Sole Proprietorship or LLC — Everything You Need to Know.

When you provide some sort of services to another person or company in exchange for payment, you might wonder how to get paid legally, right? Because the last thing you want it to happen is mistakenly to omit that income in your tax declaration or did it incorrectly and hence bear some undesired consequences. Regardless of whether you want to start a business yourself or run it as a side hustle, it is important to know how to do it properly. There are two ways to do it right if it is mainly just you who provide services, continue reading and I hope you will find a suitable solution for yourself.

Sole Proprietorship

I know that in the US and in Switzerland (probably also in other countries but you need to double-check), there is no formal registration required when you start a sole proprietorship. The business activities start when you start doing something for someone. You can issue an invoice with your name to the business and get paid. In Switzerland, there is no minimum capital requirement to start a sole proprietorship, thus it is a big advantage over other types of business entities, which you will know later. The business name needs to include your family name with or without your given name, and you can add additional names such as the type of service you provide. It needs to comply with the naming requirements, some words are not allowed to be included in your business name.

Although registration in the trade register is not required in general, when your annual income exceeds CHF100,000 from all your sole proprietorships and it is run in a commercial form, it is compulsory to register in the trade register. In general, a side hustle brings you income, and you can issue an invoice for it. But when you run it professionally, such as a hairdresser, cleaner, or consultant, you need to register officially in the trade registry.

Your tax level will be determined by where the headquarters of your sole proprietorship is. It could be your home or somewhere else. The income is taxed at where it formally located. Why there is a difference? Because if you have a hair salon located in Zug, and you live in Zurich. Then the income from your hair salon is taxed at the Zug level. If you do it occasionally as a side hustle, then probably it is…