VAT and rates on your documents
In Settings › Taxes, you tell To Bill whether your company charges VAT, and at which rates. These are the rates you then choose on each line of an invoice or quote.
Switch on VAT
Switch on Enable tax feature (1) if your company is entered in the register of VAT-registered businesses. The change is saved straight away.
- On: your documents show the VAT of each line, the total VAT per rate, and your VAT number (your UID number followed by its VAT suffix, MWST on documents in English).
- Off: your documents have no VAT and only show your UID number. The list of rates is hidden.
Do you have to register?
A company must register as soon as its annual turnover reaches CHF 100’000, in Switzerland and abroad. Below that, it is exempt, but it can choose to register. If in doubt, ask your fiduciary or the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA).
VAT rates
The list shows the Name, the Rate (%) and the Default rate, the one To Bill offers on each new document.
| Rate | Since 1 January 2024 |
|---|---|
| 8.1% | Standard rate: most goods and services |
| 2.6% | Reduced rate: food, books and newspapers, medicines… |
| 3.8% | Special rate for accommodation (overnight stay with breakfast) |
| 0% | Supplies exempt from or excluded from the tax, exports |
To Bill only accepts Swiss rates (the current rates, the former rates since 2001 and 0%). A former rate, for example 7.7%, carries the note Former rate: offered only for documents of its period: it is used to correct or redo a document from that time.
Add a rate
Click Add (2).
Enter the Tax name, for example “VAT 2.6%”, and the Rate (%), for example 2.6.
Click Add. The message VAT rate added successfully. confirms it.
If saving fails, check that the rate is a Swiss rate: a rate such as 7% or 19% is refused.
Choose the default rate
On the rate’s line, click Set as default. The Default badge moves to this line. The first rate you add becomes the default rate if it is in force today; a former rate cannot be the default.
Edit or delete a rate
- The pencil opens Edit VAT rate: change the name or the value, then Update.
- The bin deletes the rate, after confirmation. The default rate cannot be deleted: first choose another one.
Documents already created keep the rate they carry.
The accounting method is not here
The method of accounting for VAT (effective or net tax rate), the reporting period and when VAT becomes due are set in accounting. See Set up your company’s VAT.
On an invoice, you can apply a single rate to the whole document or one rate per line. See Create an invoice.
Legal basis
- Registration from CHF 100’000 of annual turnover: Art. 10 para. 2 let. a VAT Act; waiving the exemption: Art. 11 VAT Act.
- Rates of 8.1%, 2.6% and 3.8% since 1 January 2024; the special rate for accommodation applies until 31 December 2027 at the latest: Art. 25 VAT Act.
- The invoice shows the VAT rate and amount: Art. 26 para. 2 let. f VAT Act.