How long does it take to form a company

“How soon can I have my company up and running?” It is one of the first questions people ask when they want to open a GmbH or an AG in Switzerland. The honest answer is: it depends on how ready you are, far more than on red tape. Let’s look at the phases and the realistic timelines.

The phases of incorporation

Forming a corporation always follows the same path:

1. Preliminary decisions: legal form (GmbH or AG), shareholders, capital, registered office, company name, corporate purpose.
2. Drafting the articles of association and the constitutive documents.
3. Opening the capital deposit account and paying in the contributions.
4. Notarial deed: authentication of the deed of incorporation.
5. Entry in the cantonal commercial register.
6. Subsequent formalities: VAT, social insurance, conversion of the capital account into an operating account.

Each phase has its own timing, and some can be prepared in parallel.

The realistic timelines

With the paperwork ready and the decisions made, the “technical” part is quick:

• Opening the capital account: from a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on the bank and the checks on the shareholders (especially where foreign shareholders are involved).
• Notarial deed: an appointment is scheduled; the deed itself is a matter of one day.
• Entry in the commercial register: a few business days from filing, varying from canton to canton.

Overall, when everything is in place, a GmbH or an AG can be registered within one or two weeks. The company exists in law from the moment it is entered in the commercial register.

What really slows things down

Delays rarely come from the notary or the register. The most frequent causes are:

• Bank checks on opening the capital account, particularly with foreign shareholders or beneficial owners (anti-money-laundering controls).
• Company name that needs correcting because it is already taken or non-compliant.
• Incomplete shareholder documents (identity, powers of attorney, translations).
• Indecision over capital, corporate purpose or the split of shares.
• Contributions in kind, which require additional valuation and documentation and stretch the timeline.

The lesson is clear: time is won in the preparation, not in the notarial phase.

When you can start operating

A practical point often misunderstood: you can carry out some preparatory activities even before registration, but the company acquires legal personality only upon entry in the register. Contracts, invoicing and hiring in the company’s name presuppose that registration has taken place.

After registration, the operational formalities still need to be completed: activating the business account, VAT registration where applicable, enrolment with social insurance for payroll. These too take a few days.

How to speed things up without taking risks

To arrive ready:

• decide in advance on legal form, capital, registered office and company name;
• check the availability of the company name straight away;
• prepare the shareholder documents in good order, with translations where needed;
• start opening the capital account early, often the real bottleneck;
• use standard articles of association when the business is straightforward.

Rushing by skipping checks is counterproductive: an error on the company name, capital or corporate purpose costs more time than it saves.

How we help

We coordinate every phase — bank, notary, register and formalities — so you reach registration with no dead time, with incorporation from CHF 0 (combined with a 12-month accounting mandate) and terms set out in plain language. Start your incorporation.