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From 1 October 2026, most Swiss LLCs (GmbH/Sàrl), corporations (AG/SA) and cooperatives face a new filing duty: they must report the natural persons who ultimately control them to the Swiss Transparency Register. The Federal Office of Justice will maintain the central register, which is not open to the public.
The duty comes from the Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners (LTPM, its French acronym). It relies on self-reporting: each business must identify, verify and report its beneficial owners, then keep the information current. This guide explains whether you are covered, which deadline applies and what you can prepare now.
Who is a beneficial owner?
A beneficial owner is always a natural person at the end of the ownership or control chain. If another company holds your LLC or corporation, that company cannot be the ultimate beneficial owner. You must look through the chain to the people who control it.
- A person is a beneficial owner when they hold, directly or indirectly, alone or together with third parties, at least 25% of the capital or voting rights.
- A person below 25% may also qualify if they control the business by other means, such as a contract that lets them influence key decisions.
- If nobody meets these tests, the highest-ranking member of the governing body is reported as a fallback.
For each person, the business reports their full name, date of birth, nationality, municipality of residence and country of residence, plus the nature and extent of their control. It must retain the evidence used to verify this information.
Who must register — and who does not?
Main scope of the Swiss Transparency Act
| Covered | Not covered or exempt |
|---|---|
| Corporations (AG/SA), partnerships limited by shares, LLCs (GmbH/Sàrl) and cooperatives | Sole proprietorships and general partnerships |
| SICAVs, SICAFs and limited partnerships for collective investment | Listed companies and subsidiaries owned more than 75% by listed companies |
| Certain foreign legal entities with a registered Swiss branch, effective administration in Switzerland or Swiss real estate under the Lex Koller | Supervised pension institutions and legal entities owned at least 75% by public bodies |
What is your filing deadline?
Businesses already entered in the commercial register do not all share one deadline. Article 51 of the Act staggers the filings so that every company does not have to act at once. The following periods run from 1 October 2026.
Transitional deadlines for the first filing
| Position on 1 October 2026 | Maximum period |
|---|---|
| Every beneficial owner is entered in the commercial register as a shareholder/member or governing body | 2 years |
| Corporation subject to an ordinary audit | 3 months |
| Other company subject to an ordinary audit | 4 months |
| Corporation that does not meet the conditions for an ordinary audit | 5 months |
| Other company that does not meet the conditions for a limited audit, or another covered legal entity | 6 months |
| Covered foreign legal entity | 6 months |
The exact category may depend on your audit regime. An LLC that does not qualify for the two-year period should confirm its position with its auditor or fiduciary instead of inferring the deadline from size alone. A company formed after the Act takes effect must file within one month of its commercial-register entry.
How do you submit the filing?
The standard route is through EasyGov. First create a personal AGOV account, register the business on EasyGov and link the account to its company identification number. Validation can take several days, and you can complete this step before the register opens. A third party, such as a fiduciary, may prepare and submit the filing with the required permissions, but the governing body remains responsible for proper completion.
Registration, amendments and removal are free of charge. Certain reminders, rulings and register extracts may carry a fee. After the first filing, any change to registered information must be reported within one month from the day the company learns of it.
The simplified procedure
Certain straightforward structures can reuse commercial-register information. For an LLC, every member must be a natural person and the people reported must be those same members holding at least 25% of the capital. For a single-shareholder corporation, the sole shareholder must be a natural person, entered as the sole board member and be the company's only beneficial owner. In both cases, the company must not be in liquidation, bankruptcy or a debt-restructuring moratorium.
Your preparation checklist
What Bill Alps does — and does not do
Bill Alps helps you keep your company's administrative and invoicing data structured. Bill Alps does not transmit data to TranspaReg: this is a separate filing on EasyGov, completed by your company or its representative. You can continue creating Swiss QR bills while you prepare the new formality.
- The Act takes effect on 1 October 2026 and creates a non-public register.
- LLCs, corporations and cooperatives are covered; sole proprietorships are not.
- A beneficial owner is a natural person who holds at least 25% of the capital or votes, or otherwise controls the company.
- The first deadline ranges from 3 to 6 months, or extends to 2 years in certain straightforward cases.
- A first commercial-register change after commencement can shorten the period to 1 month.
- The EasyGov filing is free, and later changes must be reported within one month.