Articles on litigation, debt collection & insolvency
Nachlassstundung: How the Swiss Moratorium Works
How the Swiss composition moratorium works under the SchKG: the provisional and definitive stay, the court commissioner, and the composition agreement.
How to wind up a Swiss company: solvent voluntary liquidation under the Code of Obligations, the call to creditors and waiting year, versus bankruptcy.
How to enforce an unpaid debt in Switzerland under the SchKG: the payment summons, the debtor's legal objection, clearing it, then seizure or bankruptcy.
When a Swiss company is over-indebted, art. 725b CO makes the board draw up audited interim accounts and notify the court: the duties, and the liability.
Swiss corporate tax, VAT registration and rulings, bookkeeping and audit thresholds, and the cantonal rate differences that decide where to base a company.
With a payment order requested from the debt-enforcement office, which serves it on the debtor. The debtor can stop the procedure by filing an objection, and the creditor must then have that objection lifted before enforcement continues. The whole procedure runs on short deadlines, and a missed one usually costs more than the merits.
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What is a composition moratorium?
Court-ordered protection from enforcement while a restructuring or a composition agreement with creditors is prepared, supervised by an appointed administrator. It buys time for a plan that already exists; granted without a realistic plan behind it, it only moves the bankruptcy a few months.
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When must a Swiss board file for bankruptcy?
When the company is over-indebted within the meaning of Art. 725b CO and no adequate cure, such as a subordination or fresh capital, is available. The board must prepare interim accounts and act without delay: directors are judged on the date they filed rather than on the size of the loss.
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