Reply to: Average contract rate for Banking in Zurich ?

[Julius Caesar]

They were pretty unhappy when I rejected the role. I had one other offer in hand already. The agent mid-led on tax, no skill/career development in Zurich role and the local manager made it clear he would be inflexible (no leaving early on Friday to travel )

Then it is the local manager who rejected the deal, and he has only himself to blame for missing out on a great opportunity

[LegendsWear7]

What did you end up doing? Did you accept the role?

They were pretty unhappy when I rejected the role. I had one other offer in hand already. The agent mid-led on tax, no skill/career development in Zurich role and the local manager made it clear he would be inflexible (no leaving early on Friday to travel )

[RedTag]

What did you end up doing? Did you accept the role?

[LegendsWear7]

UK Ltd won't fly for 1 year contract and they want weekend work.

183 day rule was tightened last year too.

[joey122]

New agent breakdown provides a net of only 58.5%.

They omitted to remove the employers (umbrella/agency) contribution at first. Not happy. Now the net looks very different.

Any experienced people have knowledge or current rates. 1000 chf gross in my case. That's gross before the agency removes employer part. I've been told they won't go down any other route and that in 2010 it becomes difficult to have a one man company in CH as they will be taxed highly as body shops.

I have offer of EUR 9300/month (about EUR 5300 in hand) with 25 days holiday (worth another 5300 in net working value) and very basic health/pension in Frankfurt.
OR 1000chf/day (all in) without holiday or anything in Zurich (about 8500 EUR in hand).

Net
Over a year Frankfurt = 63,600 (12 * E5300)
Work 11 months on contract in Zurich: EUR 93,500

Main thing: I know the Frankfurt city and client company very well over years of contracting there. True Contracting option is closed at present for 2010.
Don't know Zurich city or company at all and it costs a lot more for everything. Tulipy Burger King in train station last Monday cost 10 quid sterling!

Meat is a luxury there.

Can you not get paid into your UK LTD company?? That way you would get to apply UK tax laws which you already know??

[joey122]

New agent breakdown provides a net of only 58.5%.

They omitted to remove the employers (umbrella/agency) contribution at first. Not happy. Now the net looks very different.

Any experienced people have knowledge or current rates. 1000 chf gross in my case. That's gross before the agency removes employer part. I've been told they won't go down any other route and that in 2010 it becomes difficult to have a one man company in CH as they will be taxed highly as body shops.

I have offer of EUR 9300/month (about EUR 5300 in hand) with 25 days holiday (worth another 5300 in net working value) and very basic health/pension in Frankfurt.
OR 1000chf/day (all in) without holiday or anything in Zurich (about 8500 EUR in hand).

Net
Over a year Frankfurt = 63,600 (12 * E5300)
Work 11 months on contract in Zurich: EUR 93,500

Main thing: I know the Frankfurt city and client company very well over years of contracting there. True Contracting option is closed at present for 2010.
Don't know Zurich city or company at all and it costs a lot more for everything. Tulipy Burger King in train station last Monday cost 10 quid sterling!

Meat is a luxury there.

Just out of interest how did you get this CHF role please??

[LegendsWear7]

Help to decide !

New agent breakdown provides a net of only 58.5%.

They omitted to remove the employers (umbrella/agency) contribution at first. Not happy. Now the net looks very different.

Any experienced people have knowledge or current rates. 1000 chf gross in my case. That's gross before the agency removes employer part. I've been told they won't go down any other route and that in 2010 it becomes difficult to have a one man company in CH as they will be taxed highly as body shops.

I have offer of EUR 9300/month (about EUR 5300 in hand) with 25 days holiday (worth another 5300 in net working value) and very basic health/pension in Frankfurt.
OR 1000chf/day (all in) without holiday or anything in Zurich (about 8500 EUR in hand).

Net
Over a year Frankfurt = 63,600 (12 * E5300)
Work 11 months on contract in Zurich: EUR 93,500

Main thing: I know the Frankfurt city and client company very well over years of contracting there. True Contracting option is closed at present for 2010.
Don't know Zurich city or company at all and it costs a lot more for everything. Tulipy Burger King in train station last Monday cost 10 quid sterling!

Meat is a luxury there.

[LegendsWear7]

Thanks Blaster.

The agent sent me a breakdown that suggesting a take-home of 72.5%. That's doable.

I'm informed that the net increases a few points if you stick a large part of gross into Swiss pension scheme.

It would be highest ever hourly rate for me but I've still got doubts on the costs side.

[BlasterBates]

No that's an excellent rate. Supermarkets are expensive, however accomodation though I would say is similar to London, and other things OK, electrical goods, internet, cars, petrol is actually quite cheap. The main difference is the Supermarket, and eating out is quite expensive, but you can find places out of town which aint too bad, and a Pizzeria is a Pizzeria it is never that expensive. In the local restaurant round where I live you pay CHF 15 for a pizza. You don't have to go to one of the many expensive restaurants, and you don't have to have a flat overlooking the lake or in posh central Zürich, which most people seem to do, sort of comparable with living in Mayfair and then complaining how expensive London is.

[LegendsWear7]

Agent has said ok to 1000.
Funny part is that he said 1000 is the general limit on all skills, all levels ! He said many people hit that ceiling. Sounds a bit GDR 1981.

It sounds fine in sterling/euros. But I've got doubts. I eat out in Frankfurt very often and he called that 'luxury living - don't expect to have it in Zurich'.

Do people have a varying London/Frankfurt/Zurich rate ? I have experience of the first two, not CH. Wondering how to factor the rate given the different costs of doing business: rent, eat, etc.

Would you say Zurich = London * 1.3 ?
Frankfurt = London * 0.9 ?

regards

[BlasterBates]

CHF 900 is a good rate anyway, but worth a try. Doubt you'd get more than 1000 CHF. I know many on less than CHF 900.

[LegendsWear7]

Thread revival

Senior Win and application systems design and team lead.
15 years banking experience.
540 quid /day at current client and not overwhelmed with that.
What to ask for in Zurich ? Plus 33 % ?
Read lots of CUK. Generally people say 1000chf but I don't want to just tick over, need to save something. Is 1200 CHF commonplace ? From the sound of hime I suspect the agent would be happy to screw me over. I mean ... mislead me.

[KentPhilip]

Don't know specifcally about C# but there is a very good 1 man band agency called Xenar, the guy is called Chris Gummery, an English guy who has been out there for a long time.

He's not that good. I've seen a number of SQL DBA roles in the past advertised by him on jobswerve. Have applied, but no call back, and always on voicemail.

[BlasterBates]

Doubt you'd get more than CHF 800, rates like everywehere else have been pushed down, the usual 10% cuts etc.

[pzz76077]

Eh, I don't understand what you mean ? Under the Swiss system you have to go on the payroll of a local agency/payroll company and pay the local canton taxes, so I don't see how there is any flexibility in the tax payment side.

No its not compulsory to go through your agents books. There are quite a few schemes around that people I know are using. The only issues is if your agency will entertain them or just want to cream some more off of you going through them.

You can probably find the alternatives on Google etc, but I will ping out a few mails and get some more ideas.

Ive only done 2 3 months stints in CH myself so cant offer any specifics, I just know that many of the people I worked with over there have been paying 10-20% tax for years with tax office approval etc.

PZZ