Four VAT returns a year mean four interruptions to the business for many SMEs. Since 1 January 2025 there is an alternative: anyone with turnover of no more than CHF 5,005,000 can file VAT annually on request. One form a year instead of four.
The catch rarely gets top billing: the annual return is tied to compulsory instalments, and missing the deadlines means losing it again. Here is who qualifies, which dates apply, how the instalments work, and when the switch pays off.
Who is allowed to file annually
Two conditions have to be met. First the turnover threshold: annual turnover may not exceed CHF 5,005,000. Second your payment record. The FTA only grants annual filing if previous returns were submitted on time and paid in full, and it expects the same going forward. The last three years are decisive.
That makes it clear who will not get it: anyone regularly late in the past has to show two or three clean years first. The annual return is not a tool for stretching payment problems.
Newly registered businesses are not excluded. They have 60 days from receiving their VAT number to apply for annual filing.
A common piece of misinformation online: the annual return did not start in 2026, and it is not due six months after year-end. It has been in force since 1 January 2025, and both filing and payment are due by the end of February of the following year. Rely on the FTA's own information here, not on blog posts.
The deadlines across the year
Annual filing has four dates per year, even though you only declare once: the return for the previous year and, under the effective method, three instalments.
Two things cause trouble in practice. First, the application deadline falls in the same month as the previous year's return: the end of February. Realise in March that you want to switch and you wait a full year. Second, the end of February is not only the filing date but also the payment date, so the final payment has to be out the same day.
The application: end of February in the FTA portal
The application runs through the FTA portal and has to be submitted no later than 60 days after the start of the tax period. With the calendar year as the financial year, that means the end of February.
Important: the application applies to the current tax period, not retroactively to the last one. So if you want to file annually for 2026, the application has to be in by the end of February 2026. Annual filing changes nothing about the declaration itself. Corrective returns, annual reconciliations and deadline extensions all remain possible, exactly as with quarterly filing.
The instalments: an obligation, not an option
Filing annually means paying instalments during the year. That is not a choice but part of the approval. The FTA sets the instalments, and they are available in the FTA portal from April.
The number depends on your accounting method:
- Effective method and flat tax rate method: three instalments, due on 30 May, 30 August and 30 November.
- Net tax rate method: one instalment, due on 30 August.
The amount is based on the tax claim of the last tax period. The minimum instalment is CHF 500 under the effective and flat tax rate methods and CHF 1,000 under the net tax rate method.
If your year is running very differently from the last one, you can adjust the instalments up or down in the FTA portal until ten days before the due date. This adjustment is the single most useful lever in the whole procedure. A weak year with unadjusted instalments means lending the FTA money interest-free. A strong year with unadjusted instalments means a large final bill in February.
Where payment is late, default interest is owed on the instalments as well as on the annual return. The current rate is on the FTA's «Paying VAT» page.
When the FTA withdraws the approval
Annual filing can end in three ways, and two of them are not in your hands.
You can revoke it yourself through the FTA portal, no later than the end of February after the start of the tax period. The FTA revokes it for the next tax period if you exceed the turnover threshold in three consecutive tax periods. And it revokes it for the tax period after next if you fail to file on time, fail to pay on time and in full, or reduce the instalments too far.
«Too far» is defined: under the effective and flat tax rate methods, a reduction to less than 50 percent of the total tax claim counts as too far; under the net tax rate method, less than 35 percent. So the room to lower instalments is limited. Set them to zero and pay everything in February and you lose the approval.
Full details are on the FTA's page on the annual return, which is in German, and in VAT Info 15, section 2.1.
Annual or quarterly: which fits better
The matrix shows the real trade: you give up flexibility and get less administration. If you regularly have input tax surpluses, because you invest heavily or export, the annual return is a bad deal. Your credit then sits with the FTA until February instead of flowing back quarterly.
Conversely it pays off when your turnover is stable, you regularly owe a tax claim, and the administrative effort per return actually weighs. For many small service businesses using the net tax rate, that is exactly the position: one instalment in August, one return in February, done.
What the annual return does not solve
One misunderstanding is worth clearing up: filing annually does not mean bookkeeping annually. Turnover and input tax still have to be recorded continuously and correctly. Starting in February to sort a whole year of receipts only postpones the problem and makes it bigger.
This is exactly where Infinity, the Swiss AI accounting, comes in. Live Accounting connects your bank account and suggests bookings in real time, which you only confirm. Live Capture reads receipts from a photo, including the VAT rate, from the app while you are out as well. That keeps the books current through the year, and the February return takes minutes. More on the page with all of Infinity's features.
If you want to start with the fundamentals, you will find them in our guide to VAT for the self-employed.
Frequently asked questions about the annual VAT return
One return a year, without a pile of paper in February
The annual return takes three forms off your hands, but not the bookkeeping. With Infinity it stays current: connect your bank account, confirm the AI suggestions, and have the figures ready when the deadline arrives.
Try Infinity free for 14 days, no credit card required. More on the page for small businesses and the self-employed.
