Kleinbetragsrechnung in Switzerland: Simplified Invoicing up to CHF 400

Not every job ends in a five-figure invoice. A quick print run, a spare part over the counter, coffee for the client — Swiss freelancers and small businesses bill small amounts every day. For these, VAT law is more relaxed than most templates suggest. The rules around the Kleinbetragsrechnung decide when a plain receipt is a valid invoice — and when it is not.

A receipt can be a full invoice

The VAT Act defines the term broadly: an invoice 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] The ESTV spells this out: receipts, till slips (Kassenzettel), contracts and credit notes all count as invoices — only card-terminal charge slips do not.[3]

The duty is triggered by the client: the supplier must on request issue an invoice satisfying the statutory requirements.[1] Absent a request, VAT law forces no letterhead document — though your bookkeeping still captures every transaction.

That is why a stamped Quittung for a CHF 30 adapter is a real Rechnung in the VAT sense. You need not produce a full template document for a pocket-change supply.

The label is irrelevant — Beleg, Quittung, Abrechnung — the function decides: whatever settles the consideration with a third party is an invoice.

The CHF 400 rule for till receipts

The real simplification sits in Art. 26(3) MWSTG: on invoices issued by automatic tills — receipts — information on the recipient of the supply need not be included, provided the consideration disclosed on the receipt does not exceed an amount laid down by the Federal Council.[1]

The Federal Council set that amount in the VAT Ordinance: till receipts for amounts up to 400 francs need not contain details about the recipient of the supply.[2] The ESTV confirms the limit is tax-inclusive and extends it to coupons from cash registers.[3]

Everything else still applies: the slip must identify you as the supplier, describe the supply, state the consideration and the tax rate. For a market stall, a shop or any cash-driven side of a business, this is the everyday format.

The relief is designed for the till — not for carving larger supplies into sub-400 slips. One supply, one receipt keeps the books defensible.

Tax-inclusive pricing: the rate is enough

Small receipts rarely show a net amount plus a computed tax figure. They do not have to: if the consideration includes the tax, details of the applicable tax rate suffice.[1]

So a slip that reads “coffee, CHF 12.50 incl. 8.1% VAT” meets the tax-display duty. The client’s bookkeeper can derive the tax; you do not have to print it.

The full invoice, by contrast, as a rule carries the supplier’s name and register number, the recipient’s name and location, the dates, the nature and extent of the supply, the consideration, and the rate with the tax amount.[1] The small-amount receipt drops the recipient line; the rest stays.

The ESTV additionally recommends showing your VAT number (MWST-Nr.) on machine receipts.[3] It costs one line and spares discussions later.

What your client may do with the receipt

For the client, the receipt is evidence: a taxable person may deduct the domestic tax invoiced to them as input VAT (Vorsteuerabzug).[1]

The Ordinance sets the bar low: the tax is deemed invoiced if it is recognisable to the recipient that the supplier demanded payment of the VAT from it.[2] The client need not even verify whether the tax was rightly demanded.[2]

One limit matters for foreign clients: such receipts do not entitle the holder to a tax refund in the refund procedure (Vergütungsverfahren), the channel through which non-registered foreign businesses recover Swiss VAT.[2] Invoice those clients properly from the start.

The rule of thumb: till receipts for walk-in small sales, full invoices for anything a bookkeeper files. facturio produces both — every mandatory field complete, a QR-bill attached whenever the amount deserves one. Sources: [1] Federal Act on Value Added Tax (MWSTG), fedlex; [2] Value Added Tax Ordinance (MWSTV), fedlex; [3] ESTV, MWST-Info 16 Buchführung und Rechnungsstellung.