Key points at a glance
- If you are registered for VAT, Art. 26 para. 2 VATA lists six elements an invoice must contain as a rule - including your VAT number, the tax rate and the tax amount.
- If you are not registered for VAT, you must not show any VAT. If you do so anyway, you owe it (Art. 27 VATA).
- If your business is entered in the commercial register, its name must appear on the invoice in full and unamended (Art. 954a CO).
- You don't change an invoice once it has been sent; you correct it with a new document. You must keep it for 10 years.
Mandatory details for VAT-registered businesses
The invoice must clearly identify you, your customer and the supply. The VAT Act lists these elements:
| Detail (Art. 26 para. 2 VATA) | What it means |
|---|---|
| a. Your name and location, a note that you are in the VAT register, and your VAT number | As you appear in business, for example "Lea Gerber Design, Winterthur", plus CHE-123.456.789 MWST. |
| b. Name and location of the customer | Again the name they use in business - for companies the company name, not just the contact person. |
| c. Date or period of the supply | Only needed if it differs from the invoice date, for example "Period of service: 5 to 23 October 2026". |
| d. Nature, object and extent | What you delivered or worked on, with quantity or hours. "Various work" is not enough. |
| e. Consideration | The price of the supply. |
| f. Tax rate and tax amount | For example "VAT 8.1%: CHF 247.05". If your prices include VAT, the rate is enough. Items at different rates are shown separately. |
You can quickly check the tax amount with the VAT calculator. The 2026 rates: standard rate 8.1%, reduced rate 2.6%, accommodation 3.8% (FTA).
Till receipts: Receipts from an automatic till may omit the customer's details if the amount does not exceed CHF 400 including tax (Art. 26 para. 3 VATA, Art. 57 VATO).
Business name and VAT number
Entered in the commercial register? Then the registered business name must appear in full and unamended on invoices, order forms and in correspondence. You may also use a logo, short name or trade name (Art. 954a CO). A sole proprietorship running a trade must register as soon as it has generated revenue of at least CHF 100'000 in the last financial year; liberal professions (for example doctors, lawyers, fiduciaries) without a commercially run business are exempt (Art. 931 CO). Not registered? Then use the name under which you do business.
The VAT number is your Unique Business Identification Number (UID) with the suffix "MWST" in German, "TVA" in French or "IVA" in Italian: CHE-123.456.789 MWST (Art. 8 UID Ordinance, in German).
And the UID without VAT? The UID Act contains no general obligation to put it on every invoice: businesses "may" use their UID (Art. 5 para. 3 BINA). It is only mandatory as part of the VAT number.
Not registered for VAT: show no tax
Anyone not entered in the VAT register may not refer to the tax on invoices (Art. 27 para. 1 VATA). If you show VAT anyway, you owe it to the Confederation - unless you correct the invoice or show that no tax was lost (para. 2). Your invoice shows only the price, with no VAT line; a note such as "Not registered for VAT" makes this clear. All the other details - who, for whom, what, when, how much - still belong on it.
Number, date and payment terms
- Invoice number: It is not on the list in Art. 26 VATA, but you can't do without it: you use it to match payments, and a correction must refer to the original invoice (Art. 27 para. 4 VATA). Assign numbers sequentially and use each only once.
- Invoice date: If you account on the basis of agreed consideration, it determines which VAT period the revenue belongs to.
- Payment term and default: 10 to 30 days are usual. A reminder puts the customer in default; without one, only if you agreed a due date (Art. 102 CO). Once in default, they owe 5% default interest per year (Art. 104 CO). How to send reminders is explained in From quote to paid invoice.
- Cash discount: If you offer a cash discount, state the rate and the deadline, for example "2% discount if paid by 12 November 2026". If the customer takes it, your consideration falls and so does the VAT you owe (Art. 41 VATA).
- Rounding: Many businesses round the total to 5 centimes because that is the smallest coin (Art. 2 Coinage Ordinance, in German). For payments by QR-bill or e-banking this isn't necessary: they are exact to the centime.
Sample: what a complete invoice looks like
Lea Gerber runs a graphic design studio as a sole proprietorship and is registered for VAT. She designed a logo and a flyer for a bakery:
Sample invoice (fictitious businesses)
Lea Gerber Design
Musterweg 12, 8400 Winterthur
CHE-123.456.789 MWST
Huber AG
Ms Anna Huber
Beispielstrasse 3
8500 Frauenfeld
Invoice R-2026-0042
Winterthur, 2 November 2026
Period of service: 5 to 23 October 2026
Your order of 1 October 2026
| Item | Service | Qty | Price CHF | Amount CHF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Logo design with three drafts, flat fee | 1 | 1'800.00 | 1'800.00 |
| 2 | Flyer design A5, double-sided | 6 h | 120.00 | 720.00 |
| 3 | Final artwork and print files | 2.5 h | 120.00 | 300.00 |
| 4 | Printing of A5 flyers, 1,000 copies | 1 | 230.00 | 230.00 |
| Total excluding VAT | 3'050.00 | |||
| VAT 8.1% on CHF 3'050.00 | 247.05 | |||
| Total including VAT | 3'297.05 |
Payable by 2 December 2026 (30 days net), 2% cash discount if paid by 12 November 2026. Payment part with QR code: see below.
The maths: 1'800 + 720 + 300 + 230 = CHF 3'050.00; 8.1% of that is CHF 247.05; together CHF 3'297.05. If the bakery pays within 10 days, it deducts 2% (CHF 65.94) and transfers CHF 3'231.11 - which lowers the VAT Lea owes by about CHF 4.94. If Lea were not registered for VAT, the VAT number and the VAT line would be dropped, and the total would be CHF 3'050.00.
Invoices in euros or dollars
You may invoice in a foreign currency. For your VAT return, however, you convert the consideration into Swiss francs at the FTA rate - either the monthly average or the daily rate; you keep the method you choose for at least one tax period (Art. 45 VATO, FTA foreign exchange rates). If the items are in Swiss francs and the total is also shown in euros, the invoice counts as an invoice in Swiss francs (VAT Info 16, no. 2.4.5, in German). The QR payment part works in Swiss francs and euros.
Paper, PDF and QR payment part
For VAT purposes, paper and electronic invoices such as a PDF are treated the same (VAT Info 16, no. 2.2). What to look out for when sending them is covered in Sending invoices by email. At the bottom of the invoice goes the QR payment part with your IBAN, the amount and a reference or the invoice number as a message. How it is structured is explained in Creating a QR-bill; you can generate a single payment part with the QR-bill generator.
Correcting mistakes instead of changing the invoice
If you showed the wrong amount, too low a rate, or VAT although you are not registered, you don't overwrite the old invoice. You issue a new document that refers to the original invoice and revokes or supplements it - for example a credit note and a new invoice - and send it to the customer (Art. 27 para. 4 VATA, VAT Info 16, no. 2.5.1). The original invoice stays in your records as a voucher.
Retention: 10 years
Every invoice is an accounting voucher and must be kept for 10 years; the period starts at the end of the financial year. Electronic storage is fine as long as the file stays unchanged and can be made readable at any time (Art. 958f CO). More on this in Record retention.
Checklist before sending
- Your business name as in the commercial register or as used in business, with location
- VAT number in the format CHE-123.456.789 MWST - or, if not registered, no VAT and a note
- Customer's name and location
- Invoice number (unique) and invoice date
- Date or period of the supply, if different
- Service with nature, quantity and price
- Total excluding VAT, rate and VAT amount per rate, total including VAT
- Payment term, any cash discount, and the QR payment part
- PDF filed so that it stays unchanged for 10 years
How it works in Easly
In Easly the invoice is built from the customer and your products; Easly adds the mandatory details and the payment part itself:
- Items with VAT rate: You set up products with unit, price and VAT rate. Company details, VAT number, rates and amounts per rate appear on every invoice; if you are not registered for VAT, a note to that effect appears instead.
- QR payment part in the PDF: in line with the Swiss Payment Standards, with IBAN and Creditor Reference or without a reference, or with QR-IBAN and QR reference - Easly detects the QR-IBAN automatically.
- Document numbers in your format: one of the suggestions, such as R-2026-0019, or your own combination of number, type, year and customer number, restarting at 1 every year if you like.
- The PDF stays as it was: Once an invoice has reached its final status, for example "paid", its PDF no longer changes. An invoice sent by email can no longer be deleted, only canceled.
What Easly doesn't do for you
Whether you are liable for VAT and which rate applies to a supply is your decision - Easly calculates with the rate you set for the product. Easly creates invoices in Swiss francs, not in euros. Easly does not offer eBill. And Easly is not a certified archive under the Accounting Records Ordinance.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to put my UID on the invoice if I am not registered for VAT?
The UID Act contains no general obligation to do so; businesses may use their UID (Art. 5 para. 3 BINA). If your business is entered in the commercial register, however, the registered name must appear on the invoice in full and unamended (Art. 954a CO).
Is an invoice number mandatory?
The VAT Act does not list it among the elements in Art. 26. Without a unique number, though, you can hardly match payments, and a correction must refer to the original invoice. So give every invoice its own number.
When does the customer have to pay default interest?
From the moment of default: it starts with your reminder or, if you agreed a due date, when that date has passed (Art. 102 CO). The customer then owes 5% interest per year (Art. 104 CO).
Can I change an invoice after sending it?
No, the invoice you sent stays unchanged as a voucher. You correct it with a new document that refers to the original invoice and revokes it, for example a credit note and a new invoice (Art. 27 para. 4 VATA).
Information as of: see above, 2026 figures. Sources: Value Added Tax Act (Art. 26, 27 and 41 VATA), VAT Ordinance (Art. 45 and 57 VATO), VAT Info 16 "Accounting and invoicing" of the FTA (nos. 2.2, 2.3, 2.4.5, 2.5.1; in German), FTA VAT rates and foreign exchange rates, Code of Obligations (Art. 102, 104, 931, 954a and 958f CO), UID Act (Art. 5 BINA), UID Ordinance (Art. 8, in German), Coinage Ordinance (Art. 2, in German), QR-bill by SIX. The sample shows fictitious businesses. This article does not replace tax or legal advice.