Swedish Entity for one employee

[HughiusMaximus]

Afternoon, I fully admit that this is a very specific question but here goes nothing...
We have a French business that is looking to expand in to Sweden.

They want to hire a Business Development Manager who would work in Sweden trying to win business that would be supplied out of France until such time as enough business has been won to merit an in country distribution centre.
It would likely take a number of years before it was at this point.


Does anyone know if there is a way to enable having Swedish payroll without having to set up a Swedish entity?


I'm keen to avoid as a Swedish entity would require extra work for filing of results, audit etc...

[alorotom]

Silly question

Why does it need a Swedish payroll? why can’t you use the existing french payroll with the swede employee listed??

I’ve worked for a couple of places where the business is based in one country and me another and they set it up that way ... it’s always easier when there isn’t currency exchange rates too!

[55palfers]

Swedes not in Euro. Krona I think.

[jeremyc]

Are they wedded to having an employee? An alternative might be to find a Business Development consultant who has his own company in Sweden and contract with them from the French company.

This also gives them more flexibility as they learn about the market in Sweden and it's growth potential. It's possible that a good consultant could also help set up a Swedish entity when the time is right.

[HughiusMaximus]

alorotom said:

Silly question

Why does it need a Swedish payroll? why can’t you use the existing french payroll with the swede employee listed??

I am no expert, hence my asking here, but my understanding is that with it being a Swedish employee they cannot be paid from the French payroll.

I'm trying to find some work around to avoid having to set up an entity just to facilitate Swedish payroll...

[StevieBee]

There's two ways you could do it.

One is to appoint a Human Resources company in Sweden to employ the person on your behalf. The Human Resources company bill the French company for the costs plus their margin. The person works for the Human Resources company but under the direction of the French company.

Or...

The person in Sweden sets up as an Agent or Consultant and the French Company appoints them on that basis. They would essentially be self employed.
And you need to check whether Swedish regulations allow a single-client operation.

[Eric Mc]

Do you mean that the employee lives and works in Sweden?

Or he just happens to be Swedish?

[HughiusMaximus]

StevieBee said:

There's two ways you could do it.

Interesting stuff..

Thanks interesting thanks.

Ultimately it will become a question as the whether the the cost / margin on the HR company is less than the cost and hassle of the setup and management costs of the entity.


The second option is interesting also but I dont know the extent to which they would be willing to effectively be self employed or whether they want to be a registered company employee.

[HughiusMaximus]

Eric Mc said:

Do you mean that the employee lives and works in Sweden?

Or he just happens to be Swedish?

Swedish national working in Sweden looking to secure new business for us in country.

Its an attempt to expand in to Sweden where we have no current sales activity.

[StevieBee]

HughiusMaximus said:

StevieBee said:

There's two ways you could do it.

Interesting stuff..

Thanks interesting thanks.

Ultimately it will become a question as the whether the the cost / margin on the HR company is less than the cost and hassle of the setup and management costs of the entity.


The second option is interesting also but I dont know the extent to which they would be willing to effectively be self employed or whether they want to be a registered company employee.

No worries.

Sweden can be a complicated place to do business and expensive too with very high tax of all types. Heavily regulated too, partly to reduce the propensity of some to attempt circumvention of the tax system. It's all perfectly navigable but you need to know who things work so the premium you pay an HR company is principally for the knowledge on these things.

Swedes aren't particularly entrepreneurial (though when they are, they are exceptional) or motivated by big bonuses and other financial incentives. If Britain is a nation of Shopkeepers, Sweden is a nation of Shop Workers so the self-employed Agent or Consultant may not be the right approach thinking about it.

The Swedish Embassy in Paris will have a Trade and Commerce Desk so might be worth speaking to them as well.

[dibblecorse]

You could look at the PEO option but that means the employee doesn't always get the same benefits stack / RSU / Options etc as they are not technically an employee fo the engaging company, used quite often in emerging markets by start up / mid tier tech companies.

https://nhglobalpartners.com/countries/Sweden/Swed...

[Sheepshanks]

HughiusMaximus said:

I am no expert, hence my asking here, but my understanding is that with it being a Swedish employee they cannot be paid from the French payroll.

I'm trying to find some work around to avoid having to set up an entity just to facilitate Swedish payroll...

We (UK company) have people all over Europe and we mostly pay them through local payroll companies, although I think our Swedish guy is self-employed.

[HughiusMaximus]

dibblecorse said:

You could look at the PEO option but that means the employee doesn't always get the same benefits stack / RSU / Options etc as they are not technically an employee fo the engaging company, used quite often in emerging markets by start up / mid tier tech companies.

https://nhglobalpartners.com/countries/Sweden/Swed...

Thanks all, I put in an enquiry with the company above.

It will be interesting to see what the proposed cost looks like.

As said previously, if its below a certain value then its probably better than the cost and ball-ache of maintaining a legal entity for one person.