Reply to: Rates in Switzerland

[Platypus]

Ah I see BoredBloke has already replied to this thread, so I've deleted my reply.

[The Spartan]

Guess I was late to the party on this, everything here is pretty expensive as a contractor you have to use a payroll company so you lose 1/3 in social security, tax and other bits. You have to pay for private healthcare whilst you are here too, also if you don't do a full UK tax year here you're liable for dual taxation and all HMRC will consider is the tax you pay here which is pretty low but they don't give a hoot about all the other costs and the higher cost of living.

Like I said a bit late but hopefully the info will benefit someone.

[Runs With Scissors]

Thanks for all the feedback folks,much appreciated. Blighty for me for a wee bit longer I think...

[BoredBloke]

I worked in Geneva for a bit. My rate was 900 a day. I lost about 35% to tax and the like and had the rest to pay for expenses such as living and flights.

[Brussels Slumdog]

UK residents

[QUOTE=sunflower;1689419Watch out for tax equalisation with the UK if you are not going to be resident in Switzerland. Check out the other posts on this forum about that one.

[/QUOTE]

The high cost of living is offset by low taxation and low social security costs. UK equalisation tax will wipe out the tax advantage. CHF 850 is an excellent rate for East Europeans who have flat tax rates

[sunflower]

Re: Rates in Switzerland

I've done a search, honest.

Possibility of a gig in Zug, Switzerland, only a 3 monther though. Can any of our swiss-based chums advise on what is a decent rate? Currently the "offer" is 850CHF per day. Can I live like a king or will I be watching the pennies? Accommodation looks a bit on the steep side and so do flights. From englishforum.ch it looks like everything else is equally expensive (beer, meat etc). The rate is all-inclusive.

I'm currently at clientco with a 1 week notice period until May but don't want to burn any bridges unless it's worth it.

Any advice?

The canton tax is cheaper in Zug even if the cost of accommodation might be higher. Check out accommodation in Luzern which is not too far on the train. Also Baden in Argau. Baden has lower canton tax than Zurich. I hear it's also easier to get a room or flat there.

850 CHF should be about the bottom rate you would go for in the Zurich region. Some clients pay more. It depends on your skills, experience and area.

I heard of a contractor who got a gig paying 690 CHF per day. Total rip off.

Watch out for tax equalisation with the UK if you are not going to be resident in Switzerland. Check out the other posts on this forum about that one.

Food is very expensive, fish, vegetables, cereal. 5 pounds for a loaf of bread. 4 pounds for a coffee.

[stek]

Rates in Switzerland

Tbf in coop or migros most stuff is UK or bit higher prices, can still get a tin of Feldschossen for a quid.

But fresh meat!! Here in UK we where paying ten quid for 1.5kg of chicken breast, in supermarket in ZH it was 10 quid for 300g...

[ensignia]

post and response deleted.

Why? What was the problem?

[Scrag Meister]

I was there for just one week in August last year, and it is MEGA expensive over there. I thought London was bad, but Switzerland is a new league.

As others have said, take away curry £31, thai £28. No not for the whole family, just for one.

Even popping into supermarket for a sandwich is not cheap.

Be very careful on the rate you accept, especially consider accomodation, misc expenses and travel as well.

[NotAllThere]

850CHF is equivalent, in terms of standard of living, to ~£300 a day.

post and response deleted.

[psychocandy]

Wheres Spartan? Aint he in Switzerland?

[BlasterBates]

850 is a gr8 rate, sign up.

Check the price of hotels, flats flights etc.

My experience is you can get costs down if you look around. I was paying 1100 CHF a month for a furnished flat in Zürich. Zug is more expensive, as it´s quite exclusive, where all the tax avoiders live. I would imagine the big hotels would cost CHF 120 per night but perhaps there may be cheaper Bed & Breakfast places around.

[northernladuk]

Have you searched the forums to see if anyone has asked this before?

See I asked... Here is the link to the search...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=swi...w=1280&bih=939

which will find stuff like...

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...k-citzens.html

http://forums.contractoruk.com/umbre...itzerland.html

http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...itzerland.html

as well as loads of stuff you will need to know about if you do go ahead.

[northernladuk]

Have you searched the forums to see if anyone has asked this before?

[cojak]

Gosh! And there was me on 350CH (+exes - those were the days...) in 2003.