Is a fiduciary mandatory in Switzerland in 2026?

In Switzerland, there’s no general requirement for a company to use a fiduciary. An entrepreneur can, among other things, set up their business, keep their own books, prepare their own tax returns, and manage payroll themselves. Some operations, however, do require the involvement of a notary or a licensed auditor.

And you know better than I do that by 2026, almost everything has become available in just a few clicks: legal texts, contract templates, accounting software, tax calculators, business creation platforms, and artificial intelligence.

So it’s a fair question to ask whether a Swiss company still needs a fiduciary to handle its administrative, accounting, and tax matters.

In other words: does our profession still have a future? And you, dear clients, do you still have a real interest in turning to a consulting firm like ours?

You’re probably asking yourself this question. Know that we are too.

At FBKConseils, we believe a fiduciary can no longer just carry out tasks that clients could do themselves. It has to reinvent itself, explain, advise, and offer services and tools that bring genuine added value.

In this article, we’ll therefore look at the main areas where a fiduciary can step in:

• company formation;
• domiciliation;
• accounting;
• tax returns and VAT;
• payroll management;
• audit of accounts.

For each topic, we’ll draw a distinction between two things:

1. What Swiss law actually requires;
2. What we recommend in practice.

Spoiler alert: in Switzerland, a fiduciary is very rarely mandatory.

It can, however, become very useful once the situation gets more complex, once the manager runs short on time, or once the consequences of a mistake become significant.

Is a fiduciary mandatory to start a company in Switzerland?

Starting a company can seem complicated: you need to choose a legal structure, either a partnership or a corporation, draft articles of association, define a purpose, open an escrow account, register with the commercial registry, and organize the various affiliations.

Yet the involvement of a fiduciary isn’t required by law.

What Swiss law says

A person can start a sole proprietorship without going through a fiduciary or a notary. In Switzerland, a large part of the steps needed to launch a sole proprietorship can be handled by yourself, and on top of that, very quickly.

On the other hand, forming a corporation, mainly an SA or an Sàrl, requires a notarized deed. This requirement stems notably from Article 629 CO for the SA and Article 777 CO for the Sàrl.

In practice, a notarized deed means that the involvement of a notary or another competent public officer is required to set up an SA or an Sàrl. This also means that, unfortunately, neither FBKConseils nor any other fiduciary can replace the notary or public officer responsible for drawing up the notarized deed.

So a person can prepare their project, choose a notary, and handle the other necessary steps themselves.

In recent years, even notarial services have become largely digitized. Business formation platforms now make it possible to carry out certain simple incorporations for a few hundred francs, whereas costs used to reach around CHF 2’500.

Our recommendation on the usefulness of a fiduciary when setting up your company

For a very simple setup, with a single partner, a standard purpose, and no particular project, an online platform can work perfectly well.

The situation becomes trickier, however, when:
there are several partners;
responsibilities need to be precisely divided;
a fundraising round is being considered;
investors need to come into the capital;
the choice between an SA, an Sàrl, and a sole proprietorship isn’t obvious;
salary policy and dividends need to be planned ahead;
an extra mandatory occupational pension solution or a 1e plan is being considered.

A mistake made at the setup stage won’t necessarily stop the company from existing, but it can lead to costs and complications a few months or years down the line.

So we recommend at least one advisory session whenever several options are on the table.

Sometimes an hour is enough to ask the right questions, check the information found online or through an artificial intelligence, and make a few important adjustments.

FBKConseils and setting up your company

At FBKConseils, we organize, at your convenience, a first meeting free of charge to go over the main questions and get you off to a good start. If that’s not enough, we then offer advisory sessions, for a length of your choosing, to finalize your simulations and, if needed, kick off the formation process.

Is a fiduciary mandatory to domicile a company?

Every company registered with the commercial registry must have an address where it can be reached. Article 117 of the Ordinance on the Commercial Registry distinguishes between the company’s registered office, which corresponds to the political municipality, and its domicile, which is the address at which it can be reached at that registered office.

This address serves as the reference point for the commercial registry, the authorities, suppliers, clients, and other partners. When a company has its own offices, domiciliation generally poses no difficulty and, in principle, takes place at its own premises.

The question mainly arises for entrepreneurs who work from home, don’t want to publish their private address, or set up a Swiss company from abroad.

What Swiss law says about a company’s official address

A company must have an official address corresponding to its registered office. The law does not, however, require this address to be provided by a fiduciary, a law firm, your mom, or a company specializing in domiciliation.

Depending on the situation, a company can be domiciled:

• at its own premises;
• at the director’s home;
• with a partner;
• with a person or company willing to provide an address;
• with a fiduciary.

Domiciliation with a fiduciary is therefore an option, not an obligation.

Our recommendation on domiciliation

Choosing an address shouldn’t be treated as a mere formality.

A company’s registered office can affect its taxation, since tax rates and practices vary by canton and municipality. On its own, however, it isn’t always enough to determine the place of taxation: the company’s actual place of administration can also come into play.

You also need to make sure official mail will be received, processed, and forwarded promptly.

Some documents can have significant consequences, especially when deadlines are tight and set by law: missing a cutoff date can carry heavy financial consequences.

This can notably include:

• tax decisions;
• requests from the commercial registry;
• VAT related communications;
• reminders;
• official deeds.

Professional domiciliation is especially useful when a company has no premises, when the director lives abroad, or when they want to clearly separate their private address from their business activity.

On the other hand, if you already have a stable professional address and well organized mail handling, you can easily do without a fiduciary for this service.

Is a fiduciary mandatory for bookkeeping?

Bookkeeping is probably the service most instinctively associated with fiduciaries. Many entrepreneurs imagine that a company’s accounts are only valid if they’ve been prepared or approved by a qualified professional.

That’s not the case in Switzerland.

What Swiss law says, or rather doesn’t say, about keeping a company’s accounts

Relevant companies must keep their accounts in line with the applicable rules.

The legislation sets out accounting obligations, the principles to follow, the documents to keep, and the accounts to draw up.

However, it doesn’t generally reserve bookkeeping for a fiduciary or someone holding a specific diploma.

Accounting can therefore be handled:

• by the director;
• by a partner;
• by an employee;
• by their best friend who studied at HEC ten years ago;
• by an outside provider;
• by a fiduciary;
• using artificial intelligence, under the company’s own responsibility.

There’s an important difference here compared to France. In the French system, a company can generally keep its own accounts or hand the task to an in house employee. However, when it outsources this task, it must in principle turn to an authorized and, in effect, certified professional.

In Switzerland, outsourcing bookkeeping isn’t subject to the same general restriction.

Our recommendation on accounting management

The fact that anyone can keep accounts doesn’t mean everyone should.

A very small activity with a handful of invoices and little movement can sometimes be managed simply, possibly even with a suitable Excel spreadsheet.

This is notably the case for sole proprietorships and partnerships that generated turnover below CHF 500’000 in the last financial year. Under Article 957 paragraph 2 number 1 CO, they only need to keep simplified accounts covering their income, expenses, and assets.

One caveat though: the law allows for simplified accounting, but it doesn’t specifically state that this has to be kept on Excel. Whatever tool is used still needs to comply with the applicable principles and allow the recorded transactions to be justified.

That said, the difficulty increases quickly with:

• the number of invoices;
• VAT liability;
• international transactions;
• employees;
• vehicles;
• mixed private and business expenses;
• investments;
• depreciation;
• financing arrangements;
• transactions between partners.

Careful: as explained in our introduction, in Switzerland, delegating a task doesn’t mean delegating responsibility. The governing bodies retain their legal obligations, even when they hand certain tasks over to a third party.

If you hand your accounting over to Maurice the intern and a significant mistake is made, your company will still have to answer to the authorities’ requests.

It may then be possible to pursue the provider’s liability, but that won’t necessarily spare you the corrections, procedures, interest, or other consequences.

We therefore recommend choosing a solution proportionate to the company’s level of complexity.

A director can perfectly well keep simple accounts themselves, provided they get some training, have the right tools, and have their work periodically reviewed.

Once the situation becomes more complex, bringing in a professional mainly helps reduce risk and free up time.

Is a fiduciary mandatory for filing tax returns and VAT statements?

Accounting notably serves as the basis for a company’s tax returns and, when it’s liable, for its VAT statements. Here again, there’s no general requirement to hand these tasks over to a fiduciary.

What Swiss law says about tax returns and direct or indirect taxation

The company and its governing bodies remain responsible for meeting their tax obligations.

They can prepare and file themselves:

• the company’s tax return;
• VAT statements;
• the various appendices;
• responses to requests from the authorities.

And as with everything else, appointing a representative doesn’t remove the obligations that remain on the company and its governing bodies.

The situation is comparable to a private tax return: you can fill it in yourself or ask for help, but you remain responsible for the information declared.

That said, no legal requirement forces you to hand your tax return or VAT statements over to a fiduciary.

Is it worth delegating the tax management of your company?

If you’d rather handle your own returns, take the time to get trained and understand the figures being submitted. Using software or artificial intelligence doesn’t excuse you from checking the result.

If you choose to delegate this task, look into the provider:

• do they know your sector?
• what qualifications do they hold?
• what are this company’s reviews and reputation like?
• do they have a solid grasp of VAT?
• do they carry professional liability insurance?
• do they explain to you what’s being declared?
• do they ask you for the necessary information?
• do they keep sufficiently clear records?

A professional’s value doesn’t lie solely in filling out a form. It lies above all in their ability to spot unusual elements, ask the right questions, and anticipate the tax consequences.

And most importantly, if I had to keep just one criterion for choosing your fiduciary, it would be this one: are they always there when something goes wrong? Are they there during an audit, a request for documents, or a dispute over how an expense is classified?

Does payroll management have to be legally handled by a fiduciary?

Paying salaries seems simple: you work out a gross amount, deduct a few charges, and pay out the net amount.

In practice, payroll management is probably one of the most complex parts of running a Swiss company, even for us professionals.

Attending our expertise courses, conferences on the subject, and even hiring lawyers specializing in labor law, you quickly realize that a single question can lead to several possible interpretations.

But in short, here’s what to keep in mind.

H-3: What Swiss law says about managing employees, pay slips, certificates, and statements

No general rule requires a company to outsource its payroll.

The employer can handle themselves:

• pay slips;
• social security contributions;
• annual filings;
• withholding tax;
• allowances;
• vacation;
• absences;
• accidents and illness;
• dealings with insurers;
• work certificates and attestations;
• employment contracts.

They can also hand these tasks over to an in house employee, a fiduciary, or another provider.

So once again, unfortunately for us, using a fiduciary isn’t mandatory.

Our recommendation

In house management can work perfectly well when the company has suitable software and someone properly trained.

It quickly becomes complex, however, when several particular situations arise:

• part time employees;
• variable pay;
• bonuses;
• commissions;
• withholding tax;
• private use of company vehicles;
• training costs;
• expense allowances;
• long term absences;
• daily allowances;
• family allowances;
• hires and departures during the year;
• staff based abroad.

A payroll mistake directly affects employees. It can also lead to corrections with social security funds, insurers, or tax authorities.

Our recommendation, then, is to keep this in house only if someone genuinely masters the subject and has the time needed.

Otherwise, outsourcing often helps secure the process and stops the 25th of each month from becoming a constant source of stress.

Does an audit or a review of the accounts have to be carried out by a professional?

For the first time in this article, and unlike accounting, the statutory audit of accounts is a regulated activity.

When an audit is legally required, a company can’t just ask anyone to check its accounts.

What Swiss law says about audits and account reviews

Small companies can, under certain conditions, opt out of a limited audit of their accounts. This waiver is known as opting out.

When the conditions for opting out are no longer met, or when a specific situation set out by law arises, the company must bring in an auditor holding the required license.

The aim is notably to check:
whether the annual accounts meet the legal requirements;
whether the proposal for the use of profits complies with the law and the articles of association.

Several situations can trigger an audit requirement.

Financial difficulties: loss of capital and over indebtedness

A company can suffer significant losses and see its equity shrink.

When this decrease reaches the level defined by Article 725a CO, the company finds itself in a situation of capital loss. This occurs when assets, after deducting debts, no longer cover half of the sum of the share capital or corporate capital and the legal reserves that cannot be repaid to shareholders or partners.

When debts are no longer covered by assets, over indebtedness may come into play under Article 725b CO.

Even a company that has validly opted out of an audit may then have to have its annual or interim accounts checked by a licensed auditor.

Our recommendation

You shouldn’t wait until the annual accounts are finalized to start paying attention to a possible loss of capital.

A company should regularly monitor:

• its cash position;
• its debts;
• its equity;
• its interim results;
• its future commitments.

The earlier difficulties are identified, the more options there are to address them.

A fiduciary doesn’t replace the auditing body, but it can help spot the situation, prepare the necessary documents, and coordinate exchanges with the auditor.

Capital increase

A company may look for new resources to cover losses, fund investments, or strengthen its financial structure.

These resources can take the form of a loan, which increases debt, or a capital contribution, which increases equity.

Some capital increases require the involvement of an auditor, depending in particular on the nature of the contributions and how the transaction is carried out. Article 652f CO notably requires the increase report to be reviewed by a licensed auditor in the situations concerned.

Our recommendation

Before choosing between a loan and a capital increase, several factors need to be analyzed:

• the company’s actual needs;
• its ability to repay;
• how power is distributed among the partners;
• the tax impact;
• the cost of the transaction;
• long term objectives.

Bringing in a professional before launching the transaction often helps avoid choosing a more complex or more costly procedure than necessary.

Exceeding ten FTE employees (full time equivalents)

The law doesn’t directly state that a company must be audited as soon as it reaches ten employees.

Article 727a paragraph 2 CO provides that companies with no more than ten full time positions on average per year can, with the consent of all shareholders or partners, waive the limited audit for future financial years. Since January 1, 2025, this waiver must be registered with the commercial registry before the start of the financial year.

Once a company exceeds ten FTEs on average per year, it can no longer benefit from this opt out and must, at a minimum, undergo an annual limited audit.

Our recommendation

Thresholds need to be anticipated.

A company can have more than ten individuals on staff while staying under ten FTEs if several employees work part time. Conversely, rapid growth can push it past the threshold partway through the year.

We therefore recommend tracking average headcount and preparing early enough for:

• appointing an auditing body;
• organizing the accounting;
• documenting entries;
• inventories;
• supporting documents;
• internal procedures.

Accounting kept solely for the purpose of preparing a tax return may not be organized well enough to properly support an annual audit.

Other operations requiring a review

Other situations can also require the involvement of an auditor:

• certain conversions;
• certain capital increases or reductions;
• mergers;
• demergers;
• certain liquidations;
• certain transactions involving specific contributions.

The purpose of this article isn’t to walk through each of these procedures in detail, but simply to point out that a statutory audit doesn’t depend solely on the size of the company.

Our general recommendation on audits

As soon as a transaction affects a company’s capital, legal structure, or financial survival, it’s best to seek advice before signing or carrying out anything at all.

The fiduciary can prepare the figures and support the company, but it doesn’t replace the independent auditor when the law requires their involvement.

So three roles need to be clearly distinguished:

• the director, who makes the decisions and remains responsible;
• the fiduciary, who advises and prepares the information;
• the auditor, who carries out an independent check when required.

Conclusion, is a fiduciary really necessary?

In Switzerland, using a fiduciary is, as such, practically never required by law.

You can generally:

• set up your company without one;
• domicile your company yourself;
• keep your own accounts;
• file your own tax returns;
• prepare your own VAT statements;
• manage payroll in house.

Some operations, however, do require a notary, notably setting up an SA or an Sàrl and certain amendments subject to the notarized form, or a licensed auditor once certain thresholds are exceeded or certain legal or financial events occur.

So the real value of a fiduciary doesn’t come from some legal monopoly laid down by our beloved Code of Obligations. It comes from the support, the technical knowledge, the time saved, and the reduced risk.

Turning to a fiduciary ultimately means delegating certain tasks to a team that handles them every day and can help you understand the consequences of your decisions.

You’re perfectly entitled to manage everything yourself.

So the question to ask yourself isn’t just: “Is it mandatory?”

The better question is: “Is this really the best use of my time, and am I ready to bear the consequences of a possible mistake on my own?”

How FBKConseils can support your company?

As we’ve seen throughout this article, using a fiduciary is only very rarely a legal requirement in Switzerland.

So our role isn’t to make you believe you have to work with us, but to support you with the tasks you’d rather not handle on your own, answer your questions, and help you reduce the risk of mistakes.

Depending on your situation, FBKConseils can step in just for an advisory session, to review work you’ve already done, or to take on a larger share of your company’s administrative management.

A free first meeting at our office or over Teams

If this article left out some details, if certain questions seem more complex to you, or if you’d simply like to learn more about our company and how we work, we offer a free introductory meeting.

This conversation lets us briefly understand your situation, answer your first questions, and let you know whether we can genuinely support you.

Setting up your company

Not sure yet whether a sole proprietorship, an Sàrl, or an SA is the best fit for you?

We can support you in choosing the right legal structure, preparing the setup, liaising with the notary, as well as with social insurance affiliations, VAT registration, and dealings with the relevant authorities.

Domiciling your company

Setting up a company in Switzerland without business premises, or don’t want to use your private address?

FBKConseils offers a professional domiciliation service in Lausanne, Rue Pépinet 3, giving your company a business address in French speaking Switzerland along with a solution for receiving and managing its mail.

Managing your accounting and tax obligations

At FBKConseils, we offer several levels of support when it comes to accounting and your taxation: full delegation, personalized training, review of your own work, or one off assistance, depending on your needs.

Outsourcing employee management

Payroll and social insurance management can quickly become complex, particularly when withholding tax, variable pay, absences, or staff based abroad come into play.

We can take care of preparing salaries, social insurance filings, and the various administrative steps related to your employees.

Not sure yet which service fits your situation?

You can find all our services for the self employed and businesses on our dedicated page, or book a free introductory meeting directly to tell us about your situation.