Acquisition tax

When your company buys a service from a foreign business that is not registered for Swiss VAT, it is you who owe the Swiss VAT on that service: this is acquisition tax, a reverse charge (“Bezugsteuer” in German). To Bill calculates it from your expenses, whether or not your company is registered for VAT.

Which purchases are concerned

Services whose place of supply is in Switzerland because you, the client, are established here, supplied by a foreign business not entered in the Swiss VAT register. For example:

• advertising and marketing;
• consulting, fiduciary and legal services, asset management;
• management, data processing, staff hire;
• the transfer of rights: licences, patents, copyrights;
• interactive distance courses.

A service excluded from the tax or exempt from it is not concerned. Imported goods go through customs: they do not fall under acquisition tax.

Flag a service bought abroad

In the expense, turn on Service from a supplier abroad (1).

1. Open the expense, or create it, then turn on Service from a supplier abroad.
2. Enter the Supplier’s country (2), in two letters: DE, FR, US… A Swiss or Liechtenstein supplier charges VAT itself: this is not an acquisition.
3. Choose the Rate of the service: the standard rate, except for a service at the reduced rate or the accommodation rate.
4. If your company is not registered for VAT, turn on Electronic or telecommunications service for online software, hosting or a digital subscription.
5. Save the expense.

Enter the amount without foreign VAT: foreign VAT on the invoice is part of the cost, but not of the basis for the Swiss tax.

Your company is registered for VAT

There is no threshold: every service bought abroad is declared.

• To Bill posts the acquisition tax with the expense. It appears in the VAT return in box 383 (382 for a service supplied up to 31.12.2023).
• With the effective method, the same amount is deducted as input tax, in box 400 or 405: the transaction costs you nothing, but it must appear in the return.
• With the net tax rate method, acquisition tax is due at the statutory rate, with no deduction.

The quarter’s return contains it: see Prepare and file the VAT return.

Your company is not registered for VAT

Your company becomes liable for acquisition tax if it pays more than CHF 10’000 for such services in a calendar year. The tax is then due on all the services of the year, from the first franc.

Track the threshold

Open Accounting › VAT. The Services bought abroad panel adds up your services for the year, on the date you pay them.

Badge	What it means
Nothing to declare	No service from abroad paid during the year.
Below the limit	Less than CHF 8’000: no tax.
Close to the limit	CHF 8’000 or more: above CHF 10’000, the tax will be due on the whole amount for the year.
Tax due	More than CHF 10’000: the tax is due, with the deadline for notifying and paying it.

Under the table, Services counted lists what goes into the total. Not counted lists the rest with the reason: an electronic service, an invoice not paid yet (it will count in the year it is paid), a foreign currency waiting for the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) rate for the day of payment.

The dashboard and Situation & to-do also warn you as you approach the limit.

Electronic services

Online software, hosting or a digital subscription does not count for a business that is not registered: these telecommunications or electronic services are excluded from acquisition tax, and Swiss VAT is the foreign supplier’s concern.

Notify and pay the tax

Above the limit, notify the FTA in writing within 60 days of the end of the year, and declare your acquisitions at the same time. Pay the tax within the same deadline. For 2026, the deadline is 1 March 2027.

1. Click Download the declaration for the SFTA (1). To Bill creates a letter to the FTA, Main Division VAT, with the tax due by rate and the list of services paid.

   

2. Read it through, date it and sign it.

3. Send it by post to the address shown, before the deadline.

4. Pay the tax within the same deadline.

5. If your books are kept in To Bill, click Book the tax (2). The tax becomes an expense and a debt to the FTA: it cannot be recovered, since your company is not registered for VAT.

Below the limit, the button becomes Download the list: a control document, to keep, not to send. CSV exports the list for your fiduciary.

An expense changed afterwards

If you add or correct a service after booking the tax, the button becomes Update the entry: the previous entry is reversed and replaced.

Legal basis

• Acquisition tax applies to services whose place of supply is in Switzerland, supplied by businesses established abroad and not entered in the register of taxable persons: Art. 45 para. 1 let. a VAT Act. The place of supply of a service is, as a rule, where the recipient is: Art. 8 para. 1 VAT Act.
• The recipient is liable if they are registered for VAT, or if they acquire more than CHF 10’000 of these services in a calendar year: Art. 45 para. 2 VAT Act. Their tax period is then the calendar year: Art. 47 para. 2 VAT Act. For them, the tax claim arises on payment: Art. 48 para. 1 let. a VAT Act.
• They notify the FTA in writing within 60 days of the end of the calendar year and declare their acquisitions at the same time: Art. 66 para. 3 VAT Act. The tax is paid within 60 days of the end of the period: Art. 86 para. 1 VAT Act. FTA practice: VAT Info 14 Acquisition tax, section 4.2 (German version: the VAT Infos have no English one), and Tax liability for acquisition tax.
• A taxable person deducts as input tax the tax they declared on their acquisitions: Art. 28 para. 1 let. b VAT Act. With the net tax rate method, acquisition tax is paid at the statutory rate: Art. 91 VAT Ordinance.