Collective Invoices (Sammelrechnung) in Switzerland: One Invoice, Many Deliveries

Twelve maintenance visits, one invoice at month's end: that is a Sammelrechnung, and nothing in the MWSTG forbids it.[1] Dates, bookkeeping and the VAT clock decide whether it survives an audit.[1]

What a Sammelrechnung is — and when to use one

A collective invoice bundles several supplies to one client into a single document. An invoice, says the MWSTG, is "any document by which the consideration for a supply is settled with a third party, irrespective of how the document is titled in business transactions".[1] No rule caps the count.

Art. 26(1) MWSTG keeps the duty light: the supplier "must on request issue the recipient of the supply with an invoice" that satisfies its content rules.[1] Billing per delivery, weekly or monthly stays a business choice of your terms.[1]

It suits ongoing mandates with many small deliveries: maintenance visits, support retainers, recurring transport. Larger one-offs keep their own invoice, clearer for warranty and disputes.

Whatever the rhythm, the document may not blur: it must identify supplier, recipient and supply, listing "the nature, object and extent of the supply".[1] A collective invoice is a summary of distinct supplies — not a lump sum.

Dates and periods: the entry that keeps it compliant

Each delivery keeps its own performance date (Leistungsdatum); the MWSTG anticipates the bundle: the invoice states "the date or period of the provision of the supply, in the event that it differs from the invoice date".[1]

The ESTV's invoicing guide mirrors that: invoices should show "Datum oder Zeitraum der Leistungserbringung, soweit diese nicht mit dem Rechnungsdatum übereinstimmen" — date or period of performance.[2]

Two forms satisfy it: a period line — services from 1 to 31 October — or a dated line per delivery.[1] Dated lines are safer when the bundle crosses months, and thus tax periods.[1]

Mixed rates need care: where one document carries supplies at 8.1 and at 2.6 or 3.8 per cent, the ESTV recommends grouping the items by rate,[2] each showing rate and tax amount as Art. 26(2)(f) MWSTG requires.[1]

What consolidating does to your VAT clock

Timing is where consolidation touches the tax. Art. 39(1) MWSTG sets the default — you report "based on the agreed consideration", vereinbarte Entgelte, locked in for at least one tax period; the collected basis needs the FTA's consent.[1]

On that basis the tax debt is incurred "on invoicing".[1] Ten October deliveries on an invoice dated 3 November fall into November's period: the ESTV declares agreed considerations in the period "in der die erbrachten oder zukünftigen Leistungen in Rechnung gestellt worden sind".[2]

Deferral has a ceiling: supplies never invoiced do not escape — their tax falls due "with the collection of the consideration on advance payments for supplies not exempt from the tax and for supplies without invoice";[1] the ESTV declares them when "das Entgelt vereinnahmt worden ist".[2]

On the collected basis — vereinnahmte Entgelte — the invoice date loses its power: "the right to make an input tax deduction is constituted at the time of payment".[1] "The turnover tax liability is incurred on collection of the consideration".[1]

Bookkeeping, the client's side, and a workable rhythm

Your books must not copy the invoice's economy: the ESTV wants business events recorded "zeitlich unmittelbar nach ihrer Verwirklichung", not in a monthly lump.[2]

It also advises avoiding collective postings — "Auf Sammelbuchungen ist möglichst zu verzichten".[2] Keep line-level detail behind the totals, so every amount stays traceable.

Done properly, the client benefits: input tax arises "at the time of receipt of the invoice", one document settling a month of deductions.[1] Art. 26(1) MWSTG lets a VAT-registered client demand an invoice; your collective one serves, if it satisfies the content rules.[1]

Put the rhythm in your terms — monthly Sammelrechnung, period stated, lines dated and grouped by rate — and let software carry it: facturio books each delivery on its day and rolls the month into one compliant collective invoice. Sources: [1] Federal Act on Value Added Tax (MWSTG), fedlex; [2] ESTV MWST-Info 16 Buchführung und Rechnungsstellung.