Foreign currencies

Your books are kept in Swiss francs. An invoice, credit note, expense or payment in euros, dollars or another currency is converted into francs when it is posted, at the official rate published by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA). You have nothing to enter.

What To Bill does

• When it is posted, the document is converted at the FTA rate for its date. This rate is fixed once and for all on the document: the entry, the VAT return and the reports all give the same amount in francs.
• When it is paid, the payment is converted at the rate for its own day. If it is not worth exactly the amount posted for the invoice, the difference is an exchange gain or loss, posted automatically.
• A payment in a currency other than the invoice’s, for example in euros for an invoice in francs, settles the invoice at the rate fixed when it is recorded: the FOCBS official rate of the day, or the rate you entered. An invoice in francs is settled by the francs paid that way; for an invoice in a foreign currency, the difference from the invoice’s rate is an exchange gain or loss. See A payment in another currency.
• At year-end, your invoices and debts still open in foreign currencies and your bank accounts in foreign currencies are revalued at the rate for the last day of the financial year. See The year-end revaluation.

When VAT is accounted for on payments received

If the FTA has authorised you to account for VAT on the basis of the consideration received, the VAT arises on payment: the rate for the day of payment sets its amount in francs.

Choose the FTA rate

The FTA publishes two rates, and you choose the one To Bill uses.

1. Open Accounting › Settings, down to Foreign currencies.

2. Choose the Exchange rate:

   • the FTA monthly average: one rate per month. This is the default setting, and the simplest;
   • the FTA daily rate (sale of foreign exchange): the rate for each day.

   

3. The choice is saved at once.

The method must be kept for at least one whole tax period, the calendar year. If documents in foreign currencies have already been converted this year, the change applies from the following 1 January: To Bill says so under the choices.

In the Expert display, the card also shows the exchange difference accounts: 6952 for gains and 6942 for losses, by default.

When the rate is not published yet

A document may be dated on a day whose rate is not published yet, for example today with the daily rate. To Bill never converts it at an invented rate: the document waits.

• In Situation & to-do, it appears among the documents not booked yet, with the reason Waiting for the official exchange rate.
• It is posted automatically as soon as the FTA publishes the rate, usually within a day. You have nothing to do.

The year-end revaluation

At the closing, the items still open in foreign currencies are valued at the FTA’s daily rate for the last day of the financial year:

• your clients’ invoices still to be collected;
• your suppliers’ invoices still to be paid;
• your bank accounts and your cash box in foreign currencies.

In Accounting › Year-end closing, the Closing rate check shows the items to revalue. Click Revalue: To Bill posts the difference on the last day of the financial year, with the origin FX revaluation, and reverses it on the first day of the next financial year. A payment in the following year is thus measured against its document’s rate. See Close the financial year.

If the FTA has not yet published the rate for the last day, the closing waits for it: the check says it is waiting for the closing rate.

What is not revalued

Fixed assets, stock and prepaid expenses keep their original cost. VAT accounts are not revalued: VAT is fixed in francs on the day it arises.

Unrealised exchange gains

To Bill posts unrealised exchange gains in the same way as losses. If your fiduciary strictly applies the imparity principle, they neutralise the gain with a manual entry. Decide this with them before the closing.

Legal basis

• Consideration in a foreign currency is converted into francs when the tax claim arises, at the monthly average rate or the daily rate for the sale of foreign exchange published by the FTA, as you choose. The method chosen must be kept for at least one tax period: Art. 45 para. 1, 3 and 5 VAT Ordinance.
• The accounts are kept in the national currency or in the currency most important for the business: Art. 957a para. 4 and 958d para. 3 CO.
• Assets and liabilities are valued individually and prudently, on the balance sheet date: Art. 960 CO.