{"id":340,"date":"2010-02-01T07:30:14","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T05:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/?p=340"},"modified":"2024-10-08T13:46:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T11:46:07","slug":"changing-legal-form-from-sole-proprietorship-to-a-corporation-ag-or-gmbh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/changing-legal-form-from-sole-proprietorship-to-a-corporation-ag-or-gmbh\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing Legal Form: From Sole Proprietorship to Corporation (AG or GmbH)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" data-attachment-id=\"6334\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/founding-branch-offices-in-switzerland-legal-forms-permitted\/sede-legale-e-domicilio\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sede-legale-e-domicilio.webp?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Sede-legale-e-domicilio\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sede-legale-e-domicilio.webp?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sede-legale-e-domicilio.webp?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sede-legale-e-domicilio.webp?resize=1200%2C800&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Step-by-step process of converting a sole proprietorship into a corporation (AG or GmbH)\n\" class=\"wp-image-6334\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When a business grows, many entrepreneurs consider changing the legal structure from a <strong>Sole Proprietorship<\/strong> to a <strong>Corporation (AG or GmbH)<\/strong>. While the term &#8220;change&#8221; is often used, the process involves forming a new legal entity that absorbs the sole proprietorship\u2019s assets and liabilities. The sole proprietorship is then dissolved. There are two main methods for this transformation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Asset Acquisition<\/strong>: The new company takes over all assets and liabilities during formation, with some assets potentially remaining as loans.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Contribution in Kind<\/strong>: Sole proprietorship assets are used to pay for new shares in the corporation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Both methods require the sole proprietorship to have maintained <strong>double-entry accounting<\/strong> and an <strong>audited annual account<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method A: Asset Acquisition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In this process, all the assets and liabilities of the sole proprietorship are transferred to the new company during the formation stage. The transferred assets are either partially or fully used to pay for the shares, with the remaining assets often functioning as loans. This method requires that the sole proprietorship\u2019s annual accounts have been filed and verified by an accredited auditor. Once all components are transferred, the sole proprietorship ceases to exist, and details of the transfer are published in the <strong>Commercial Registry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method B: Contribution in Kind<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, the sole proprietorship&#8217;s assets are used to subscribe to new shares of the corporation. An accredited auditor verifies whether the assets&#8217; declared value corresponds to their actual worth. The assets, their value, and the number of shares received are then published in the Commercial Registry. While less commonly used, this method offers another way to convert a sole proprietorship into a corporation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.startups.ch\/en\/contact\/appointment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00bb Contact us for a personal consultation<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.startups.ch\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00bb Get a quote and start your business now<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">\u00bbDiscover more informations on entrepreneurship in Switzerland<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get started as Mompreneur: <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mom-preneur.ch\/en\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.mom-preneur.ch\/en\/home<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get started as Dadpreneur: <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dad-preneur.ch\/en\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.dad-preneur.ch\/en\/home<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get started as Seniorpreneur: <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.senior-preneur.ch\/en\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.senior-preneur.ch\/en\/home<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get started as Youngpreneur: <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.young-preneur.ch\/en\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.young-preneur.ch\/en\/home<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a business grows, many entrepreneurs consider changing the legal structure from a Sole Proprietorship to a Corporation (AG or GmbH). While the term &#8220;change&#8221; is often used, the process involves forming a new legal entity that absorbs the sole proprietorship\u2019s assets and liabilities. The sole proprietorship is then dissolved. There are two main methods [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,5,6,7],"tags":[148,65,67,149,525,66,526],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":5353,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p54Pb1-5u","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6442,"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions\/6442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.startups.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}