Can a Swiss company employ someone who lives in the EU without a local entity?

Not directly — an employment contract generally has to sit under the law of the country where the employee lives and works. A Swiss company has three routes: open a local entity (worth it from roughly five hires in one country), engage the person as a genuinely independent contractor, or use an employer of record (EOR), whose local entity employs the person on your behalf while you direct the day-to-day work.

What does an employer of record cost in 2026?

List prices at the large providers are $599–699 per employee per month (Deel from $599, Remote.com $599 on annual billing, Oyster $699), on top of the gross salary and the local employer social contributions. Volume discounts typically start around 20 employees. Watch for extras: FX spread on salary conversions, deposits of about one month of gross salary at some providers, and markups on supplemental benefits.

When is a contractor enough, and when is it misclassification?

A contractor arrangement is legitimate when the person is genuinely independent: multiple clients, own tools, control over their hours and how the work is done. If someone works exclusively for you, on your schedule, inside your team — the substance is employment, whatever the contract says. Several EU states audit this actively, and reclassification means back payment of social contributions plus penalties. Fine for a short project; the wrong structure for a core team member.

Can our existing Swiss employee just work from abroad instead?

Within limits, yes — and it is much simpler than hiring abroad. Under 25% of work time in an EU/EFTA country changes nothing; up to 49.9% of telework in the signatory states of the 2023 multilateral framework agreement keeps Swiss social security with an A1 certificate; at 50% or more, social security shifts to the country of residence. Outside the EU/EFTA the percentages do not apply, and the practical line is roughly 90 tax days per year. Most Swiss employers cap days abroad well below these thresholds.

ANobAG ("Arbeitnehmer ohne beitragspflichtigen Arbeitgeber") is the reverse case: a Swiss resident employed by a foreign company with no Swiss entity. The employee registers with the cantonal compensation office and pays the social contributions themselves — both shares, unless the employer agrees to bear its part. Foreign companies that want to skip that administration typically use a Swiss EOR or payroll provider instead.

Does hiring abroad actually save money?

Usually, but less than the salary gap suggests. Local-market gross salaries in Portugal, Spain, or Poland run well below Swiss levels for comparable seniority, but employer contributions are higher in percentage terms (23.75% in Portugal, around 31% in Spain, versus roughly 12–17% in Switzerland), and the EOR fee adds $7,000–8,400 per year. The realistic comparison is fully loaded cost against fully loaded cost — often still a substantial saving, weighed against timezone, retention, and coordination overhead.

Remotli / Hiring abroad

For employers

Hiring remote employees from a Swiss company

You run a Swiss company and the role doesn’t need to sit in Switzerland — or your best candidate lives in Lisbon. This page covers what cross-border employment actually costs in 2026, the entity / contractor / employer-of-record decision, and the simpler rules when an existing employee just wants to work from abroad for a while.

Live board figures as of 11 July 2026: 426 open remote roles from 178 tracked companies. Content last reviewed 12 July 2026.

Not legal or tax advice.

Two different problems, two different answers

Your existing Swiss employee wants to work from abroad

Keep the Swiss contract. Within the EU/EFTA, three numbers decide what changes: under 25% of work time abroad, nothing; up to 49.9% telework under the 2023 framework agreement, Swiss social security holds with an A1 certificate; from 50%, it shifts. Outside the EU, roughly 90 tax days a year is the practical line.

The full legal and tax guide →

You want to hire someone who lives outside Switzerland

The employment contract has to sit under the law of the country where they live. That means a local entity, a genuine contractor arrangement, or an employer of record. The rest of this page walks through those three options, what each costs, and where the traps are.

Three ways to employ someone abroad

Open a local entity

Full control, lowest per-head cost at scale — and months of setup plus permanent local payroll, accounting, and filing obligations. The rule of thumb: worth considering from around five hires in the same country. Overkill for one to three.

Engage them as a contractor

Fast and cheap, and legitimate only while the person is genuinely independent — several clients, own tools, control over their own hours. Someone working exclusively for you, inside your team, on your schedule is an employee in substance, and reclassification means back payment of social contributions plus penalties. Right for short projects; wrong for a core team member.

Use an employer of record (EOR)

The EOR’s local entity employs the person on a compliant local contract and runs payroll, contributions, and statutory benefits; you direct the actual work. List prices run $599–699 per employee per month. This is the standard route for one to ten hires spread across countries, and the fastest — days, not months.

What it actually costs

Gross salary is only part of the bill. Employer social contributions differ sharply by country — and they run higher in percentage terms in most of the EU than in Switzerland, which narrows the headline salary gap. The table covers the countries Swiss companies most often hire remote employees in; the same mechanics apply anywhere in the EU.

Where the employee lives	Employer contributions on top of gross	What’s in it
Switzerland	≈ 12–17%	AHV/IV/EO 5.3%, ALV 1.1%, BVG (varies by plan and age), accident insurance, family-allowance fund
Germany	≈ 21%	Pension, health, unemployment, and care insurance split roughly half-half with the employee; accident insurance employer-only; capped above the income ceilings
Portugal	23.75%	Segurança Social flat employer rate, plus mandatory work-accident insurance
Spain	≈ 31–33%	General rate ≈ 30.7% plus occupational-accident premium and solidarity contribution tiers (rising through 2026)
Poland	≈ 20–22%	ZUS employer share; exact rate depends on the sector accident premium
Romania	2.25%	Work-insurance contribution only — the 2018 reform moved pension and health (35%) to the employee side, so local gross salaries are quoted correspondingly higher

2026 rates, rounded; accident premiums and sector rates vary. Sources: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries and national social-security schedules, checked July 2026. Verify current rates before budgeting.

Add the EOR fee on top when you go that route: $599–699 per employee per month at list price, so roughly $7,000–8,400 a year per hire.

An illustrative comparison, with round numbers: a senior engineer at CHF 120,000 gross in Zürich costs roughly CHF 138,000 fully loaded. Comparable seniority hired in Lisbon at a local-market €55,000 gross comes to about €68,000 after Portuguese employer contributions, plus around €7,200 a year in EOR fees — well under half the Swiss total. That gap is the budget case. Weigh it against timezone fit, retention, and the coordination cost of a distributed team.

What Swiss employers need to watch

Permanent-establishment risk

An employee who habitually concludes contracts for you from another country, or runs a core business function there long-term, can create a taxable presence for the company in that country. This is the real reason employers cap days abroad — it’s not about trust. An EOR contains the employment side of that risk; sales authority abroad still deserves a look from your tax advisor.

Social-security coordination only covers the EU/EFTA

The 25% / 49.9% telework rules exist because Switzerland participates in EU/EFTA social-security coordination and the 2023 multilateral telework agreement (not every state signed — Italy, Ireland, and Greece are among the holdouts). None of it applies to Argentina, Bali, or Mexico; different regime, different maths.

The reverse case: foreign company, Swiss-resident hire

A foreign employer with no Swiss entity hiring someone who lives in Switzerland lands in the ANobAG regime: the employee registers with the cantonal compensation office and remits the social contributions themselves. Workable, but administration lands on the employee — which is why foreign companies often use a Swiss EOR instead.

The three EOR providers Swiss companies actually shortlist

List prices per employee per month, July 2026. Pricing moves — confirm with the vendor.

Deel

from $599/mo

✓Broadest country coverage of the big three; owned entities in most EU states
✓Volume discounts typically start around 20+ headcount
✓Also handles contractor payments and compliance on the same platform

Visit Deel→

Remote.com

$599/mo annual · $699/mo monthly

✓Fully owned local entities (no third-party partners in core markets)
✓Flat, published pricing — the easiest to budget of the three
✓Strong EU coverage; solid IP-assignment and data-protection defaults

Visit Remote.com→

Oyster

$699/mo

✓Strong employee-experience and local-benefits guidance
✓Commonly asks a deposit of about one month of gross salary per hire
✓Watch the FX spread on salary conversions — it varies by provider

Visit Oyster→

Hiring across borders — common questions

Can a Swiss company employ someone who lives in the EU without a local entity?: Not directly — an employment contract generally has to sit under the law of the country where the employee lives and works. A Swiss company has three routes: open a local entity (worth it from roughly five hires in one country), engage the person as a genuinely independent contractor, or use an employer of record (EOR), whose local entity employs the person on your behalf while you direct the day-to-day work.
What does an employer of record cost in 2026?: List prices at the large providers are $599–699 per employee per month (Deel from $599, Remote.com $599 on annual billing, Oyster $699), on top of the gross salary and the local employer social contributions. Volume discounts typically start around 20 employees. Watch for extras: FX spread on salary conversions, deposits of about one month of gross salary at some providers, and markups on supplemental benefits.
When is a contractor enough, and when is it misclassification?: A contractor arrangement is legitimate when the person is genuinely independent: multiple clients, own tools, control over their hours and how the work is done. If someone works exclusively for you, on your schedule, inside your team — the substance is employment, whatever the contract says. Several EU states audit this actively, and reclassification means back payment of social contributions plus penalties. Fine for a short project; the wrong structure for a core team member.
Can our existing Swiss employee just work from abroad instead?: Within limits, yes — and it is much simpler than hiring abroad. Under 25% of work time in an EU/EFTA country changes nothing; up to 49.9% of telework in the signatory states of the 2023 multilateral framework agreement keeps Swiss social security with an A1 certificate; at 50% or more, social security shifts to the country of residence. Outside the EU/EFTA the percentages do not apply, and the practical line is roughly 90 tax days per year. Most Swiss employers cap days abroad well below these thresholds.
What is ANobAG?: ANobAG ("Arbeitnehmer ohne beitragspflichtigen Arbeitgeber") is the reverse case: a Swiss resident employed by a foreign company with no Swiss entity. The employee registers with the cantonal compensation office and pays the social contributions themselves — both shares, unless the employer agrees to bear its part. Foreign companies that want to skip that administration typically use a Swiss EOR or payroll provider instead.
Does hiring abroad actually save money?: Usually, but less than the salary gap suggests. Local-market gross salaries in Portugal, Spain, or Poland run well below Swiss levels for comparable seniority, but employer contributions are higher in percentage terms (23.75% in Portugal, around 31% in Spain, versus roughly 12–17% in Switzerland), and the EOR fee adds $7,000–8,400 per year. The realistic comparison is fully loaded cost against fully loaded cost — often still a substantial saving, weighed against timezone, retention, and coordination overhead.

Hiring Switzerland-based instead? Remotli is the channel for qualified, Swiss-based professionals who specifically want remote work.

Post a role on Remotli

Also see: Working from abroad on a Swiss contract · Swiss employment glossary