Collect tax in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Stripe Tax supports calculation and collection of VAT. Switzerland and Liechtenstein apply the same VAT rules and are considered one country for VAT purposes.

When to register for tax collection

See Thresholds to get insights about your potential tax registration obligations in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Stripe also notifies you with email and Dashboard alerts when you need to register to collect tax. Learn more about how the monitoring tool works.

Foreign businesses that sell to customers in Liechtenstein or Switzerland must register with the Swiss tax administration if their global taxable turnover exceeds 100,000 CHF in a calendar year. They must also register if they expect their global taxable turnover to exceed 100,000 CHF in the next 12 months. If your business meets those criteria, then when you make your first taxable transaction in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, you must appoint a Swiss representative and register in Switzerland.

You don’t need to register in the following cases:

• Your only sales in Switzerland and Liechtenstein are to businesses (B2B), and the sales are subject to reverse-charge.
• You provide only tax-exempt services to customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

A special VAT rule applies to foreign businesses importing low-value goods into Switzerland or Liechtenstein. These businesses must register if their annual turnover from selling low-value imported goods exceeds 100,000 CHF. The definition of low-value goods varies based on the tax rate: it includes items priced below 62 CHF if the applicable tax rate is 8.1%, and items priced below 193 CHF if subject to a 2.6% tax rate.

Threshold: 100,000 CHF (global)

Period: 12 months

Included transactions: All global taxable transactions.

Register to collect tax

Foreign businesses must appoint a fiscal representative to register for VAT purposes in Switzerland and provide cash or bank guarantee for future VAT liabilities.

Find more information on how to register for VAT in Switzerland on the government website.

After you’ve registered to collect tax in Switzerland, open your Dashboard and go to Registrations to add your registrations to Stripe. That turns on tax calculation and collection in Stripe for your transactions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Learn more about how to add your registration in the Dashboard.

How we calculate taxes

If you’re based in Switzerland, and sell to customers in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, Stripe calculates Swiss VAT unless the sale is exempt or zero-rated.

If you’re a remote seller registered to collect VAT in Switzerland, you must collect VAT on all taxable services and goods you sell in Switzerland or Liechtenstein. If you’re not registered to collect VAT, most services you provide in Switzerland or Liechtenstein are subject to reverse charge. Reverse charge applies to services provided to customers who are registered for VAT or who acquire services exceeding 10,000 CHF in a calendar year that are subject to reverse charge.

When goods are shipped into Switzerland from abroad, Stripe treats the sale as an export and doesn’t calculate tax, unless you choose to calculate tax on cross-border sales of goods into Switzerland through the tax registration settings.

Foreign businesses generally don’t need to collect tax on cross-border sales of goods into Switzerland unless the special regime for low-value goods applies, as the Swiss customer is considered the importer. However, foreign businesses can apply for an authorisation from the Swiss tax administration, called an “Unterstellungserklärung”, to voluntarily register for VAT, act as the importer, and charge Swiss VAT on their sales.

Cross-border sales of goods into Switzerland might also be subject to import taxes and customs duties in Switzerland, which Stripe doesn’t calculate.

Report and file your taxes

Stripe Tax has filing partners – Taxually, Marosa, and Hands-off Sales Tax (HOST) – to help automate your tax filing. These partners automatically sync your tax transaction data in real time, eliminating the need for manual data entry or file transfers. Learn more about tax filing.

Stripe also provides reports of your completed tax transactions. Go to Registrations to access these reports. Learn more about the different types of reports.