Yo Kay,

I'd advise that before you do any of those things, just run with your business for a few months to see if there's any potential in it. Only then go throgh the hassle of incorporating.

If you do want to incorporate as a for-profit company:

- Register your company.
You need the help of a notary for that, and it will set you back CHF 4000-6000 in costs (yup, that much). On top, you'll need to put min CHF 20,000 in the company's bank account, as initial capital.

- Get an accountant to do your taxes.
The process is not that compliated: you can just throw the accountant all your bills and invoices at the end of the year, and he'll tell you how much tax you owe...Depending on your revenue, you might need to get a VAT number as well. But I wouldn't worry about that for a start.

Let me know if you got more specific questions, and I'll try to help.

Nir

That is really helpful Nir, and in a manageable bite size chunk. The idea of starting your own business here can be a bit of a scary thought, especially if you don't speak French, so thanks for the starter tips.

If i remember correctly, you don't actually need to put 20k in the bank account, you need 20'000 to set up a Sàrl, but it doesn't' need to be only cash in the bank account, but also computers, furniture, etc.

Thanks for your comments...

Actually, I'm trying to ind out more about setting up a sole proprietor business which will start off very basic, and hopefully grow into something.  I have heard that to do this I don't need any initial capital and that registering will be just a few hundred CHF.  Basically, I just need to know how I can confirm this and where I need to go.  Also if anyone can recommend a good small business advisor who speaks English.

Cheers

Kay, here is the schedule of inscription charges, on the federal small business unit. there is a lot of useful information there, some of it english.

http://www.kmu.admin.ch/themen/00614/00692/00695/index.html?lang=fr

And the inscription form for the commercial register in Geneva:

http://ge.ch/ecohrcmatic/

Godd Luck

Phillip