Swiss VAT and chart of accounts

Since 1 January 2024, Swiss VAT has three rates: 8.1% (standard), 2.6% (reduced) and 3.8% (accommodation). In Megorix every line carries a VAT code, and the code states not just the rate but also the tax category of the transaction — which separates what is taxed, exported, exempt or out of scope.

When one invoice mixes rates — a hotel billing the room and the dinner, for instance — Megorix shows the base and the VAT of each rate separately, as the law requires. It is the typical case in hotels and restaurants and in retail.

• 8.1%: most goods and services, including meals served in restaurants.
• 2.6%: food and non-alcoholic drinks, books, newspapers and medicines, among others.
• 3.8%: accommodation, breakfast included.
• 0% with input tax deduction: exports.
• Exempt, without deduction: for example many medical treatments and training courses.
• Out of the VAT scope: transactions the law does not tax.

Tax data is defined once and flows on its own into each invoice and, at the end, into the summary.

The summary is a working basis: the return itself is still filed on the Federal Tax Administration's portal, by the business or its fiduciary.

1. 1

   Each item has a default revenue account and VAT code, which fill in the line when the item is chosen.

2. 2

   Picking another VAT code on a line updates that line's rate; the account and the code are stored with it.

3. 3

   On issue, a registered business must have a valid UID; a non-registered one cannot invoice lines with VAT, and the invoice carries the exemption note.

4. 4

   In the “VAT summary”, you pick the dates of the period and Megorix adds up the taxable base and VAT of the issued documents, per code and in francs — credit notes are subtracted.

5. 5

   Lines without a code and foreign-currency documents without an exchange rate are listed separately, to be sorted out before filing.

As a rule, the return is quarterly under the effective method and half-yearly for businesses using net tax rates. Since 2025, businesses with turnover up to CHF 5,005,000 can apply for an annual return with instalment payments. The Megorix summary works with any date range.

The return is always in francs. For euro documents, Megorix loads the official monthly average rates for VAT every day and, on issue, stores the rate for the month of issue on the invoice; the summary converts each document at that rate. If the month's rate is not yet published (it comes out on the 25th of the previous month), issuing has to wait.

They are small mistakes on an invoice that grow on the return, because they repeat across every document of the period.

1. 1

   Adding euro and franc amounts as if they were the same currency.

2. 2

   Dating an invoice in the wrong period: in Megorix the issue date is always the day it is issued.

3. 3

   Invoices without the issuer's UID number, which make it harder for the customer to deduct the tax.

4. 4

   A single VAT total on an invoice with lines at different rates.

5. 5

   Charging VAT without being registered — Megorix refuses lines with tax in that case.

6. 6

   Mixing up exports (0%, with input tax deduction) and exempt transactions (without deduction).

7. 7

   Forgetting the period's credit notes, which reduce the base and the tax payable.