Switzerland VAT registration threshold

What this value means

PERIOD BASIS: Turnover 'within one year' (the business year), measured on WORLDWIDE turnover ('on Swiss territory and abroad') from supplies not exempt without credit; for a business starting up, liability begins with commencement of the activity unless the threshold clearly will not be reached (Art. 10 in conjunction with Art. 14 MWSTG). SECOND LIMB: CHF 250,000 for non-profit, voluntarily-run sports or cultural associations and charitable institutions (Art. 10 para. 2 let. c; raised from CHF 150,000 with effect from 1 January 2023). Separate mail-order limb: Art. 7 para. 3 let. b — a seller generating at least CHF 100,000 p.a. from low-value (import-tax-free) consignments into Switzerland is treated as making domestic supplies (since 1 January 2019). NON-ESTABLISHED SUPPLIERS: The CHF 100,000 threshold nominally applies to non-established suppliers too, but since 1 Jan 2018 it is measured on WORLDWIDE turnover (Art. 10 para. 2 let. a), so any foreign business with global turnover of CHF 100,000+ becomes liable from its FIRST supply on Swiss territory — Art. 14 para. 1 let. b: liability begins 'on making a supply for the first time on Swiss territory'. Art. 10 para. 2 let. b exempts foreign businesses that make ONLY certain supplies (e.g. supplies subject to acquisition tax/reverse charge, exempt supplies) — but electronic services to non-taxable Swiss customers are expressly outside that carve-out, so B2C digital sellers cannot use it. Not an EU member: Directive (EU) 2020/285 SME scheme does not apply. IMPORTED DIGITAL SERVICES: No separate simplified regime — foreign providers of electronic services to Swiss non-taxable customers must take ORDINARY VAT registration (with fiscal representative, Art. 67) as soon as the worldwide CHF 100,000 test is met, i.e. effectively a ZERO Swiss-sales de-minimis for any foreign SaaS whose global turnover exceeds CHF 100,000. Since 1 January 2025 digital platforms can be deemed suppliers for goods (Art. 20a, revision in force 1.1.2025). Engine traps: (1) the threshold is a WORLDWIDE-turnover test — computing it on Swiss sales alone wrongly clears almost every foreign seller; (2) the CHF 100,000 figure itself dates from the 2009 Act (in force 1.1.2010) — what changed on 1.1.2018 is the turnover base (Swiss-only → worldwide); (3) voluntary registration by waiving the exemption is open to anyone carrying on a business (Art. 11); (4) VAT group registration available for commonly-controlled entities (Art. 13); (5) unregistered Swiss recipients owe acquisition tax on imported services over CHF 10,000/year (reverse charge) — a separate obligation often confused with registration; (6) liability normally starts at commencement of activity/first Swiss supply, not after a look-back — the test is forward-looking for start-ups; (7) main Fedlex site (www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2009/615/en) is a JavaScript SPA that returns no text to plain fetchers — use the filestore HTML deep link. Researched against the primary instrument and then attacked by an independent adversarial verification pass before being served (2026-08-08). Where that pass refuted a citation, the correction it proved has been applied; no headline threshold was refuted.

Get it programmatically

curl https://euroref.dev/v1/ch/vat-registration-threshold
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History:    curl https://euroref.dev/v1/ch/vat-registration-threshold/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://euroref.dev/provenance/ch/vat-registration-threshold

Other Switzerland series: SNB policy rate (SNB-Leitzins) · MWST/TVA standard rate (Normalsatz) · National statutory minimum wage · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate (federal, direkte Bundessteuer) · Personal income tax brackets (federal, direkte Bundessteuer)