Salary or dividend: how to pay yourself from your own Sàrl
Both are possible, neither is free, and the balance between them can be calculated. What to know before deciding — and the mistake that costs dearly.
You are the managing partner of your Sàrl. The money is in the company and you need it. Two routes, and they do not have the same consequences.
Salary
It is subject to social insurance contributions, paid half by you and half by the company: around 10.6% for AHV/AVS, disability and income compensation, plus unemployment insurance, accident insurance and the occupational pension.
In return, it builds your entitlements — AHV/AVS pension, second pillar, cover in the event of an accident — and it is deducted from the company's profit.
Dividend
It is taken from the profit after tax: the company has already paid its share, and the dividend is not deductible.
On the way out, one step often surprises new business owners: the company has to withhold 35% anticipatory tax and pay it to the Confederation. You get it back, but only if the dividend is properly declared.
The advantage: if you hold at least 10% of the capital, the dividend is taxed on only 70% of its amount, both federally and in Fribourg. And it carries no social insurance contributions.
The mistake that costs dearly
Paying yourself a tiny salary and a large dividend looks clever. It is exactly what the authorities watch for.
When the salary is clearly too low and the dividend is disproportionate, part of the dividend is reclassified as salary, with the contributions that go with it — often for several years at once. The opposite exists too: an abnormally high salary can be treated as a hidden profit distribution.
There is no ready-made rule of the "one third, two thirds" kind. There is a level of pay you can defend in the light of the work you actually do.
It is worth calculating, once a year
The right balance depends on your profit, your age, your pension planning and what you want to build. It is not a decision to be taken in a hurry at year-end closing.
Let's talk it through: +41 26 303 36 69.