Export the books and the VAT file
Do you work in your own software? The cockpit exports your mandates’ entries in its format. It also prepares the VAT return as a file, to import on the portal of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA).
Before you start
- The company must allow you to export its accounting (Accounting · Export). The fiduciary role includes it.
- Exporting also works for a company whose subscription has ended: its books can still be exported.
Export a mandate’s entries
Open the mandate. At the top of the Overview, click Export the accounting, then choose your software: Banana, Abacus, Crésus or WinBIZ.
Check the Fiduciary's software (1). Below the buttons, To Bill reminds you how to import the file into that software.
Choose the Period (2): This month, Last month, This quarter, Last quarter, This year, Last year, or your own dates under From and To. Two years at most per export.
Click Download (3). The Export downloaded message gives the number of entries.
| Software | File | To import it |
|---|---|---|
| Banana | Text (.txt) | Banana Accounting: Actions › Import into accounting › Transactions, with Unicode (UTF-8). |
| Abacus | XML (.xml) | AbaConnect file (FIBU, “XML Buchungen”), with the “MWST berechnen” option. |
| Crésus | Text (.txt) | Crésus Accounting: File › Import. |
| WinBIZ | Text (.txt) | WinBIZ: Entries › Standard import, tab-delimited, UTF-8 conversion. |
The cockpit remembers your software and your period for the next export.
Export several mandates at once
- In the Overview, switch to the table, then tick the mandates.
- Click Export the accounting, and choose the software and the period.
- Click Download the ZIP. The file contains one export per mandate.
A mandate that does not allow you to export its accounting is left out: the message gives its name.
Map your account numbers
By default, accounts keep their To Bill number (Swiss SME chart of accounts) and VAT keeps the software’s standard code. If your files use other numbers, enter them once per mandate and per software.
In the Export the accounting menu, choose Account mapping.
Choose the software at the top of the window.
Under Accounts, enter next to each To Bill account its number in your software. Only accounts in use limits the list to the accounts that have entries.
Under VAT codes, enter your codes for sales, credit notes, purchases and investments.
Click Save.
Leave a field empty to keep the To Bill number. For Abacus, an account number has digits only (11 at most) and a VAT code 3 characters at most. For WinBIZ, a VAT code is only useful to choose a specific code in your file.
VAT lines without a code
If the message says … VAT lines without a code, complete the VAT codes in the mapping, then export again.
The VAT file for the FTA portal
The cockpit prepares the period’s VAT return in eCH-0217 format. You import it into the VAT return service on the FTA Portal (“MWST-Abrechnung pro” in German) instead of copying the figures.
Open the mandate. At the bottom of the Overview, find the VAT file card for the FTA portal.
Choose the Type: Return, or Correction to correct a period already filed.
Choose the Period (1). The cockpit offers the last periods that have ended: by quarter, or by half-year with the net tax rate method.
With the net tax rate method, from 2025, enter the FTA activity code: 5 characters, which you find on the FTA portal, under your settlement terms.
Click Download the XML file (2). The cockpit shows the amount to pay to the FTA or the Credit in your favour.
On the FTA portal, import the file, check the figures, then file the return.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Add the company's VAT number (CHE-…) to create the file. | Complete the VAT number in the company’s settings, in To Bill. |
| This company is not registered for VAT: no return to file. | Nothing to file. |
| Unusual period length | Check that the period matches the one on the FTA portal. |
The annual reconciliation
The file does not cover the annual reconciliation: it only contains the differences from the returns already filed. Enter it directly on the FTA portal.
Your client also prepares and files their returns from To Bill. See Prepare and file the VAT return and Upload the VAT return to the FTA Portal. The exports they make themselves for their fiduciary are described in Exports for your fiduciary.
Legal basis
- The VAT return is filed within 60 days of the end of the period. It covers the quarter, or the half-year with the net tax rate method: Art. 35 para. 1 and 71 para. 1 VAT Act.
- An error found while drawing up the annual accounts is corrected at the latest in the return for the period in which the 180th day after the end of the financial year falls: Art. 72 para. 1 VAT Act.
- Books and accounting vouchers are kept for ten years: Art. 958f para. 1 CO.
- The file format follows the eCH-0217 standard, recognised by the FTA for reporting VAT online.