Singapore VS Switzerland - Which is Best? (Taxes, Passport, Banking, Costs, Lifestyle, etc)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ย. 2022
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Here in Offshore Citizen, we LOVE comparing countries!
Some of our subscribers asked us to compare Switzerland and Singapore, as two allegedly best countries in the world!
When it comes to quality of life these two places score incredibly high on all the lists! When we talk to people many of them put either Switzerland or Singapore as their preferred country where they'd ideally like to relocate.
So which one is better?
We will talk about all the things that you need to know - immigration, citizenship (passport), banking, taxes, lifestyle, costs of living, and more!
If you're interested in either Switzerland or Singapore you're at the right place!
Who are we and what do we do?
We are Offshore Citizen team. We help people become global: get a second passport, set up a second residency, pay less taxes, do banking abroad, etc.
We have lots of interesting articles on different topics, we have relevant information up to date.
Author: Michael Rosmer
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For years my dream was to move to Switzerland, but recently I moved to SG and no regrets so far :)
I can't wait to move there too but I hear it is not easy to immigrate there . For retirees is impossible even with wealthy budget.
Are you serious? Singapore will do your head in, give it time. It is that dull.
@@roysnabilie8345 and that is a good thing, not anyone can just come in
@@TT-kp5tp Singapore is great!
A few things to add to the list: 1) Language - you can get by with english in CH but you'll need to learn the local language for permanent residency & citizenship. 2) There are military service requirements in SG & CH, but different nuances make CH more flexible and you might even learn something useful. 3) In CH there are a lot of things that are not "taxes" but they add up anyway; think pension & unemployment schemes.
All good insights, thanks!
What would you choose, overall?
Switzerland 🇨🇭 is way much better than Singapore but both are great places. I will choose both.
Certainly not. Swiss are xenophobic douchebags, swiss banks are pure incompetent thieves, tax are awful and absolutely not what your read everywhere as close to 0% (what they do not tell you is you will be requalified as professional investor as soon as you make 7 figures...). After 4 years in Geneva, I am SO HAPPY TO LEAVE this shitty country and never come back !
At 11:55 you mentioned CFC rules in Switzerland, but I thought there were none. Can you explicit a little bit? Thanks for the great content as usual!
Yes that's true, however it's only true assuming they don't determine the foreign entity was established to avoid taxes then they have rules to include the income in Swiss taxes.
10:08 exactly my point of view as well - I don't mind paying my fair share but I want my money's worth!
Plus do not to forget that Singapore also plans to introduce a wealth tax.
The Swiss passport is probably really one of the best overall but it takes 10 years (whereas in SG it takes just 2) until you can naturalize so that's an important factor to consider in these dynamic times especially when other high-tax countries are already thinking about citizenship-based taxation.
Switzerland plus Grenada citizenship (one of the few passports with visa-free access to China) is a killer combo nicely complemented by some PRs.
SG is a great hub for family offices and business in general.
I went with a Swiss foundation, a CI trust and SG holding / family office.
Great video, as usual. Would you mind doing a video on the lump sum system in Switzerland at some point?
Sure will do
You should make a video going over all the visa options to move to Singapore along with how to get PR and citizenship there.
Good suggestion thanks!
I am a professor and I lived 7 years in Singapore and I live now in Switzerland. I am a Tunisian & French citizen. Singapore beats Switzerland in the following areas: taxes, bureaucracy, life expenses, real estate opportunities, banking system, safety.
Switzerland beats Singapore in the followings: nature, climate, food quality, residency permits length, individual freedoms.
I have left Singapore after they imposed 3 jabs on all foreigners. I remained vax free and left with my family.
The farma in the arm is what the leaders will live to regret.
Hi I'm Tunisian too and living in Italy , i started my own company online and I'm thinking to move to Switzerland! Any advice??
Oic.. you are anti-vaxxer..
Haven’t seen you in this location in a while
Yeah this is Bulgaria and I don't spend much time there these days
I’ve always thought banking in Singapore, and living in Thailand would be the dream for me.
Singapore + UAE are taxation friendly countries compared to the US which has draconian tax laws for citizens and green card holders.
Can you do an offshore African comparison at some stage? If it’s even an option, negatives and positives.
Yes; I’d be interested to hear about up and coming countries in Africa like Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Mauritius, Botswana etc.
I've done a bit about Mauritius in the past but will see about others
@@OffshoreCitizen thanks, looking forward to it. I know a few people I can share it with who are very interested in the Africa scene.
Switzerland is too strict. I just watched the youtube documentary Switzerland’s Strict Society, it’s crazy!
How about if you go to Singapore and live for one year and pay 0% from your capital gains, and then move the money out of the country? Does it have an exit tax?
Oh dear this has always been one of my conundrums. I completely love Singapore, down to the humidity. But I also value freedom of expression, and a little bit of chaos, which I don't think both countries have by the way. Both countries are very organised, almost at the centre of everything. Id stick to Singapore as I was the happiest, and loved the food and the people. I just wish the kids played more.
Switzerland is definitely more my type of climate. Taxes are high but I’ll take the lifestyle in CH. Singapore is my favorite city though so maybe a house in Zug and a condo in Singapore? Who knows but those are two great places. In my opinion Dubai pairs better with Switzerland for weather.
A house in Zug???? Good luck finding a nice house there + the real estate price in this canton is off the charts + you won’t handle all the property taxes you need to pay in CH
What time of year do you like being in Singapore for weather?
I love Switzerland never been to Singapore but hope to. But what about Kuala Lumpur? I think Switzerland has a flat tax for entrepreneurs.
Well explained as allways, spot on. One thing that me laugh: Cosmopolitan Singapore…
Singapore to me is everything BUT cosmopolitan. And that exactly kills the big city feel you would have in other metropoles. And as you mentioned, the Singapore passport may be strong when traveling, but no dual citizenship allowed. That is a major drawback imho.
You mentioned that the tax rate in switzerland is higher than compared to singapore.
Is this also true for holding companies?
Using the participation excemption a swiss company can be excempt from dividend and capital gains income. Wouldn't that result in an effective tax rate very close to 0 % (plus equity tax and some othrt minor taxes).
I would love to hear from you thoughts and experience.
Singapore is far better for this let's go through
1. Switzerland is more expensive to set up and maintain a company
2. Switzerland requires a 1 year holding time for the capital gains exemption
3. Switzerland requires a minimum shareholding for the dividend exemption
4. Switzerland has withholding tax of 35% that you need to reduce under a tax treaty
Compare to Singapore
1. Cheaper and easier to set up and maintain
2. No holding period for capital gains exemption so long as it's not considered active business
3. No minimum shareholding for dividend exemption, granted here there are some jurisdiction limitations & tax treaties could matter
4. No withholding taxes
@@OffshoreCitizen Thank you for your insights 😄
Can you make a video on the difference between Schengen Area and freedom of movement right as being EU citizen ?
I've made some videos on those things you can do a search on the channel
There is also the cultural and geographical aspect. And appetite or not to invest in Asia
What would be your choice?
Singapore being so dense, with mostly apartment dwellers living in small apartments and relying on public mass transit, would have made it a hellhole during Covid lockdowns, which the government there seemed pretty keen on.
Switzerland seemed to be more reasonable in that regard.
No more lockdowns after more than 90% vaccination rate
A big downside of Singapore is leasehold land and insanely low rental yields(around 2%); this means that the vast majority of people will likely just rent as the opportunity cost to buy is too much, especially if you’re going to lose it in 99 years.
That's true though appreciation over some periods has been quite high.
I'm not sure renting is a huge downside though and if you can get very low interest mortgages that can also compensate for the opportunity cost.
Also CH does not have capital gain taxes! So kind of strange you point it out explicitly for SG.
It depends, generally immovable real property is subject to capital gains tax at the level of the canton
WRONG. COMPLETELY WRONG. Do not believe everything youtubers say while theyr never experienced what they are talking about. You will be requalified as pro nvestor, therefore your capital gain requalified as income, the second you'll declare a 7 figures capital gain the same year. And the tax office has no explanation to provide for its decision. SWISS = NIGHTMARE.
Are you back in Bulgaria? (Based off the background it’s definitely not Dubai)
Yes, but for a few days only
FYI 26 cantons in CH
In my fictional world, both countries are great
how expensive is expensive for about a month when living normally?
Totally depends how you want to live the spectrum can be huge though both are generally expensive
From my understanding they don't give you a passport in Switzerland, they lend it to you. If you are not in Switzerland during a 4 year period, they take it back.
No this isn't accurate
You can lose it if you're a dual citizen but this is extremely rare and generally from some particular behavior
Which country someday in the future has less chance of experiencing nuclear fallout? Seems like that would be Singapore.
Argentina 😜
Singapore has come a long way to be able to compare with Switzerland. Switzerland has almost everything it needs to be a heavenly country, and SG is devoid of almost everything.
Switzerland is deep state country on the way down like the rest of EU.
Please elaborate meaning devoid of anything?
@@anonymous6594 I think he is saying that Switzerland has a lot of culture and various climates right at your fingertips. From Switzerland you can be in five countries within a couple of hours. There are mountains, there is the sea, art, music you name it.
Granted that no country in the world have everything, if Singapore is "devoid of anything", then it wouldn’t be widely acknowledged to be the Switzerland of the East and amongst the best cities of Asia from many measures, no?
@@sprezzatura8755Singapore has many cultures, music, the arts, the seas, fruits, food and islands and more, these are different from what Switzerland is offering, that alone does not mean Singapore has less culture, music or the arts or has less to offer than Switzerland.
In my fictional world, Malaysia surpasses Singapore in every area because they have Boboiboy and Ejen Ali
Two words… Asian girls 👯♀️
1 word: snooooooooowwwwwww
🤣🤣🤣
One word: Swiss guys.
you have a bad reflux problem.. get you digestion system checked.
Singapore 🇸🇬 is best 😂
What makes you think so? :D
@@OffshoreCitizen
Because I am a Singaporean 🤣
@@OffshoreCitizen
Some would say Singapore is Switzerland of the east. So maybe Switzerland is Singapore of Europe? 🤔
is it tho?
hmmmmm
Lovely video! I think one more aspect to consider is how open the countries are to foreigners. CH as I understand is largely white, and has had issues with migrants in the past decade and their assimilation. Singapore is a nation of immigrants and continues to take it people every year, subject to the existing racial quota. While yes, racist, this policy has also made it quite easy for many to feel right at home - Europeans/Americans/Aussies, Chinese/overseas Chinese, Indians/overseas Indians, and Malays from across SEA. This applies to language as well. The official languages are English, Mandarin, Tamil and Malay. All four have hundreds of million of speakers across the globe. Not that many speak Swiss, French or German.
That's an interesting point of view. Thank you for sharing your insights. What would be the ideal country to live in, in your case?
Between the two? Singapore. Won't have to learn another language. Won't have any fear of prejudice, if not now, then at some point in the future.
I felt that Swiss are more rigid and not flexible.
Good comparison, but the most important question is: What does the future of these countries look like? CH is doomed, because it is surrounded by EU-countries and the EU is continuously and successfully blackmailing CH to adopt their „values“, which are deeply rooted in marxism. SG is beyond its zenith: They are business-friendly, but only if you bring along 10 million US$ at least. Come with less and you are shunned (my experience). This cuts off startups that are not backed by venture capital, especially in the crucial IT sector. I did a due diligence last year on places to move, which also included CH and SG, but I now ended up in Hungary. Compare HU to CH and SG, and you will also find pros and cons in every category. But HU has constantly improved and has a government that boldly supports businesses. Income tax is low (9% corporate, 15% personal) and cost of living is much cheaper than CH and SG. HU (and all of Eastern Europe) have been somewhat in the shadows of South-East Asia, but their economic performance was great - and my opinion is that they have a better future outlook than SG and certainly CH.
Glad you're liking Hungary! They are definitely different.
A flip side of Singapore not mentioned if you're in IT is access to capital is much better in Singapore than Hungary. Hungary unfortunately carries with it a bunch of jurisdictional stigma to global investors. I'd be inclined to have a subsidiary there or similar areas but not base the main company there.
As for living I can certainly see why you'd pick it.
Are you living in Budapest?
@@OffshoreCitizen Yes, I am in Budapest. This city has a stunning beautiful heritage. But my company is not registered here. You are right that there are better places where to incorporate.
@@YellowWhiteEye But Hungary is also surrounded by marxist EU and event part of the EU. Switzerland has a good VC market, lots of rich people willing to be Venture Angels. It also attracts the best and brightest from around the world. Its also small enough to solve the demographic crunch over the next decades because they only need to find 10-20k of young professionals per year to move there. Other big countries will have much bigger problems with that.
For me the big downside of Switzerland is that its kinda boring for young people, it doesn't feel metropolitan.
@@guyfawkes2105 IMHO the situation in Eastern Europe is not comparable to Western Europe. The weaker of the eastern countries bow to Brussels because they get the EU money. But the memories from Sowjet rule are too fresh here to allow for a colossal shift to marxism. I lived in Zurich before I came to Budapest and I can tell you that the situation there is not different to Paris or Frankfurt - maybe just not that bad as in Berlin. Switzerland has an old image or „brand“ of the „old“ Switzerland that you partly described, but that does no longer represent the reality. One should not mistake the fact that a place is expensive as a sign that it is thriving. Switzerland/Zurich is more behind its zenith than Singapore is. But the high price levels are lagging far behind, because decay starts slowly, and will stagnate and then fall 10-15 years onward. As I wrote in my original comment: You need to consider the future outlook of a place. I would not invest in Zurich.
STOP PRETENDING THERE ISNO CAPITAL GAINS IN SWITZERLAND: you will be requalified immediatly when reaching 7 figures, and your capital gains requalified as income.
You forgot language, locals being open to foreigners, racial bias, etc. You need to pay more attention to the human and social aspects of immigration.
"Amen!" At the end of the day, it's all about human relationships.
That's fair but I also find it's quite personal. I've been surprised for example to hear from friends a range of different responses to race in Netherlands. A lot of this I think comes down to who you're interacting with and how you're interacting with them.
Singapore.
What makes you choose Singapore?
@@OffshoreCitizen better on taxation. More happening in the city. Close to great locations like Bali. Still good flights to europe. Asia on the up, Europe in decline.
Also thanks for replying and your contribution to a better, freer world.
Thanks!
Go to where the next century is gonna be.
What's your prediction for the next century?
I live in Singapore (past 4 years). It is a hellhole. The climate is oppressive/brutal, and getting worse with global warming. Heat island effect from all the concrete, place never cools down overnight. The people are super boring, dull, lifeless. Live to work, hampster wheels, always look super stressed, beaten down, rarely smile. The place is plastic and fake, soulless. Shopping mall after shopping, same shit different stickers. The beaches have been trashed. Layers of plastic and crap everywhere. Yes, it was a nightmare during covid.
People are also very calculating (greedy/money grubbing), lack basic common sense, follow rules to the point they become an ass.
Thank you for sharing your experience. What are your long-term goals? Anywhere you're going to relocate to?
Yet you’re still there reaping the benefits. Have you tried immersing yourself in the culture and getting to know the locals?No doubt it has it issues. Climate change… drought, fires in US… it’s in the 80s/high 20s now in October when it’s supposed to be cooler here in the NW US. Spent time in the French Riviera over the summer. Had not rained all year, and it never cooled off in the evenings even with the Mediterranean right there.
and you stayed for 4 years....money grubbing?
So funny. Lived for 4 years and……
@@annb2818 😂😂😂😂
to compare Swiss vs Singapore it is like to compare diск vs finger !
Which is which?