A Swiss move has too many moving parts to keep in your head.

30-90 days before the move

• Secure the Swiss lease or purchase only when the immigration strategy supports it.
• Prepare civil-status documents and apostilles/legalisations where required.
• Prepare household-goods Form 18.44 and inventory.
• Decide what happens to your existing brokerage account.
• Pre-clear source-of-funds/source-of-wealth documentation with the target bank.
• Compare compulsory health-insurance models and premiums for the destination canton.
• Review company management and permanent-establishment risks if you own a foreign company.

Arrival week

• Clear qualifying household effects correctly at customs.
• Register with the commune within 14 days.
• Ensure every family member is registered.
• Confirm the residence-permit process and any biometric appointment.
• Keep the commune’s residence confirmation: you will use it repeatedly.

First three months

• Take out compulsory Swiss health insurance within the three-month deadline.
• Open your operational bank account.
• Move assets only after the bank/broker compliance file is ready.
• Register with the AHV compensation office if you are non-employed and required to do so.
• Update banks, brokers, insurers and corporate records with the new tax residence.
• Review payroll source-tax coding if employed.
• Begin language/integration planning if C permit or citizenship is a long-term objective.

If this decision changes the viability or sequence of your move, a Swiss relocation strategy consultation can apply it to your own facts.

First tax year

• Set aside cash for cantonal/communal tax and wealth tax.
• Obtain valuation data for securities, private companies and property.
• Gather foreign income and asset reporting information.
• Claim foreign withholding-tax relief/credits where available, including DA-1 where relevant.
• Reconcile any tax return still due in your former country.

Company-owner checklist

• Determine where central management and decision-making actually occur.
• Review whether moving yourself also moves tax residence or creates a Swiss permanent establishment for the company.
• Decide whether to keep, migrate, liquidate or replace the foreign entity.
• Open the Swiss business bank account before operational deadlines make it urgent.
• Review Swiss salary/dividend mix, AHV and pension implications.
• Register for VAT if the statutory threshold/rules require it.

Family checklist

• Confirm family-reunification rights and deadlines for non-EU family members.
• Secure school places or international-school admissions.
• Check childcare waiting lists before selecting the commune.
• Arrange health insurance for every family member.
• Update wills, powers of attorney and succession planning for the new residence.

The one-page order

Permit -> canton -> housing -> customs -> registration -> insurance -> banking -> asset transfer -> tax return.

For the surrounding context, see Swiss residence routes.

For the surrounding context, see EU/EFTA residence.

For the surrounding context, see the B permit.

Not every case follows exactly the same path. But if you cannot explain why you are changing that order, pause before you do it.

A checklist is not bureaucracy. It is what keeps an international move from becoming an expensive collection of individually reasonable mistakes.