Domiciling a startup: costs and options

Every Swiss company must have a registered office entered in the commercial register, with a valid address in a canton. For a startup that begins lean — perhaps with founders working remotely, from a coworking space or even from abroad — there is not always a physical office to use as an official address. Domiciliation solves this problem: it provides a legitimate business address at which the company can be registered and receive official communications. Let’s look at the options and at what drives the costs.

What domiciliation is and what it is for

Domiciling a company means designating an address at which the company can be reached for official communications: authorities, the commercial register, the tax administration, legal correspondence. It is not an empty shell: the registered office must correspond to a place where the company can actually receive mail and be contacted.

It is typically useful for those who:

set up a startup without an office of their own yet;
operate remotely or from shared spaces that cannot be registered in their name;
live abroad but want a Swiss registered office;
want to separate the company address from the founders’ private one.

The available options

Not all domiciliations are the same. The main options, from the lightest to the most complete, are:

Registered office with basic mail handling: the address for registration and for receiving official correspondence, with periodic forwarding or digitisation of mail.
Domiciliation with a business address: in addition to the registered office, an address usable as a commercial contact point, useful for suppliers, banks and clients.
Domiciliation with secretarial services: call handling, mail scanning and sorting are added, possibly a meeting space on request.
Integrated packages with administration: the registered office is combined with accounting, tax management and compliance, so the startup has a single point of contact.

The choice depends on how much the company needs to “appear” physically rooted and on how many services it wants to outsource.

What drives the costs

Costs vary according to several factors, and it is more useful to understand the levers than to quote a flat price:

Canton: an address in a business centre or a city has a different impact than in peripheral areas.
Mail handling: receipt only, physical forwarding, scanning and digitisation involve increasing service levels and prices.
Ancillary services: telephone answering, meeting rooms and visitor reception increase the fee.
Related compliance: if domiciliation is combined with accounting and tax matters, you are looking at an overall package.

Domiciliation is normally paid through a periodic fee (annual or monthly), to which variable costs linked to actual use of the services may be added.

The resident director issue

Be careful not to confuse two distinct things. Domiciliation provides the address; representation is a different requirement. The law in fact requires that a GmbH or an AG be represented by at least one person domiciled in Switzerland (a member of the management body or a director with signing authority). A foreign founder who domiciles the company must therefore also resolve this aspect, often through a resident director or manager. These are two separate needs: the address alone is not enough to cover the representation obligation.

Domiciliation and economic substance

An address on its own does not create “substance” in the eyes of the tax authorities and the banks. If the company wants to be considered genuinely Swiss for tax treatment, it must be able to demonstrate that its decisions and activity have a real connection with the registered office. Domiciliation is a correct and legitimate starting point, but it must be accompanied by consistent management, especially when the founders operate from abroad.

How to choose

To find your bearings, it helps to answer a few questions:

Do I just need an address for the register or also a credible commercial contact point?
Do I receive a lot of official mail that has to be handled quickly?
Do I need occasional physical spaces for meetings?
Do I want a single provider who also handles accounting and tax?
Have I already resolved the resident director matter?

The more affirmative answers, the more a structured package is worthwhile compared with the bare minimum registered office.

In summary

Domiciling a startup is a legitimate and economical way to give it a Swiss registered office without immediately renting an office. Costs depend on the level of service — from a simple address to full secretarial support — and the choice should also take into account the commercial contact point, economic substance and the representation obligation in Switzerland.

Do you want a solid Swiss registered office from which to launch your company, with mail and compliance handled? SIH ONE’s domiciliation service provides the address and services tailored to your startup.