Year-end closing: what your accountant needs

Key points at a glance

Sole proprietorships (Einzelfirma) with less than CHF 500'000 in revenue only need simple income-and-expense accounting plus their financial position; a limited liability company (GmbH) always needs full annual financial statements (Art. 957 et seq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO)).
Your accountant mainly needs: the income statement with receipts, open invoices, bank and cash balances, fixed assets, payroll documents, VAT returns and details of private use.
Key dates: salary declaration to the compensation office (Ausgleichskasse) within 30 days after year-end; tax return usually in spring, depending on the canton.
If you record receipts as you go, you save your accountant hours of work - and yourself fees.

What kind of bookkeeping do you need?

Sole proprietorships and partnerships with less than CHF 500'000 in revenue in the last financial year only have to keep accounts of income and expenses and of their financial position (Art. 957 para. 2 CO). Above that threshold - and for every GmbH or corporation (AG) - double-entry bookkeeping applies, with annual financial statements consisting of a balance sheet, income statement and notes (Art. 957 para. 1 and Art. 958 CO).

In a GmbH, the members' general meeting approves the annual financial statements. This ordinary meeting is held every year within six months after the end of the financial year (Art. 805 para. 2 CO).

The checklist for your accountant

Income and open invoices

All invoices you issued during the year, showing which ones have been paid.
Open invoices as of December 31 (accounts receivable) - they are part of your financial position, even if the money only comes in in January.
Open supplier invoices (accounts payable) as of December 31.

Expenses and bank

All receipts for business expenses, sorted by category.
Bank statements for all business accounts with the balance as of December 31, plus the cash balance.
Inventory: stock as of December 31, if you keep goods in stock.

Fixed assets

Equipment, machinery, vehicles or software used for several years are fixed assets. Your accountant needs a list with purchase dates and prices, because for tax purposes such purchases are usually depreciated over their useful life (Art. 28 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (DBG), in German).

Payroll

Salary certificates (Lohnausweis, Form 11) for all employees - you are required to issue them (Art. 127 DBG).
Salary declaration to the AHV (old-age and survivors' insurance) compensation office: you report the previous year's salaries within 30 days after the end of the accounting period (Art. 36 of the AHV Ordinance (AHVV), in German). The accounting period is the calendar year, so the deadline is the end of January.
Salary declarations for accident insurance and the pension fund.

VAT

If you are subject to VAT (MWST), include all VAT returns filed for the year. Your accountant reconciles them with the books. If this turns up an error, you must correct it with a correction statement - at the latest in the return for the period in which the 180th day after the end of the financial year falls (Art. 72 of the Value Added Tax Act (VATA)). If your financial year is the calendar year, that is the return for the second quarter, due by August 31.

Private use, vehicle and home office

Company vehicle: if you also use it privately, a private use portion is added back. Since 2022, the flat rate has been 0.9% of the purchase price (excluding VAT) per month, at least CHF 150 - or you keep a logbook (see, for example, directive ZStB 17.1 of the Zurich cantonal tax office, in German).
Private vehicles used for business trips: a record of the business kilometers.
Home office: if you regularly use a room in your home for the business, a share of your housing costs can count as a business expense (Art. 27 DBG). Your accountant needs the floor area, the share of business use and the housing costs with receipts.
Private withdrawals: goods or services from your own business that you use privately.

Example: painting business with two employees

Daniela runs a painting business as a sole proprietorship. She used to bring her accountant three binders every March. Now she snaps photos of receipts as she goes, payroll runs through the software every month, and in January she exports the income statement, invoice overview, salary certificates and receipt archive. Her accountant needs less time - and Daniela pays a noticeably lower fee.

Deadlines at a glance

What	When	Legal basis
Salary certificates to employees	Early in the year, so they can file their tax return	Art. 127 DBG
Salary declaration to the compensation office	within 30 days after the end of the accounting period	Art. 36 AHVV
Tax return	depends on the canton, often end of March; extension usually possible	cantonal tax law
VAT reconciliation and correction (finalization)	with the return for the period in which the 180th day after the end of the financial year falls	Art. 72 VATA
Approval of the annual financial statements (GmbH)	within 6 months after the end of the financial year	Art. 805 CO
Retention of documents	10 years from the end of the financial year	Art. 958f CO

Tips throughout the year

Record receipts right away instead of collecting them: snap a photo after the purchase, forward invoices by email.
Keep business and personal separate: a dedicated business account and card save a lot of questions.
Do a quick check every month: Have all invoices been paid? Is a receipt missing?
Log trips as you go - reconstructing them afterward is tedious and inaccurate.
Flag larger purchases so your accountant recognizes them as fixed assets.

How it works in Easly

Easly collects everything your accountant needs throughout the year - the export takes just a few minutes:

Income statement for any period, as PDF and Excel. Payroll, trips and home office are included automatically, and from each category you can click through to the individual receipt. Easly bases it on paid invoices.
Invoice overview: filter by period, status and customer and export to Excel - for example all open invoices as of December 31.
Open supplier invoices: if you record an invoice with "Paid with: Invoice – still open", the expense list shows all unpaid ones with their due dates. With double-entry bookkeeping, the balance as of December 31 appears on accounts payable account 2000 in the trial balance.
VAT returns for each period as PDF and Excel, with filed periods marked.
Salary certificates (Form 11) for each person, filled in from the year's payslips.
Fixed asset register: you mark receipts for equipment or licenses as fixed assets; a separate list shows all purchases. Easly does not calculate depreciation - your accountant determines it.
Home office with floor area, share of business use and housing costs per year, with receipts and a floor plan as proof, plus the mileage log as Excel.
Journal for the accountant: with double-entry bookkeeping (always active for GmbH and AG, optional for the sole proprietorship), Easly automatically posts invoices, payments, receipts, payroll and bank transactions according to the Swiss SME chart of accounts (Kontenrahmen KMU). You export the journal, trial balance and chart of accounts as Excel, CSV or for Banana - ready to import.
Complete export as a ZIP: all data as Excel and CSV, plus all documents and receipts as original files.

Fixed asset register in Easly with receipts for equipment and licenses, plus filters

What Easly doesn't do for you

Easly does not fill in your tax return, and the annual financial statements with the balance sheet and closing entries such as depreciation and accruals are prepared by your accountant. Discuss private use, for example of a vehicle, with your accountant as well.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a balance sheet as a sole proprietorship?

Not if your revenue in the last financial year was under CHF 500'000: then simple income-and-expense accounting with details of your financial position is enough (Art. 957 para. 2 CO). Above that, double-entry bookkeeping with a balance sheet applies.

By when do I have to report salaries to the compensation office?

Within 30 days after the end of the accounting period (Art. 36 AHVV). The period is the calendar year, so the deadline is the end of January. The exact deadline is on your compensation office's form.

How much is the private use portion for a company car?

The flat rate is 0.9% of the purchase price excluding VAT per month (at least CHF 150), i.e. 10.8% per year. Alternatively, you can document private use with a logbook. Check with your accountant which option is better for you.

Does Easly fill in my tax return?

No. Easly provides the documents - income statement, VAT returns, salary certificates, fixed assets, home office, trips and all receipts. You do the tax return yourself, or your accountant does.

Information as of: see above. Sources: Swiss Code of Obligations (Art. 805, 957, 958 and 958f CO), Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (in German; Art. 27, 28 and 127 DBG), Value Added Tax Act (Art. 72 VATA), AHV Ordinance (in German; Art. 36 AHVV), leaflets of the Federal Tax Administration FTA (ESTV). Deadlines for the tax return are set by the cantons. This article is not a substitute for tax or accounting advice.