About the firm
We build Swiss businesses for founders who don't speak the language of Swiss law.
business-in-switzerland.com is an English-first Swiss fiduciary based in Zug. We serve foreign founders, international groups placing a Swiss subsidiary, and wealth advisors placing their clients' Swiss footprint — with Swiss-law-trained specialists and cantonal fluency beyond our home canton.
Why we exist
The gap we saw
The Swiss fiduciary market is optimised for Swiss natives. For everyone else, the procedure is in the wrong language and the map is the wrong shape.
Open a German-speaking Handelsregister form for the first time, try to read the cantonal fee schedule in its original French, or work through a FINMA pre-screen question list without a Swiss-law reference in front of you, and the problem becomes concrete. The forms are correct. The cantonal procedure is correct. What is missing is a counterparty who reads all of it in English and translates the substance, not the words.
Foreign founders hit three walls in sequence. The first is language, procedural rather than conversational: not "does my lawyer speak English" but "will the notary minute, the bank KYC annex and the cantonal decision come back in English". The second is cantonal nuance: 26 cantons, 26 tax codes, combined effective rates that range from 11.85% in Zug to 20.54% in Bern, and choosing wrong costs the entity real money for years. The third is regulatory segmentation — FINMA, the cantonal Handelsregister, SEM for permits, ESTV for VAT, each with its own clock and its own forms.
We built the firm to dismantle those three walls for English-speaking founders. Everything downstream — the service list, the cantonal map, the specialised structures, the team pattern — follows from that one decision.
Four ways
What we do differently
Concrete answers to the vendor-comparison question, without marketing superlatives. Pick the differentiator that matters to your case.
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English throughout, not as a translation layer
Every procedural document, every notarial check-in, every Handelsregister form, every bank KYC pack and every FINMA pre-screen is reviewed and explained in English. You do not work in a language you do not read. Our files are English by default, in German, French or Italian only where cantonal procedure requires it.
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Cantonal depth, not a single home canton
Zug is our office, not our only canton. Cantonal combined effective corporate rates run from 11.85% in Zug to 20.54% in Bern, and we pick the canton against your structure, not the other way around. Zurich, Geneva, Schwyz, Vaud, Basel and smaller cantons are all in scope.
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Specialised-structure fluency, not only plain AG and GmbH
Holding companies under the Swiss participation exemption, family-office structures, FINMA-licensed asset managers under FinIA, and DLT-Act crypto companies out of Zug — we work in the B-angle where a generalist fiduciary hands off to a specialist. On a plain AG or GmbH we are equally at home.
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Transparent pricing, no hidden hours
Fixed fees published on every service page where the work has predictable scope: GmbH formation CHF 990, AG CHF 1,490, accounting from CHF 990/year, payroll from CHF 120/month, trademark CHF 690, debt collection CHF 190. Multi-step engagements (M&A, FINMA, restructuring) get a written proposal with a fee band after a free 30-minute call.
In practice, that means our Swiss company formation and corporate-services work, we work across all Swiss cantons, and specialised structures — holding, family office, FINMA licence, crypto company sit at the same bench as plain AG and GmbH formation. For the shape of an engagement, see our process and what you receive.
Where we sit
Our home — Zug
Not a marketing tax-haven line. The ecosystem is here, and most of our specialised work anchors with it.
We chose Zug because the canton combines the lowest combined effective corporate tax rate in Switzerland at 11.85% with a regulatory framework that is proactive on the structures we work in — the DLT Act and related 2021 amendments around distributed-ledger securities laid the foundation for what is now called Crypto Valley. Family-office, holding and FINMA-adjacent work clusters here for the same reason.
Baarerstrasse is the main business artery of the city, a short walk from the Kanton Zug Handelsregister. Most routine filings, notary check-ins and bank meetings happen inside a 15-minute radius of the office. For Zug in depth — tax, substance requirements, ruling practice — the canton page has the detail.
Office
Baarerstrasse 14
6300 Zug, Switzerland
Meeting rooms by appointment through the contact form. Drop-ins are not guaranteed — the lead on your matter needs to be in-house on the day.
Who runs the file
The people
Five Swiss-law-trained specialists, one Zug office, one working language. Role labels describe specialisation, not equity status.
Each member of the team holds a law degree from a Swiss university and has 8 to 12 years of post-qualification experience in corporate or fiduciary work, with an early-career stint at one of the Big Four. We deliberately do not claim bar admission for any team member, and we do not decorate role labels with doctorates or partnership badges that have no equivalent in our firm's actual legal form. The person who scopes your engagement is the person who runs it.
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Lukas Brunner
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Andreas Furrer
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Marc Wyler
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Stefan Locher
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Eva Schibli
Who we serve
Three classes of client we fit
If one of these reads like you, a first email is the right next step. If not, we will say so and point you somewhere that fits better.
Foreign founders forming a Swiss company
First Swiss entity, any legal form, any canton. A founder moving to Switzerland, or a founder staying abroad and appointing a nominee director for the first year — both cases fit. Most new engagements fall here.
International groups placing a Swiss subsidiary
Parent, subsidiary or branch decisions; holding-vs-operating-company trade-offs; the 0% CH–EU parent-subsidiary dividend regime on qualifying intercompany flows. We pair with the group tax team and the home-jurisdiction counsel instead of taking over from them.
Wealth advisors placing their clients' Swiss footprint
Private clients behind the advisor, family-office structures, co-advisory with the client's home-jurisdiction counsel. We work as the Swiss leg of a structure, not as the lead relationship — the advisor keeps the client.
If you are earlier in your thinking than a vendor-diligence read, our starting a Swiss business from abroad guide covers the ground that precedes the choice of firm.
Frequently asked
Six things visitors ask first
The questions that arrive most often in the first exchange. Longer or case-specific questions belong in a scoped proposal.
Do you have offices outside Zug?
Our office is Baarerstrasse 14, 6300 Zug, and it is our only physical office. We work across Switzerland on a nationwide basis. Zurich, Geneva, Schwyz, Vaud, Basel and other cantons are covered remotely and with travel, not through additional branches.
Do you work with Swiss clients or only foreigners?
Our focus is foreign founders — the people who need Swiss law translated into English procedure. Swiss-resident founders are welcome but are not our target market. They usually prefer a German-speaking local fiduciary, and that is the right answer for them.
What languages do you work in?
English only, for client-facing work. We read and file in German, French and Italian because cantonal procedure requires it, but every explanation, draft, email and call you receive from us is in English.
Are you regulated by FINMA?
No. We are a Swiss fiduciary providing corporate-services and specialised-structure advisory. When clients pursue FINMA licences of their own, for example an asset manager under FinIA or a DLT facility, we coordinate their application. The regulated party is the client entity, not us.
Are your team members licensed Swiss lawyers?
Our team is Swiss-law trained, with law degrees from Swiss universities and 8 to 12 years of experience in corporate and fiduciary work, typically with an early-career stint at one of the Big Four. We do not claim bar admission for any team member, and Swiss litigation or formal legal opinions are not our service.
How do I request a proposal?
Use the form on our contact page. We reply within one working day with either a scoped proposal, a list of clarifying questions, or a referral if the case is outside our scope. There is no public phone line by design — written intake routes the matter cleanly to the right lead.
Talk to us.
Published fees on every service page. For multi-step engagements we reply within one working day with a tailored proposal. Baarerstrasse 14, 6300 Zug.