Statutory or voluntary VAT liability in Switzerland

Mail order regulations in Switzerland

On January 1, 2019, Art. 7 para. 3 lit. b of the federal law on value added tax (so-called mail order regulation) came into force. Link to the FTA .

Sales tax for deliveries to Switzerland under control!

Anyone who generates sales of at least CHF 100,000 from small consignments from 2019 and if it can be assumed that such deliveries will continue to be made in the twelve months is subject to compulsory taxation in the following year. Small consignments exist when the tax amount is CHF 5 or less and therefore no import tax is levied. Small consignments at the standard sales tax rate of 7.7% is CHF 65 and at the reduced tax rate of 2.5% CHF 200.

If items are delivered from abroad to Germany in the following year which, due to the are exempt from import tax for a small tax amount , the place of delivery is deemed to be abroad until the end of the month in which the service provider (mail order company) has reached the turnover limit of 100,000 francs from such deliveries. From the following month, the place of delivery for all (transportation and shipping) deliveries by the mail order company from abroad to Germany is considered to be in Germany .

The online shop must then be entered in the Swiss VAT register via fiscal representation.

When is a foreign online retailer voluntarily subject to VAT in Switzerland?

Focus on the customer’s shopping experience!

If the foreign online shop wants to charge its Swiss customers the Swiss value added tax (VAT) directly, it must register as a company subject to VAT in Switzerland. Using the eCommerce fiscal representation Switzerland , the foreign online retailer can deliver the goods to the Swiss customer DDP, taxed and duty paid.

Fiscal representation through GJS Consulting makes life easier for your customers in Switzerland. You appear as an online shop registered for VAT purposes in Switzerland. De facto like a Swiss company . If the foreign online shop has registered via a fiscal representation in Switzerland, the consequences for sales tax are as follows.

The delivery , which leads to the import, is deemed to have been effected domestically (Art. 3 Para. 1 MWSTV) and is therefore subject to domestic tax for the supplier. This means that the exemption from tax liability according to Art. 10 para. 2b is no longer possible.

The foreign online shop – with the appropriate permit – transports the item into the country, is considered the importer of the item and must pay the import tax accordingly. The Swiss customer is then invoiced at currently 7.7% VAT (standard rate), as if the foreign online shop were a Swiss online shop.