Switzerland: Types of Company

Branch

Branch offices, whether of foreign companies, or of Swiss companies in other cantons, must be registered in the Commercial Registry of the canton in which they are located. The branch must have a nominated, Swiss-resident representative.

Branches need not publish their annual financial statements, but branches of foreign corporations constitute 'permanent establishments' from a tax point of view, and will therefore be taxed on local source income both at federal and at cantonal level as if they were resident corporations. There is no withholding tax on transfers of branch profits to its foreign parent.

See Offshore Legal and Tax Regimes.