	SA	SARL
Anonymity	Yes.   Shareholders names are not listed with the Business Registry	No.   Partners  names are listed with the Registry but it is possible to use nominees
Transfer of shares	Simple share transfer	Sign a shares sales contract that must be approved by a Shareholder Meeting
Minimum Capital	CHF100,000 of which 50,000 must be fully paid-up at formation	CHF20,000 CHF to be paid-up at formation
Number of founding members	1	1
In-kind contributions	Yes But need to be audited	Yes But need to be audited
Auditors	Mandatory	Optional
Board of Directors	Yes	No
Director Swiss Resident	At least one director must be a Swiss or EU national which is a  resident of Switzerland	At least one director must be a Swiss or EU national which is a  resident of Switzerland
Appear before Notary	Formation	Formation

For more information on investing is Switzerland do not hesitate to contact me at corporate@offshorepremium.com

 

Originally posted 2012-08-19 12:39:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter