e-commerce
DDP? DAP? eVV? ZAZ? Collective customs clearance?
We have the right set-up for you!
This is worth nothing
The volume of imports between Switzerland and the EU amounted to approximately 230 billion Swiss francs in 2020, and the trend is continuing to climb! E-commerce is therefore becoming increasingly important.
When importing goods into Switzerland, customs and VAT issues must be taken into account. EU countries must bear in mind that Switzerland is considered a so-called “third country”, as Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. For this reason, all commercial goods delivered or dispatched to Switzerland must be declared under customs law.
The Swiss Customs Administration is the authority responsible for assessing customs duties and import taxes and not the Federal VAT Administration in Bern.
If the process has not been optimise, your customer in Switzerland will still receive an invoice for import taxes and any customs duties when the parcel is delivered. This may lead to unwanted negative feedback.
In addition, your company must declare each individual package to customs, a factor leading to high customs clearance costs.
By registering voluntarily with the tax authorities, you can benefit from more favourable collective customs clearance much like a Swiss company, i.e. you charge your customer Swiss VAT, which means your customer is not burdened with additional import tax and customs invoices.
How does the customs process work?
The customs authorities issue the important assessment notifications in electronic form as a signed and encrypted XML file (the importation assessment – abbreviated in German as eVV), which are considered to be opened from this point on. The customs authorities do not provide any active information when the eVV is available for collection.
The VAT authorities will only accept the XML file as legally justified proof for reclaiming import taxes. Therefore it is imperative that the eVV is correctly handled, checked and stored.
Contact us to discuss our automated solution.
Legal information
From a VAT perspective, the place of delivery is where the dispatch begins.
Thus, if a company delivers goods directly to an end consumer in Switzerland without carrying out on-site assembly, the company is making a delivery abroad from the point of view of Swiss VAT and is not subject to taxation in Switzerland. (Note the exception to this rule at below under point 1.!)
In this case, the recipient is the importer and the one liable for any customs duties and import tax in Switzerland and therefore must pay the fees upon receipt of the goods.
This is a DAP delivery (Delivery At Place) according to the Incoterms 2020.
With DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) the seller must deliver the goods to the destination in Switzerland at their own expense and risk, and must see to all the formalities and bear all the costs, i.e. including customs and import taxes (“from door to door”).
For DDP deliveries the seller/dispatcher acts as an importer instead of the consignee and thus becomes liable for customs duties and import taxes. However, this is only possible if the seller/dispatcher is entered in the Swiss register of persons liable for VAT.
If the seller is registered for VAT in Switzerland, the deliveries to Switzerland must be charged at the tax rates applicable here and the VAT must be paid to the FTA. In return, the company is entitled to an input tax deduction, which means that, among other things, the import tax paid can be reclaimed.
- No rule without an exception: Please note that there is an obligatory tax liability if you regularly send goods to Switzerland worth less than CHF 65 (at 7.7 %) or CHF 200 (at 2.5 %)!
Here’s what we can do for you
We will look after all formalities and tasks related to Swiss VAT such as:
- Registering your company with the tax authorities
- Reminding you by email that the VAT statement is due
- Preparing the VAT statement on the basis of your reported sales as well as input and import taxes
- Providing documents for the annual VAT declaration
- Providing complete sub-ledger accounting with regard to Swiss VAT, including account sheets, tax journal and income statement
- We are the first point of contact for the Swiss tax authorities.
- Your company comes across as professional, making a good impression on the tax authorities!
We can manage the electronic importation assessments for your company, such as:
- Daily downloads of the eVV (customs and import assessments) from your CSP account
- Automatic entering of import taxes into the accounting system according to the eVV
- Automatic archiving of the eVV so that they are available in the event of a VAT audit
- We send you the eVV as a PDF for checking.
- We provide your accounting department with our account sheets so that the VAT paid in Switzerland can be checked against your general ledger.
- If required, we can also set filters for checking the eVV (e.g. notification of cleared customs duties, max. values, etc.).
Phoenix
Swiss VAT Agency GmbH
Mail:
office@vat-agency.ch
Telephon:
+41 (0) 61 511 52 54
Theaterstrasse 4
4051 Basel
Switzerland
