Set up your company’s VAT
To Bill prepares your VAT returns from your books. For them to be right, its settings must say exactly what the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has granted you: your number, your method, how often you file and when VAT is due.
Before you start
- Have to hand the FTA letter confirming your entry in the VAT register and, if you applied for it, the authorisation to use the net tax rate method or to account for VAT on payments received.
- You need the right to manage the books to change these settings.
- The rates offered on your invoices and quotes are set elsewhere, in Settings › Taxes: see VAT and rates.
- To Bill sends nothing to the FTA. A change of method, frequency or accounting basis is first requested from the FTA; you then enter it in To Bill.
The settings are in Accounting › VAT, Settings tab.
Your registration
Leave The company is registered for VAT turned on.
Enter your VAT number (1): your business identification number (UID), in the format CHE-123.456.789. To Bill checks its check digit and adds “VAT” after it on your invoices.
Enter the Registered since date (2), the one in the FTA letter. Your first VAT period starts on that day.
The VAT number and registration date apply at once. The same number appears in Settings › Company.
A number refused
The message This number is not a valid UID points to a typing error: the last digit does not match the first eight. Without a valid number, To Bill cannot create the eCH-0217 file of your returns.
The calculation method
Under How the VAT is computed, choose the method the FTA applies to your company.
| Method | How VAT is calculated | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Effective method | The VAT on your sales, minus the VAT paid on your purchases and investments (input tax). This is the rule. | Every quarter |
| Net tax rates | Your turnover including VAT, multiplied by the rate the FTA has granted you. No input tax is deducted. | Every half-year |
The net tax rate method is only for businesses whose annual taxable turnover does not exceed CHF 5’024’000, and whose tax, calculated at that rate, does not exceed CHF 108’000. You apply to the FTA for it, and it applies for at least one whole tax period.
Several activities, several rates
Since 2025, each activity that makes up more than 10% of your taxable turnover has its own net tax rate. A sports shop, for example, applies one rate to selling goods and another to repairs.
Choose Net tax rates (1).
Click Edit every rate (several activities, earlier years). The Rates approved by the FTA list opens.
For each activity, enter the Rate, the activity’s FTA code, its name under Activity, and the Revenue accounts where you post its sales, for example 3200.
Click Add a rate for one more activity (2), then set its dates under Valid from and Until.
The turnover on the accounts listed goes to their activity’s rate; the turnover on other accounts goes to the first rate without an account. So post each activity’s sales to a separate account: the law requires it.
The FTA code of each rate
Since 2025, the eCH-0217 file you upload to the FTA portal states each rate with the FTA’s activity code (5 characters). Without this code, To Bill cannot create the file: ask your fiduciary or the FTA for it if you do not have it.
How often, and when VAT is due
Under How often, choose the period in Return every (1): Quarter is the rule for the effective method, Half-year for the net tax rate method. Month and Year must be requested from the FTA.
Under When the VAT is due, keep On invoices (2), the rule: VAT is due for the invoice’s period, paid or not. Choose On payments only if the FTA has granted it to you: VAT is then due for the period in which the client pays.
Under From when, choose in Apply from (3) the 1 January from which the change applies, then click Save.
| Frequency | For whom |
|---|---|
| Quarter | The rule, with the effective method. |
| Half-year | The rule, with the net tax rate method. |
| Month | On request, for example when the FTA regularly refunds input tax to you. |
| Year | On request, up to CHF 5’005’000 of taxable turnover. The FTA then invoices instalments during the year; To Bill shows them with their due date in the list of returns. |
Each return must be filed and paid within 60 days of the end of its period. To Bill works out these deadlines for you: see Prepare and file the VAT return.
A change along the way
A change of method, frequency or accounting basis takes effect on 1 January, at the start of a tax period. To Bill reminds you of this:
- Apply from only offers 1 January dates.
- If a return for the same year has already been filed, the change can only apply from the following 1 January.
- The History card keeps each version of your settings, with its date. The returns of a year follow that year’s settings.
Tell the FTA in time
To switch from one method to the other, notify the FTA no later than 60 days after the start of the tax period from which you change. After leaving the net tax rate method, you must use the effective method for at least three years before going back to it.
Your company is not registered
Turn off The company is registered for VAT. To Bill then creates no returns. It still watches your purchases of services from abroad: above CHF 10’000 a year, acquisition tax is due. See Acquisition tax.
Legal basis
- A business is exempt from VAT liability if its annual turnover is below CHF 100’000: Art. 10 para. 2 let. a VAT Act.
- Returns are quarterly, half-yearly with the net tax rate method, and monthly or annual on request: Art. 35 and 35a VAT Act. The instalments of the annual return: Art. 86a VAT Act.
- The effective method is the rule; the net tax rate method is limited to CHF 5’024’000 of turnover and CHF 108’000 of tax: Art. 36 and 37 VAT Act.
- One rate for each activity above 10% of taxable turnover, and revenue posted separately for each rate: Art. 84 para. 3 and 86 VAT Ordinance. The rates by activity: the FTA ordinance of 5 September 2024 on net tax rates by sector and activity (German version: fedlex has no English one).
- Changes of method are notified within 60 days of the start of the tax period: Art. 79 and 81 VAT Ordinance.
- Accounting on the basis of the consideration agreed is the rule; on the basis of the consideration received, with the FTA’s authorisation: Art. 39 VAT Act.