What are the major tax laws in Switzerland?

What tax laws apply to a foreign business opening in the UK?

• I've recently been appointed as a sales consultant/agent for an image library (based in The Netherlands) and we are planning to be online and licensing/selling images to the UK market in the next couple weeks. My question is what tax laws apply? I've been on the HMRC website and keep going round in circles! I'm basically an English-speaking representative for UK customers, and everything is operated from HQ in The Netherlands. Do we need to register for VAT and/or corporation tax? The business is already registered for these laws in The Netherlands... We will set up a business bank account with a UK bank, so all business done in the UK will be paid into this account. I will also be remunerated for my services from this account. Do we need to register for income tax? I'm interested in establishing the difference between tax avoidance (legal) and tax evasion (obviously illegal) and how I need to go about registering for what! Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

• Answer:

  It might be worth seeking proper advice on this, just to ensure that you get it right. The company will be taxable on its UK sales if it operates through a permanent establishment in UK. It will be a matter of fact whether your presence in the UK will constitute a permanent establishment for the company. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/intmanual/INTM264050.htm You will also need to consider the UK PAYE laws in relation to your wages. The permanent establishment test for PAYE is simply whether or not there is an address to which documents can be served. If you have an address that is associated with your employment (can your customers write to you there) then you will need to set up a PAYE scheme and operate PAYE on your wages. The National Insurance rules are slightly different. You will need to pay class 1 Employee contributions, but whether or not your employer needs to pay Employer contributions depends on whether it has a place of business here. I cannot remember if the "place of business" rules follow the permanent establishment definition, or is simply an address for service similar to the PAYE rules. Might be worth contacting HMRC. Look on hmrc.gov.uk for a contact address or number for PT (International).