# VAT

> From the Zendrea manual for AI assistants, generated 2026-10-31 from the knowledge of Zendrea's built-in assistant. All topics: https://www.zendrea.ch/llms.txt; all of them in one file: https://www.zendrea.ch/llms-full.txt. Screen names are quoted in English, account numbers are those of the standard Swiss chart, and nothing here is tax or legal advice.

VAT status is a **per-fiscal-period setting** (Settings → VAT, status table), not a company-wide flag. Each period is VAT-registered (effective method), VAT-registered with the **net tax rate** method (Saldosteuersatz — the English UI says "net tax rate"; Swiss companies only), not VAT-registered, or not set; newly created periods silently inherit the previous period's status (and net tax rate, and reporting frequency).

**Reporting frequency** is a second per-period setting next to the status (Settings → VAT, dropdown after the status): the method fixes the default — **quarterly** for the effective method, **semi-annual** for the net tax rate method — and Swiss companies approved by the ESTV can opt into **annual reporting** instead (Art. 35 MWSTG, since 2025: application to the ESTV, taxable turnover incl. VAT up to CHF 5'005'000, kept for at least one full tax period; after leaving, return only after three tax periods). An annual period's VAT report shows ONE row for the year instead of Q1–Q4/S1–S2, and gains an extra **instalment button** (coins icon): the ESTV bills Ratenzahlungen during the year (three for the effective method — due 30 May/30 Aug/30 Nov — one for the net tax rate method, due 30 Aug; amounts set by the ESTV from last year's tax, adjustable in the ESTV portal). Booking an instalment moves Dr output-VAT payable / Cr bank for the exact amount paid; it counts as a payment in the report but does NOT settle the year — the XML and final settlement stay available until the annual return itself is booked, which settles the remainder. The frequency locks once a settlement, instalment or attached ESTV receipt exists for the year. The books health check warns when a settled annual return's instalments total under 50% (effective) / 35% (net tax rate) of the year's tax — the ESTV revokes annual reporting below those shares.

- **VAT status: not registered** — never mention VAT accounts (1170, 2200) or VAT implications in booking advice; VAT paid on purchases simply counts as cost. The entry forms hide their VAT fields, the VAT report tab is hidden, and the server rejects VAT-carrying bookings in this period.
- **VAT status: registered** — always consider VAT when advising on expenses, invoices, and revenue bookings. Tell the user which code to use and at what rate.
- **VAT status: registered (net tax rate / Saldosteuersatz)** — invoices charge and book output VAT exactly like a registered period, but **input VAT is never deductible**: purchases book gross (the expense dialog offers only "No VAT" and "Acquisition tax"; the asset dialog hides its VAT radio), and the server rejects any input-VAT deduction line. The period stores the ESTV-approved net tax rate, picked from the official rate list (Settings → VAT, dropdown next to the status — ten industry rates, 0.1% to 6.8% since 2024; historical periods offer the pre-2024 set). The rate stays changeable until a settlement payment is booked for the year. Which rate applies is assigned by the ESTV per industry (e.g. consulting/fiduciary 6.2%, IT services 6.8%, restaurants/hairdressers 5.3%, goods trade 2.1%) — the user finds it in their ESTV approval. The remittance is net-tax-rate × gross turnover, filed **semi-annually** by default — the VAT report shows two semester rows (S1/S2) instead of four quarters (or one annual row when the period opted into annual reporting), with a "Net tax" column instead of Input VAT.
- **VAT status: not set** — the question has not been answered for this period. The first attempt to create a VAT-relevant entry (expense, asset purchase, invoice, manual entry) opens a one-time dialog asking whether the company is VAT-registered for this fiscal year; salaries and payment entries are exempt. The user can also set it directly in Settings → VAT.

The status **locks** once the period contains VAT-relevant bookings (the Settings → VAT table shows the per-period count); changing it then requires removing those bookings first. Closed periods are always locked. A registered period whose company has no MWST number in Settings → Company shows a warning icon in the status table — the number must appear on invoices.

**Settling a VAT quarter (the report's settle button) clears the VAT accounts.** During the quarter, output VAT accrues on the payable account (2201) and input VAT (Vorsteuer) on a separate account (1170). The button is **direction-aware** by the quarter's net:
- **Net payable (output > input)** — an **up arrow**, "Book payment". The entry both **pays the net to the ESTV** (Dr 2201 / Cr bank) **and clears input VAT** (Dr 2201 / Cr 1170) — both 2201 and 1170 return to zero up to the gap below (Swiss *Umbuchung*).
- **Net credit (input > output, a Vorsteuerüberschuss)** — a **down arrow**, "Book refund", clicked once the ESTV pays the refund into the bank. The entry brings the cash **in** (Dr bank / Cr 1170 for the net) and clears any output VAT (Dr 2201 / Cr 1170) — again both accounts reach zero. Per Art. 88 MWSTG the ESTV pays VAT credits out to the bank (within ~30 days), so this is a real cash receipt, not a carried-forward credit.

In both cases the entered amount is what actually moved on the bank, and the entry books exactly that, **with no difference line**: what the return and the books differ by (cents of rounding, an error, a Vergütungszins on a late refund) stays on 2201 (or 1170) until the year is settled on the VAT report (the Jahresabstimmung row, then the Total row's clearing to 6950/6900; see "Settling the VAT year" in the topic [switzerland](https://www.zendrea.ch/docs/switzerland.md)). A paid quarter is done. One button books the settlement and the cash together; the user does nothing extra.

**Settling a net tax rate (Saldosteuersatz) semester** works from the same button on a semester row, with a different shape: the ESTV receives net-tax-rate × gross turnover (Dr 2201 / Cr bank) plus the full Bezugsteuer if any (Dr 2203 / Cr bank), and the spread between the output VAT collected and the remittance is income, credited to **3809 "MWST Saldosteuersatz"** — 2201 and 2203 both clear, up to the gap to the return, which waits for the year's end as above. There is no input VAT to clear and no refund direction.

**VAT codes are pre-seeded from a per-country catalog** keyed by the company's country. On a single-country deployment the country is stamped from that deployment and shown **read-only** under Settings → Company; on the multi-country (neutral) deployment each company sets its own country, editable until the first VAT-relevant booking locks it. The specific seeded codes and rates depend on the country (the topic [switzerland](https://www.zendrea.ch/docs/switzerland.md)). Only the standard rate pair starts active; users enable more via the **Active toggle on the code's row** in Settings → VAT — that is the answer when a code is missing from a booking form's picker (pickers show only active codes whose validity window contains the booking date). **Seeded codes are locked** (lock icon, no editing — rates are legal facts maintained by the app); guide users to the toggle, not to editing. The "New VAT code" button and editing remain for **custom codes only** (special rates the catalog doesn't ship); once a custom code is used by bookings, only its label and active state can change. Expired rates (validity window fully in the past) are hidden in the Settings → VAT table by default — tell users to tick "Show expired rates" above the table first when they need to activate a historical code.

**Bezugsteuer (reverse charge) and customs import VAT are special code kinds.** The Swiss catalog ships BZ81 (Bezugsteuer 8.1%, kind "acquisition") and VZ100 (Einfuhrsteuer 100%, kind "import100"). Bezugsteuer applies when a Swiss company buys services from a foreign supplier whose invoice carries no Swiss VAT (Art. 45 MWSTG, e.g. US software subscriptions like Anthropic, Google Ads, AWS): the buyer self-assesses 8.1% — owed to the ESTV (form Ziffer 382/383) AND deductible as input tax in the same return, so it nets to zero for fully deductible businesses but MUST appear on both sides (a business with a Vorsteuerkürzung from subsidies, or on the flat-rate method, actually owes it). When a period books any, the VAT report shows an extra **Bezugsteuer column** (owed side; the same amount is included in the input column), and the eCH-0217 XML declares it as acquisition tax. VZ100 marks a line whose amount IS the deductible import VAT paid at customs.

**Booking reverse charge natively:** the expense dialog has a **VAT radio — No VAT / VAT inclusive / Acquisition tax** (in a net tax rate period "VAT inclusive" is absent). Choose "Acquisition tax" for a foreign-service invoice: enter the amount as it appears (net, no VAT), pick the rate (BZ81 8.1%), and the app books the bill body (Dr expense / Cr payable-or-bank for the full amount, like a no-VAT expense) plus the self-assessment on top (Dr input VAT / Cr 2203 Bezugsteuer — in a net tax rate period the debit goes to the EXPENSE account instead, because nothing is deductible and the tax is a real cost), which is what the VAT report and eCH export pick up. So the answer to "how do I book my Anthropic/AWS invoice" is: expense dialog → Acquisition tax. In "Multiple items" mode there is no VAT radio — each item row has one VAT select combining "No VAT", the domestic input codes and the acquisition codes (BZ…), so one document can mix rates and treatments per item. Customs import VAT (VZ100) is NOT yet a native booking option (it's a deductible tax with no expense behind it — arrives via bexio import for now); a Swiss goods-import with import VAT is booked manually until that lands.