Contracting in Zürich

[digitaldecks]

hi all anyone currently working in Zurich?
I'm reading many posts some are old, just trying to get and idea what day rate would would work.

I didn't want to start another thread as I thought this may be relevant to running/payroll costs

I contracted in Stockholm, I had been there many times before so I knew the running costs, also I was paid to my LTD and had the 183 day rule so running costs were covered, however as this contract would need to go through an umbrella I'm crunching numbers.

I'm negotiating a day rate with agent and client, but need to get everyone's opinion as I want to be able to back up what I'm discussing why i want the rate to be xy amount.
they started at 750/800 per day I'm trying to see if client will pick up any travel/ accommodation expense which I don't think will happen, so increase the rate I need to justify.
There will be a cut off point but im seeing if taking a financial hit to work in Switzerland and gain some CV points is worth doing.

Its 6 month contract
I will be flying in and out every week from Heathrow, will probably be hotels at first
client is willing to pay sterling
general expenses such as food are not cheap.

I'm aware of certain hit as below:

35% umbrella/pay-role companies (uk agent does not have an office in Switzerland)
30% or 20% approx HMRC tax equalisation

any other costs that i may have missed?
Can £800 per day work or after all costs work out to be around £55/60k salary equivalent
Anyone doing a similar thing flying in/out?

thanks

[NotAllThere]

(Thread split off - please start your own thread instead of hijacking someone else's).

£800 = ~CHF1100. It's a reasonable rate.

High estimate - 1600CHF a week - flights, accomodation and food. That leaves you with 3900CHF - so over the 6 month period of the contract, about 100K CHF, ~£70K. Payroll deductions and you're still looking at a healthy income. Probably ore than double your £55K a year.

What troubles me is that you couldn't work this out for yourself? What data are you missing?

[Pherlopolus]

I worked out some sums last year for commuting to Zurich on a weekly basis, based on a contract @1100chf. I worked out I would be better off in a £450 a day contract in London so didn't proceed any further. That was based on a going through Swiss umbrella, being swiss tax payer, fairly cheap apartment not eating out at all, and probably paying top up tax in the UK.

If I hadn't got family I would have relocated for the 12-24 months, and that would have been very viable.

[Eirikur]

I worked out some sums last year for commuting to Zurich on a weekly basis, based on a contract @1100chf. I worked out I would be better off in a £450 a day contract in London so didn't proceed any further. That was based on a going through Swiss umbrella, being swiss tax payer, fairly cheap apartment not eating out at all, and probably paying top up tax in the UK.

If I hadn't got family I would have relocated for the 12-24 months, and that would have been very viable.

^^WHS
Worked out the same thing. In my more adventurous years, without a family I would have gone. Probably camping in summer.

[Jack Kada]

I worked out some sums last year for commuting to Zurich on a weekly basis, based on a contract @1100chf. I worked out I would be better off in a £450 a day contract in London so didn't proceed any further. That was based on a going through Swiss umbrella, being swiss tax payer, fairly cheap apartment not eating out at all, and probably paying top up tax in the UK.

If I hadn't got family I would have relocated for the 12-24 months, and that would have been very viable.

I would be very interested in you explaining to me how this has been computed. 1100 CHF vs a £450 a day contract seems to me to be highly skewed to favouring the swiss contract. is it the fact that you could not use the Uk LTD company which is alarming you?

Given the choice if I was able to choose between a 100CHF vs a £450 a day contract then (provided the CHF contract could go through the UK limited company I would definitely go for the Swiss contract)

I understand that food is a bit dearer and accomodation needs to be paid etc but I think the OP getting £800 is very good and he should grab it provided he can invoice via his UK company (which I think should be possible)

[digitaldecks]

Apologies, had no intention of high-jacking a thread.

was looking for more current experiences and info as many threads discuss taxes and costs of living.
Not many recent threads on weekly commuters.

thanks all. 50/50 on this see what happens when we discuss on the next call.

[digitaldecks]

I would be very interested in you explaining to me how this has been computed. 1100 CHF vs a £450 a day contract seems to me to be highly skewed to favouring the swiss contract. is it the fact that you could not use the Uk LTD company which is alarming you?

Given the choice if I was able to choose between a 100CHF vs a £450 a day contract then (provided the CHF contract could go through the UK limited company I would definitely go for the Swiss contract)

I understand that food is a bit dearer and accomodation needs to be paid etc but I think the OP getting £800 is very good and he should grab it provided he can invoice via his UK company (which I think should be possible)

From many of the posts I got the feeling that one would really need to go via the umbrella route as its the quick and simple option or have I missed something?

[Pherlopolus]

Yes the numbers do look compelling, and I was up for it right upto the point I realised I would end up paying UK Tax AS WELL. I was looking at apartments in the 2000-3000chf a month range, and they were ok, and a trek out of zurich. I would need to get a car out there or drive over etc etc etc

It is my understanding that you cannot use your UK Ltd, and have to be swiss resident. you then pay tax as a swiss resident. if you maintain a significant base (ie home/family) in the UK, you then have to pay top up UK tax. At the levels I was looking at this effectively meant at the 50% and losing your personal allowance level. IE being inside IR35. There were a lot of unknowns about the tax breaks for running the Swiss property, travel expenses etc (ie I think it was after tax, and after UK Tax too)

The point was, it just wasn't worth the risks of something going wrong and ending up with a huge bill from somewhere.

[NotAllThere]

Yes the numbers do look compelling, and I was up for it right upto the point I realised I would end up paying UK Tax AS WELL. I was looking at apartments in the 2000-3000chf a month range, and they were ok, and a trek out of zurich. I would need to get a car out there or drive over etc etc etc...

I know people who commuted for several years from Basel to Zürich. The Swiss public transport system is regular, frequent and reliable. And reasonably priced, in my view. You can get a one bedroom apartment in the city centre for less than 2000CHF per month. Not very big, but fine for weekday use. There is a tax allowance in CH, if you maintain a household in the UK of, IIRC, 18'000CHF a year. Eating out will cost at least 20CHF a head (except for fast food, but even that's not cheap). Drinking in bars is also not cheap. However, alcohol in general is not bad, and electronics are often cheaper than you'd find in the UK.

I used to do a weekly commute down to Geneva area on a contract 1300CHF per day, and even with hotel and travel costs, it was a good return.

The main disincentive, as others have pointed out, is the dual taxation. Many expenses on the Swiss side are deductible that are not in the UK.