Freelance professionals have become a vital support for businesses that need to handle the extra workload, gain specialised expertise, or meet tight deadlines without expanding their in-house team. For sure, due to urgent demands and project pressures, there might be a temptation to start the cooperation immediately. However, to ensure a smooth working relationship, it’s important to formalise the agreed-upon terms and expectations through a written freelance agreement.
Once you start looking for a person to complete a specific task or cooperate with you on a project basis, you may come across self-employed individuals and freelancers. At this point, you shouldn’t be confused.
In fact, freelancers are self-employed professionals who usually handle project-based temporary assignments (for example, creating a logo, conducting research, or translating texts). People who are self-employed but aren’t freelancers often operate as small business owners and might manage a shop, offer long-term consulting expertise, or provide ongoing professional services.
Consequently, if you need to give short-term tasks or specific projects, a freelancer is the right choice. However, self-employed professionals, who aren’t freelancers, are better suited for establishing long-term collaborations and providing continuous services without the need for an employee status.
The beginning of work with any professional requires a clear legal document that specifies the terms of cooperation. For freelancers, these details are formalised within a freelance contract. The document serves as a binding agreement that covers all the essential aspects of the working relationship, including the responsibilities of both parties, payment terms, deadlines, confidentiality requirements, etc.
Please note that after signing, a freelancer contract holds legal validity, and changes to its terms can only be made if both parties agree to modify the contract in writing.
Swiss law recognises both written and verbal freelance contracts. However, to ensure clarity and avoid disputes regarding payment terms, deadlines, or the ownership of produced intellectual property, it’s highly recommended to have the terms documented.
Even if the cooperation is short-term and doesn’t require extensive negotiations, it’s better to take some time and prepare a legal document that will properly protect you.
Fortunately, with the help of the online freelance contract from AdminTech, the overall preparation of a document will take you less than 10 minutes. Even if it’s the first time you are hiring a freelancer and aren’t sure what details to include, our dynamic contract engine will guide you through each step, explaining the essential details to fill in.
Once you use our online contract for freelance work, the only thing left to do is fill in the empty spaces with your details. All the essential terms are already included in the document, so you don’t have to worry about missing any important clauses. Additionally, we encourage you to follow these four tips.
Oftentimes, freelancers get assignments from multiple clients and then delegate their tasks to other professionals. However, if you require the direct involvement of a specific freelancer, this arrangement may not be suitable for you. In this case, it’s important to state in a contract that the freelancer is prohibited from subcontracting the performance of his or her responsibilities.
Once there is a clear restriction in place, a specialist is required to personally handle all assigned tasks.
The freelance online contract allows you to include all necessary information regarding payment terms. Apart from the amount itself, you should specify the invoicing frequency, appropriate payment deadlines, and VAT details.
Additionally, if the services of a freelancer might involve ancillary costs, it’s advisable to define them properly by including a description of these costs as well as how they shall be billed.
During the cooperation, freelance professionals are often likely to create various forms of intellectual property (for example, marketing materials, illustrations, or written content). To avoid any misunderstandings regarding ownership and usage rights, we recommend explicitly specifying who will own the intellectual property upon project completion.
Generally, it’s common practice to outline that all created work belongs exclusively to the principal, while the freelancer may be allowed to use it in a portfolio.
Freelancers may not always deliver perfect results on the first attempt. Therefore, it’s recommended to set a period during which you as a client can request revisions, provide additional feedback, or ask for adjustments to ensure the outcome meets all expectations.
While filling in the online contract, make sure that you specify a reasonable timeframe during which you can thoroughly review the work and assess its quality. Once the indicated period expires, the task will be considered completed, so any requests for revisions or adjustments may not be accepted.
Each time you start your work with a freelancer, remember to agree on terms not just verbally, but also in writing. Our online contract allows you to easily create a comprehensive agreement that will protect both parties during the cooperation.
An intuitive interface ensures that you can quickly navigate through the process, check the created document in real time, and download a ready-to-sign contract.
When an intern joins, the focus is often on introductions, training, and defining expectations. However, in the rush of the onboarding process, it’s important not to overlook the internship agreement. This document will help you to clarify the terms of collaboration and ensure that both you and the intern have a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities.
A productive internship starts with a discussion that shapes the key aspects covered in the contract. During this dialogue, it’s vital to discuss such points as:
Once you have achieved mutual understanding and agreement on these essential terms, you can sign the internship contract and start your cooperation.
The contract for an internship can be non-remunerated when it primarily serves as a training opportunity, where the intern gains valuable skills and knowledge rather than performing essential work for the company. However, if a trainee carries out tasks similar to those of a regular employee and contributes directly to the company’s operations, relevant compensation should be applied.
Please note that you should also consider the minimum wage requirements and ensure that the intern doesn’t receive compensation below the legally required amount.
The internship agreement is usually concluded for a fixed period. This means that when you’re preparing the document you should specify not only the start date but also the date on which the agreement will automatically expire.
The contract also contains information about the immediate dismissal. It happens when an intern fails to act in good faith, violates company policies, disregards confidentiality rules, or neglects the assigned responsibilities.
Additionally, it’s possible to terminate the document by mutual consent. For example, if the employer and intern agree that the internship is no longer beneficial for either party.
Using our online contract for an internship, the only thing you need to do is enter the necessary details, and the document will automatically adjust in real time based on your inputs. During the process, we encourage you to follow four key tips.
It’s better to include not just a job title but also the responsibilities a trainee will have. By providing a comprehensive overview of duties, you ensure transparency regarding expectations. As a result, the intern can fully understand the role and contribute more effectively.
If you want an intern to be available during certain days and hours (for example, Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM), your agreement must specify an attendance schedule. However, if the schedule is flexible, you can only include the total number of hours the intern is required to work.
As we have already mentioned, the compensation that the intern receives should comply with the minimum wage requirements in your canton. In addition to the salary itself, make sure to include the vacation entitlement, which must be at least four weeks for interns who work full-time.
Please note that interns under the age of 20 are entitled to an additional week of vacation.
An internship agreement that you will prepare with our builder includes a section that requires the trainee to protect the secrecy of all confidential information obtained during the internship. However, if you want to be even more specific, it’s possible to outline the strictly confidential details, as well as the period of confidentiality. Once these details are clearly defined, there is a higher level of protection for sensitive information.
Navigating legal requirements for an internship agreement can be complex. However, our online contract created by Swiss lawyers simplifies the overall process. With the pre-filled sections, there’s no need to stress about legal terminology or formatting. Just complete the required fields and download your agreement.
The prepared document doesn’t need to be reviewed by legal professionals. So, you can use it immediately after creation.
Whether you’re expanding your team, outsourcing some work to a freelancer, or negotiating a partnership, it’s likely that sensitive details will be shared. For sure, you may rely on verbal agreements. However, they aren’t enough to ensure proper protection of confidential information.
To establish a secure and professional business relationship, signing an NDA is key. Luckily, with the right tool, the preparation of a non-disclosure agreement won’t take you much time. In this article, we want to provide you with all the information you need to create a professional document that will safeguard sensitive information.
A non-disclosure agreement is a legal document that is used to protect the details exchanged during professional interactions. Parties sign it to formalise their commitment to maintaining the confidentiality and safeguarding the details with the highest level of care.
The standard duration for this agreement is two or five years. If the receiving party fails to uphold their confidentiality obligations within this timeframe, they will face the defined legal actions.
Instead of spending time and money on legal consultations, you can rely on an online NDA that works the same way as the one prepared by a lawyer.
Online contracts only require you to provide the necessary information. In the case of an NDA, you just have to fill in the key details, such as the names of the parties, the scope of confidentiality, the timeframe, etc. The document will adapt in real time, ensuring that it is properly formatted and compliant.
Preparing an effective NDA requires completing five steps.
The NDA preparation usually starts with specifying the titles (or legal forms), full names, and addresses of the parties. Here, it’s important to ensure that all parties are correctly identified, as any mistakes could lead to disputes or challenges in enforcing the agreement.
Once the parties’ details are in place, you can come to the next section in which you should define the start date of the agreement and the period during which confidentiality will be maintained.
Generally, it’s possible to set a period of up to 10 years. However, if you are dealing with less valuable information, it’s better to set a shorter duration, like 3 or 6 months.
At this point, we encourage you to be as specific as possible. In addition to sensitive details related to your customers, partners, intellectual property, and finances, you can also include other data that could impact your business operations and should be safeguarded under this agreement.
After that, take some time to decide whether to allow the person to use the shared details internally, such as for research, or to restrict its use.
Additionally, in this document section, you can prohibit the recipient from engaging in any activities that directly compete with your business. This ensures that they won’t use the shared details for their own benefit or to support a competitor.
The last point you should cover in an online contract is what actions will be taken if there is a breach. Here, you can specify whether the person who violated the agreement should compensate for actual damages or pay a set penalty that might be higher than the actual loss.
In Switzerland, there is no restriction on the duration of a non-disclosure agreement. However, we encourage you to set a confidentiality period that doesn’t extend beyond 10 years.
If the agreed duration expires but sensitive information remains relevant, you can negotiate an extension in a separate agreement.
As soon as your NDA is prepared, ensure that it meets 5 main criteria to be legally binding:
Please note that Swiss legal regulations change from time to time. Consequently, before using an online contract template, it’s important to verify that it reflects the most recent changes in Swiss law.
As you are now equipped with all the information you need about an NDA, you can start creating it using our contract template.
We have simplified the process so that you can prepare a comprehensive document in just a few minutes, without any legal complexities. With our non-disclosure agreement, you don’t have to worry about forgetting important details or overlooking essential legal requirements, as our lawyers have structured it to intuitively guide you through the process.
The closing of financial statements is often associated with complexity, stress, and tight deadlines. That’s the time when fiduciaries must reconcile financial records, finalise balance sheets, review asset depreciation, and manage a lot of other critical tasks.
Quite often, during the preparation process, you can find out that your client lacks the necessary legal documents. At this point, things get even more difficult, as without some contracts, it’s impossible to verify financial data accurately.
In this article, we will share with you the legal documents that are essential for the timely closure of the annual financial statements, the key points to cover in them, and the online contract templates that will help you.
If the company is in a state of over-indebtedness, or when its assets do not cover ½ of the nominal capital and legal reserves, it should ideally file for bankruptcy. If it does not do so, the director may be held personally liable for any future accumulated losses.
To avoid this, the creditor may sign a subordination agreement. With this document, it’s possible to:
The best time to create the subordination agreement is at the beginning of the year while closing the financial statements.
While preparing the contract for the subordination of claims, you’ll be asked to include the following information:
When the company is facing excessive debt and wants to get an additional loan, it can enter into a subordinated loan agreement with a shareholder or related party to secure the necessary funding. This contract focuses specifically on outlining a supplementary loan, its subordinated amount as well as the conditions under which it will be paid back. Thanks to the subordinated loan agreement, it’s possible to:
The best time to create the subordinated loan agreement is at the beginning of the year while closing the financial statements.
Key points to cover in the subordinated loan agreement
Once you come to the preparation of the subordinated loan agreement, you should include the details about:
Additionally, it’s possible to specify a precondition. But this point is rather optional and is used when a lender wants to ensure that certain conditions are satisfied before granting the loan.
In reverse, if a shareholder owes a debt to the company (for example, a loan, personal invoices paid by a company card, etc.), the tax administration may request a shareholder’s borrowing agreement. This document clearly states loan details and allows parties to:
The best time to create the shareholder’s borrowing agreement is at the beginning of the year while closing the financial statements.
Key points to cover in the shareholder’s borrowing agreement
During the creation of the shareholder’s borrowing agreement, it’s necessary to add the loan specifics such as:
Additionally, parties can add the precondition details, as well as the bank accounts into which the loan shall be paid and repaid.
Within 6 months from the end of the financial year, the financial statements must be approved by the shareholders’ meeting. Following that, the AGM minutes must be prepared and signed. This document serves as the official record of the approval process and financial decisions made during the meeting.
Please note that the company is required to sign AGM minutes even if it has only one shareholder.
The best time to create AGM minutes is once the annual general meeting has been held.
Key points to cover in the minutes of the annual general meeting
The AGM minutes must provide a detailed summary of the main discussions, decisions, and resolutions made during the meeting. Consequently, it’s necessary to include the information regarding:
If a company hasn’t filed its tax return by the deadline, the tax administration may issue a discretionary tax decision, potentially resulting in excessive penalties. In this situation, the taxpayer has only 30 days to submit a written and motivated opposition, together with the tax return itself. The document enables the company to:
The best time to prepare the opposition to tax decision is immediately upon receiving the tax decision. You have 30 days to file your opposition. Failure to do so will result in penalties.
Key points to cover in the opposition to tax decision
To correctly file the opposition, you should cover such points as:
Please note that during the preparation of the opposition, it’s important to cite the correct federal and cantonal laws on tax procedure.
Using online contract templates on AdminTech, you can create:
Réclamation contre taxation d’office pour Genève (personne morale);
Réclamation contre taxation d’office pour Genève (personne physique);
Réclamation contre taxation d’office pour Vaud (personne morale);
Réclamation contre taxation d’office pour Vaud (personne physique).
Have you discovered that your client is missing an important document? There is no need to worry. You can easily create the needed legal paper with AdminTech’s online contract templates. The only thing you need to do is to get all the required details from your client and then enter them into the fields. Our dynamic contract engine will automatically adapt the contract and ensure that it complies with Swiss legal standards.
If the information is still incomplete, you can start by creating a draft and finalise the document once all the details are in place. In addition to this, you can easily modify the contract without the need to start it from scratch. But please note, these features are only available when you have a subscription.
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AdminTech team is always ready to help you with legal agreements and ensure their legal compliance
Any Swiss or foreign company that dismisses an employee employed in Switzerland must comply with the following rules:
Human resources professionals who draw up contracts and deal with employee complaints, whether they work in-house for the company or as external consultants, are also affected.
What’s more, private individuals who hire household staff, such as domestic help, nannies or gardeners, also need to be aware of the applicable legal regime and the associated risks.
In this section, we will look at the main rules to be observed when terminating a permanent contract under Swiss law:
Please note: although fixed-term contracts do not require notice of termination to expire at the agreed date, there are exceptions:
Now that you have familiarised yourself with the main rules governing termination of a permanent contract, here are some recommendations to help protect you as an employer:
In just 3 minutes and for just CHF 69 per template, you can have your own personalised employment contract, drafted in real time and ready to sign.
The trial period applies to all companies, whether Swiss or foreign, employing staff in Switzerland. This period is subject to major restrictions for all of the following reasons:
The legal rules surrounding the probationary period in Switzerland are crucial for human resources professionals who have to draw up contracts and deal with employee complaints, whether they work in-house at the company or as external consultants.
It’s also worth noting that private individuals who hire household staff (cleaners, nannies, gardeners), especially as the legal regime doesn’t change compared with a large company, so you have the same risks and needs.
As far as the legal rules governing the trial period in Switzerland are concerned, here are the main ones:
To optimise working relationships, we recommend that you follow the recommendations below:
In just 3 minutes and for just CHF 69 per template, you can have your own personalised employment contract, drafted in real time and ready to sign.
