The Swiss VAT return is a self-declaration: the FTA does not send you a bill and does not remind you. You file on your own initiative and you pay on your own initiative, within 60 days of the end of the reporting period. Miss it and default interest applies, without any reminder being sent.
The good news: the rhythm never changes. Once you know which periods apply to you and how filing works in the FTA portal, a VAT return takes minutes rather than an afternoon. Here are the deadlines across the year, the filing process, and the three points where things most often go wrong in practice.
When the VAT return is due
The rule is set out in Art. 71 para. 1 of the Swiss VAT Act: you must file within 60 days of the end of the reporting period, without being asked to. The same deadline applies to payment (Art. 86 para. 1). Filing and paying belong together, so there is one date, not two.
For quarterly reporting that means: the first quarter ends on 31 March and the deadline runs to the end of May. In its own worked example, the FTA names 31 May as the due date for the first quarter. The remaining deadlines follow at the same spacing through the year.
The fourth-quarter return therefore falls into the following year, which is the deadline most often missed in practice because it lands in the middle of the annual closing.
Your reporting period: quarterly, half-yearly or annual
Which deadlines apply depends on your reporting period. The FTA distinguishes monthly, quarterly and half-yearly returns, and since 2025 the annual return has been added.
- Effective method: quarterly is the standard, so four returns per year.
- Net tax rate method: half-yearly, so two returns per year.
- Monthly: possible on request, worth considering if you regularly have input tax surpluses.
- Annual: possible on request since 1 January 2025.
The annual return is the biggest change of recent years. It is open to businesses with annual turnover up to CHF 5,005,000, has to be requested in the FTA portal, and comes with mandatory instalments: three under the effective and flat tax rate methods, one under the net tax rate method. The return itself is then filed and paid by the end of February of the following year, and the application to switch has to be submitted by the end of February rather than at any point in the year. The details are on the FTA page on the annual return, which is available in German only.
Check in the FTA portal which reporting frequency is on file for you before relying on a rhythm. Your reporting arrangements are part of your registration and can be adjusted in the portal.
Filing the VAT return in the FTA portal
Online filing has been mandatory since 1 January 2025: paper forms are gone and the return goes through the FTA portal. Important if you have been using the service for a while: «VAT return easy» has been discontinued, and anyone who used it has to switch to «VAT return pro». The FTA provides a step-by-step guide to the registration process.
For payment, the FTA now uses the international IBAN with a SCOR reference instead of the former QR-IBAN. Take the details from the current payment slip rather than from an old template.
And one point that surprises many people: a period without turnover still has to be reported. The return must be filed without being requested under Art. 71, as a nil return if nothing happened. Filing nothing at all risks an assessment by the FTA.
Requesting a deadline extension, and what it does not extend
If things get tight you can extend the deadline, free of charge. For filing, this runs through the «VAT return» service in the portal. Note that the electronic procedure is mandatory under Art. 123 of the VAT Ordinance, so requests submitted another way cannot be granted; that FTA page is in German. The payment deadline can also be extended by three months past the due date in the portal, and a longer deferral requires a substantiated request.
The catch: default interest is calculated from the ordinary due date, meaning from the 60th day after the end of the reporting period. Extending the payment deadline buys you room against collection proceedings, but it does not stop the interest. If you have the choice, transferring an estimated amount on time and correcting it later is cheaper than deferring payment.
Default interest: what paying late costs
Where payment is late, default interest is owed without a reminder under Art. 87 para. 1, so you do not have to be contacted first for it to start running. It is calculated for the period between the due date and receipt of payment. The rate is reviewed annually and set in the Federal Department of Finance ordinance on interest rates; the current rate and the legal basis are on the FTA's «Paying VAT» page. As a rule, default and refund interest are only charged from an amount of CHF 100.
It works the same way in reverse: if you have an input tax surplus, the FTA pays the credit out 60 days after your return is received. Filing early gets your money back sooner.
Correcting a return you have already filed
An error in a submitted return is not a disaster, but it has a defined route. To correct individual monthly, quarterly or half-yearly returns during the tax period you use the corrective return, also online in the portal since 1 January 2025; that FTA page is in German.
If the error only surfaces at the annual closing, the corrective return under Art. 72 para. 1 applies: it has to be made no later than in the return for the period in which the 180th day after the end of the financial year falls. For a financial year ending on 31 December, that leaves you a good six months to reconcile your returns with the closing.
Preparing the return with Infinity
The effort of a VAT return does not sit in the portal, where the form takes ten minutes. It sits before that, in recording the period. That 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 have to confirm. Live Capture recognises receipts and invoices from a photo and reads the data including the VAT rate automatically, from the app while you are out as well. That turns a period's bookkeeping from an afternoon before the deadline into a running task of minutes per week.
For the return itself, Infinity calculates quarterly VAT statements for the effective method, so you can transfer the figures straight into the form in the FTA portal. The effective VAT return is part of Infinity Pro; with Infinity Start you issue invoices using the net tax rate.
If you want to start with the fundamentals, covering VAT liability, input tax deduction and rates, you will find them in our guide to VAT for the self-employed.
Frequently asked questions about the VAT return
Accounting that is ready for the deadline
A VAT return is straightforward when the bookkeeping is continuously up to date. With Infinity you connect your bank account, confirm AI booking suggestions in real time, and have the figures for the period ready when the deadline arrives, from the first quote through to the annual closing.
Try Infinity free for 14 days, no credit card required. More on the page for small businesses and the self-employed.
