BizCortex documentation

Switzerland

KMU chart in CHF, MWST return as eCH 0217 XML, QR bill, Swiss payment files, UID register, Swiss payroll.

Currency CHF, languages German (default), French and English, time zone Europe/Zurich, fiscal year starting in January. Switzerland is not in the EU, so there is no VIES check, no EC sales list and no OSS.

Chart of accounts: KMU (Schweizer KMU Kontenrahmen), 221 accounts with German names. Reports: balance sheet and income statement under the Swiss Code of Obligations, a management report and an income and expense statement for simplified bookkeeping.

VAT (MWST) rates: 8.1 percent normal, 2.6 percent reduced and 3.8 percent accommodation, plus codes for investments, import tax, acquisition tax, excluded supplies, the notification procedure and exports. VAT return: the effective method (default) or the net tax rate method (saldo), with every box of the official forms. The return is exported as eCH 0217 XML for upload in the ESTV portal, or as a CSV worksheet. The annual reconciliation is also available as XML.

Payments: the QR bill is printed on the invoice (QR reference with a QR IBAN, otherwise creditor reference with the normal IBAN). Supplier payments are exported as pain.001 (Swiss Payment Standards) and direct debits as pain.008 (LSV+, BDD or CH DD), uploaded in your online banking.

Audit file: Switzerland has no national format, so BizCortex offers the journal as CSV and Excel. Imports read the BizCortex journal, Banana, bexio and Abacus exports and create journal drafts.

Electronic invoicing: Peppol BIS 3 and Factur X (EN 16931).

Live connections: the UID register of the Federal Statistical Office (lookup and VAT number check, read only, no key, rate limited). There is no public submission API for the VAT return, so nothing is transmitted.

Payroll: the Swiss payroll creates the salary certificate (Lohnausweis), the AHV annual salary declaration, the Swissdec ELM 5.0 files (not certified) and a withholding tax worksheet.

Who can use this

  • Owner
  • Admin
  • Accountant

Steps

  1. 1. Deadline: MWST return

    60 days after the end of the settlement period. The period is quarterly by default, half yearly by default with the net tax rate method, or monthly or yearly from the setting "Abrechnungsperiode".

  2. 2. Deadline: MWST annual reconciliation

    With the return of the settlement period in which the 180th day after the end of the tax year falls (for 2025: 31 August 2026).

  3. 3. Deadline: AHV annual salary declaration

    30 January of the following year. Only with payroll.

  4. 4. Deadline: salary certificate (Lohnausweis)

    31 January of the following year; cantonal deadlines vary. Only with payroll.

  5. 5. How deadlines move

    A last day on a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday recognised by federal or cantonal law moves to the next working day. Without a canton only the federal holidays are known. The VAT return period of the company data is not used in Switzerland.

Fields and options

Kanton

Holiday subdivision: the canton. Its holidays move due dates. Empty means federal holidays only.

Zusammenfassende Meldung abgeben

Shared EC sales list setting. Switzerland has no EC sales list, so it has no effect on Swiss filings.

MWST registriert (Fristen)

The company is registered for VAT for the deadline calendar. On by default; switched off, the VAT deadlines are removed.

MWST Abrechnungsmethode

VAT method: effective (default) or saldo (net tax rate method).

Saldosteuersätze

Up to two net tax rates approved by the ESTV. Each has the rate in percent, the 5 digit ESTV activity number (required for periods from 2025), the legal rates whose turnover belongs to it, a label and optionally the revenue accounts (or account prefixes) of the activity, needed when two activities share a legal rate.

Abrechnungsperiode

VAT settlement period: quarter (default with the effective method), half year (default with saldo), month or year.

MWST pflichtig

Liable for VAT. Default yes. With yes and no MWST number, the UID is printed as MWST number. No removes the MWST deadlines, prints invoices without MWST number and warns when an invoice shows VAT.

QR IBAN

QR IBAN for QR references on CHF invoices (checked for check digits and the QR institution range). Without it, the company IBAN with a creditor reference is used.

Präfix der QR Referenz

Up to 12 digits put in front of the invoice number in the QR reference, for example a bank customer ID.

QR Rechnung drucken

Print the QR bill payment part on invoices in CHF and EUR. On by default.

Mitteilung auf der QR Rechnung

Unstructured message on the QR bill, up to 140 characters. {number} is replaced by the invoice number.

Lastschriften, Verfahren

Direct debit procedure: LSV+ (default), BDD (business to business) or CH DD (PostFinance).

Lastschriften, LSV+/BDD Identifikation

5 character creditor identification from the bank contract.

Lastschriften, ESR Teilnehmernummer

9 digit participant number of the creditor bank. With it, the QR reference of the invoice is sent as structured reference.

Lastschriften, RS PID (CH DD)

PostFinance creditor ID for CH DD direct debits.

Lohn, AHV Verwaltungskosten (%)

Payroll: administrative cost rate of the compensation fund in percent of the AHV contributions.

Lohn, FAK Beitragssatz (%)

Payroll: employer rate of the family allowance fund. Default: the cantonal rate.

Lohn, UVG BU Prämiensatz (%)

Payroll: occupational accident insurance rate.

Lohn, UVG NBU Prämiensatz (%)

Payroll: non occupational accident insurance rate.

Lohn, BVG Risikobeitrag (%)

Payroll: risk premium rate of the occupational pension.

Lohn, Nummer der Ausgleichskasse

Payroll: number of the AHV compensation fund (for example 001.000). Required for the ELM file.

Lohn, AHV Abrechnungsnummer

Payroll: member number at the compensation fund.

Lohn, Nummer der FAK

Payroll: number of the family allowance fund. Default: the compensation fund.

Lohn, FAK Abrechnungsnummer

Payroll: member number at the family allowance fund.

Lohn, UVG Versicherer (ID)

Payroll: accident insurer ID (for example S1 for Suva).

Lohn, UVG Versicherer

Payroll: name of the accident insurer.

Lohn, UVG Kundennummer

Payroll: customer number at the accident insurer.

Lohn, UVG Vertragsnummer

Payroll: contract number at the accident insurer.

Lohn, BVG Versicherer

Payroll: name of the pension fund.

Lohn, BUR Nummer

Payroll: business register number of the Federal Statistical Office (for example A12345678).

Lohn, Betriebliche Wochenarbeitszeit

Payroll: normal weekly hours. Default 42.

Lohn, Kontaktperson

Payroll: contact person.

Lohn, Telefon Kontaktperson

Payroll: contact phone. Default: the company phone.

Lohn, Arbeitsort (BFS Gemeindenummer)

Payroll: BFS number of the workplace municipality, used for the withholding tax ELM.

Lohn, QST Schuldnernummern

Payroll: your debtor number at the tax office of each canton for the withholding tax, by canton code.

Lohn, Skala Lohnfortzahlung

Payroll: sick pay scale (Bern, Zurich or Basel) when no daily sickness insurance applies. Default: by canton.

Lohn, UVGZ Prämiensatz (%)

Payroll: supplementary accident insurance rate (total).

Lohn, UVGZ Höchstlohn

Payroll: insured salary cap of the supplementary accident insurance, CHF per year.

Lohn, UVGZ Versicherer (ID), Versicherer, Kundennummer, Vertragsnummer

Payroll: identification of the supplementary accident insurer for the ELM file.

Lohn, KTG Versicherer (ID), Versicherer, Kundennummer, Vertragsnummer

Payroll: identification of the daily sickness insurer for the ELM file.

Lohn, Ort (Lohnausweis)

Payroll: place of signature on the salary certificate. Default: the company city.

Tips

  • Request a QR IBAN from your bank if you want QR references that your bank can match automatically.
  • Enter the approved net tax rates and their activity numbers from the ESTV approval letter before you switch to the saldo method.
  • The UID in the eCH 0217 file must be the UID of your ESTV portal account.

Good to know

  • The ELM files are not Swissdec certified. Treat them as drafts for review.
  • There is no public API to submit the VAT return, so it is uploaded by hand in the ESTV portal.
  • A business year as tax period (instead of the calendar year) is not supported for the annual reconciliation.
  • The column names of the Banana, bexio and Abacus imports are best effort; there is no official specification.
  • Collective agreements, short time work and the BVG ELM domain are not covered by the payroll.

Related

  • How country packs work

    The country of a company is chosen once and decides its accounts, taxes, files, payroll and deadlines.