Checklist: establishment of a cooperative enterprise

Setting up a cooperative enterprise involves several key steps. Below is a non-exhaustive checklist:

• Budget for incorporation costs
• Choose the company name
• Determine the founding assembly (at least seven members)
• Register with the commercial register (with registration form, minutes of the constitutive assembly, articles of association)
• Draft specific articles of association (do not reuse those of other cooperative enterprises)
• Define the governing bodies: general meeting (GM), board of directors (at least three members), audit body
• Choose the bank for the blocked account intended for the cooperative shares and open the account
• Submit the incorporation documents to the notary and the commercial register for review and, if necessary, correction
• If an audit body has been appointed, request its acceptance
• Organize the inauguration of the enterprise
• Register with the AHV compensation office and conclude contracts for the mandatory occupational pension (LPP) and accident insurance (LAA) if the enterprise employs staff (the founder is considered an employee)
• Register with the Federal Tax Administration for VAT purposes.

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