1. Swiss Law Requires Every Company to Have a Registered Office
Article 626 of the Swiss Code of Obligations requires the articles of association of every Swiss company to specify the company's registered office (statutory seat). This must be a real address in Switzerland, in a specified municipality and canton. The Handelsregister (Commercial Registry) will not register a company without a valid registered office address. For an existing company, an invalid or lapsed registered office triggers commercial-registry intervention and, ultimately, involuntary deregistration.
2. What "Registered Office" Means Under Swiss Law
A registered office (statutory seat / Sitz / siège) is the company's legal address — the place where the company is deemed to reside for purposes of jurisdiction, tax, service of legal process, and authority correspondence. It is not the same as a "virtual office" or a mailbox service. A registered office must be a real physical address where authorities can serve documents and where the company can credibly be reached. The canton in which the registered office is located determines which cantonal authorities have tax jurisdiction over the company. The distinction matters: a mailbox arrangement that does not function as a real legal seat will not survive scrutiny by tax authorities or by the Handelsregister.
3. Cantonal Implications: Where You Register = Where You Pay Tax
The canton of the registered office determines cantonal tax jurisdiction. Move the registered office to a different canton (re-domiciliation) and the cantonal tax position changes accordingly. This is why canton selection at incorporation is consequential. Setting up in Zurich and then trying to "claim" Nidwalden tax rates by moving correspondence is not a viable strategy — the registered office is what matters for tax.
4. What's Actually Included
A real registered office service — not a forwarding-only arrangement.
- Physical legal-seat address in your canton of incorporation
- Receipt and processing of authority correspondence (tax, social insurance, Handelsregister, FINMA where applicable)
- Daily mail handling — sorting, scanning, and onward digital delivery
- Physical mail forwarding on a defined cadence
- Notice and triage of deadline-driven authority correspondence
- Coordination with our internal Swiss-resident director where appropriate
5. AlpVera's Registered Office Service per Canton
We provide registered-office domicile in the cantons we know operationally — meaning we can credibly stand behind the seat, not just rent space.
- Zurich (ZH) — Dreikönigstrasse 55, 8002 Zürich
- Nidwalden (NW) — domicile available for holding and IP structures
- Zug (ZG) — domicile available for holdings, trading, and ecosystem clients
- Schwyz (SZ) — selectively available for holdings
- Other cantons — available on request, subject to operational fit
6. Compliance with AMLA & Beneficial Ownership Disclosure
Providing a registered office is a regulated activity. Before accepting a domicile mandate we conduct full KYC on the company's beneficial owners under the Swiss Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering (AMLA / GwG). We maintain ongoing monitoring obligations and decline mandates where the risk profile is incompatible with our compliance position. The registered office is not a workaround — it is a regulated piece of compliance infrastructure.
7. Switching Registered Office (Re-domiciliation)
Moving a Swiss company's registered office between cantons is possible — and we handle it. The process involves a shareholder resolution, articles of association amendment, notarisation, and Handelsregister filings in both the old and new cantons. It is not a quick fix and it is not free. Done properly, it can materially improve the cantonal tax position. Done improperly, it triggers exit-tax issues at the cantonal level. We will tell you upfront whether the move actually pays back.