Deregister from MWST

Deregistering from Swiss VAT: deadlines, the ePortal and the final return

Revenue permanently below CHF 100,000, closing your business, or taking a salaried job? Here's how to deregister with the ESTV (Swiss Federal Tax Administration) – with no late-payment penalty and no nasty surprises in the final return.

September 30, 2026

Deregistering from Swiss VAT: deadlines, the ePortal and the final return

Swiss VAT deregistration: deadlines, the 60-day rule, the ESTV ePortal and the final return – how to deregister your sole proprietorship correctly.

Nathan Ganser

Founder of Magic Heidi

Deregistering from Swiss VAT (MWST) is easier than registering – but it has pitfalls with real consequences. Miss the 60-day deadline and you stay liable for VAT even though your revenue has long since dropped below CHF 100,000. Keep showing VAT on invoices after deregistration and you owe that money to the ESTV (Swiss Federal Tax Administration) without having provided anything. And if you file the final return incorrectly, you pay for it.

The good news: if you know the three deregistration scenarios, keep the deadlines in mind, and prepare the final return properly, deregistration is done in an hour. In this guide, I'll walk you through all the scenarios, show you the path through the ESTV ePortal step by step, and share the mistakes other freelancers have paid dearly for.

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Three reasons to deregister

Revenue permanently below CHF 100,000 worldwide, the end of your business activity (closing the business, retirement, taking a salaried job), or special cases such as transferring or merging the business.

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60-day deadline when revenue drops

Your deregistration must reach the ESTV within 60 days of the end of the tax period, at the latest by the end of February of the following year. Otherwise it counts as waiving the exemption – and you remain liable for VAT (Art. 14(5) MWSTG).

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30-day deadline when the business ends

When your business activity ends, the short deadline applies: deregister with the ESTV in writing within 30 days, at the latest when the liquidation process is completed (Art. 66(2) MWSTG).

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Locked in for at least one tax period

If you opted into VAT voluntarily (waiving the exemption, Art. 11 MWSTG), you're committed for at least one full tax period. The old three-year lock-in no longer applies.

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Don't forget the final return

After deregistration: no VAT on invoices, no input tax deduction – and the final return must be filed within 60 days. Otherwise a late-payment penalty follows, its amount depending on your revenue.

When you can deregister from VAT: the 3 scenarios

The ESTV recognises more than a dozen deregistration reasons, but for freelancers and sole proprietorships (Einzelfirma), three scenarios play the lead role. All the other cases – mergers, the end of a joint venture (ARGE), the end of a one-off event – involve special constellations that rarely affect you as a freelancer.

Scenario 1: Your revenue drops permanently below CHF 100,000

You're liable for VAT because your revenue was above the CHF 100,000-per-year threshold (Art. 10(2)(a) MWSTG). Now it's below – and it's foreseeable that you won't reach it in the next tax period either. In that case you can have yourself released from VAT liability and removed from the VAT register.

Two details can muddy otherwise clean accounts:

• The threshold applies worldwide and excluding tax. What counts is revenue from services at home and abroad, calculated on the agreed consideration without VAT. A consultant earning CHF 60,000 in Switzerland and CHF 50,000 from German clients is above the threshold – even if the foreign revenue ran through the accounts as 'tax-exempt'.
• Deregistration only takes effect at the end of a tax period. It can take effect at the earliest at the end of the tax period in which you first fell below the threshold. There's no 'mid-year' removal for this deregistration reason.

Example: Sandra, a graphic designer from Bern: In 2025, Sandra made CHF 118,000 in revenue and was liable for VAT. In 2026, her biggest client walks away and she lands at CHF 82,000. She expects similar for 2027. Sandra's deregistration takes effect on December 31, 2026 – filed within 60 days, i.e. by the end of February 2027. Could she have filed it in August 2026 already, because she saw the revenue drop coming? That works too: the ESTV accepts deregistration effective at the end of the current tax period when it's foreseeable that the threshold won't be reached. But Sandra needs to keep an eye on it: if the year tips over CHF 100,000 after all, the ESTV withdraws the removal and she simply carries on accounting as before.

Scenario 2: Closing the business, liquidation, or retirement

When your business activity ends, VAT liability ends automatically (Art. 14(2) MWSTG). In the case of a liquidation of assets, it only ends once the liquidation process is completed. The short deadline applies to deregistration here: within 30 days of ending the activity, at the latest when the liquidation process is completed, in writing to the ESTV (Art. 66(2) MWSTG).

In practice: if you close your sole proprietorship on March 31, you deregister by the end of April. Your VAT liability still ends correctly with the end of your activity – the deadline concerns reporting the removal, not its effect.

By the way, when closing a business, any remaining fixed assets are still subject to VAT if you claimed input tax on them at the time. If you keep the laptop, the photo studio, or the company car for personal use, you must declare that in the final return.

Scenario 3: Giving up self-employment – switching to a salaried job

The classic freelancer exit: you wind up your sole proprietorship and take a permanent job. That also counts as giving up self-employment – the ESTV lists 'taking up employed work' as its own deregistration reason. VAT liability ends with the end of your business activity, and the 30-day deadline applies accordingly.

Two things that often get forgotten:

• Open invoices remain subject to VAT. Invoiced but unpaid fees from your time as a self-employed person must be paid over to the ESTV in the final return – even if the money only hits your account after deregistration. The ESTV form asks exactly that: 'Will any amounts still be received after the end of VAT liability?'
• Don't forget AHV: If you're no longer self-employed, you must deregister with your compensation fund (Ausgleichskasse) – the contribution obligation doesn't end on its own. AHV (the Swiss state pension) deregistration runs completely separately from VAT deregistration. You'll find information at your compensation fund or on ahv.ch.

Here's an overview of the three scenarios:

Deadlines for VAT deregistration: the 60-day rule and the lock-in to the tax period

Deadlines are the part of deregistration where most people fail. Here are the three most important ones in detail:

The 60-day rule when you fall below the revenue threshold. Your deregistration is on time if it reaches the ESTV within 60 days of the end of the tax period – with the calendar year as the tax period, that means by the end of February of the following year. This deadline is on the official ESTV deregistration page, and it's treacherous because it's tied to an event that has no concrete date in your calendar: the end of the year. Feeling in late January that you'll 'deal with it tomorrow' means, concretely: about four weeks left.

The 30-day rule when the business ends. If VAT liability ends under Art. 14(2) MWSTG (end of activity, liquidation), the deadline runs from the end of the activity. Here too: in writing, to the ESTV.

The lock-in with voluntary VAT liability. If you opted into VAT voluntarily while below the CHF 100,000 threshold (waiving the exemption under Art. 11 MWSTG), the rule is: the exemption must be waived for at least one tax period. So if you opted in on January 1, 2026, the earliest you can leave is December 31, 2026 – not after just three months because the client project went differently than planned. The earlier three-year lock-in from the old law no longer applies since the 2010 VAT system change; the current version of Art. 11 MWSTG is what counts (statute text on fedlex.admin.ch, linked below).

And what happens if you do nothing? Then exactly the opposite of what you wanted applies: failing to deregister counts as waiving the exemption from VAT liability (Art. 14(5) MWSTG). You stay in the register and keep filing returns – from the start of the following tax period, without interruption. If you then stop filing returns, you risk late-payment penalties and assessments made by the authorities.

Step by step: VAT deregistration in the ESTV ePortal

Deregistration today runs electronically via the ESTV ePortal for VAT (mwst-formulare.estv.admin.ch) or via myESTV if you already have an account there for your returns. Here's how to proceed:

1. Pin down the reason. On the ESTV deregistration page, you first choose the reason: 'conditions for VAT liability no longer met (revenue threshold fallen below)', 'business closure', 'retirement', 'taking up employed work', 'liquidation', or one of the special cases (business transfer with a successor, merger, end of a joint venture, end of a project, end of activity in Switzerland, end of a one-off event). If none fits, clarify the reason with the VAT collection division in advance – a wrong submission delays the removal.
2. Fill in the form. You provide your VAT number, business address, and contact details. Then come the substantive questions – depending on the reason: Will any amounts still be received after VAT liability ends? Are you keeping items or services for which input tax was deducted? Will invoices with VAT still be issued after VAT liability ends? In which tax period did you fall below the threshold – and how high was the relevant revenue? Answer honestly and consistently with your returns, because the ESTV cross-checks.
3. Submit and wait for confirmation. The ESTV reviews and confirms the removal with a letter. The removal effective at the end of the tax period is bindingly recorded in it. Keep the letter – your accountant and your bookkeeping will ask for it.
4. File the last return. You prepare the final return for the current tax period as usual – the deadline here too: within 60 days of the end of the tax period. Details below.
5. Close the loops. Deregister from AHV with your compensation fund, adjust any KVG health insurance, dissolve the business in the commercial register (if registered), cancel or repurpose your sole proprietorship's bank account.

Example: Marco, an IT consultant from Zurich: Marco's revenue slumped to CHF 74,000 in 2026 and he decided to leave the VAT register at the end of the year. He filed the deregistration on January 12, 2027 – within the 60-day deadline, reason 'revenue threshold fallen below', relevant revenue CHF 74,000, no amounts received after removal, no vehicle with opted input tax. ESTV confirmation: mid-February. Marco's mistake was a small one: he had first filed the deregistration under 'business closure' because he associated it with the word 'giving up'. The ESTV rejected the application and Marco lost two weeks of buffer. The reason determines the procedure – for an ongoing business with lower revenue, it's always falling below the revenue threshold, never the business closure.

What applies after VAT deregistration: invoices, input tax, the final return

Removal from the VAT register isn't a switch that gets flipped – it's a cut-off date with a before-and-after logic. From the day of removal:

No more VAT on invoices. From the cut-off date you invoice without VAT – the tax line disappears completely. Invoices to VAT-liable customers no longer carry a VAT amount, and your VAT number vanishes from your letterhead. Watch out for incoming payments for services invoiced before the cut-off date: those amounts contain VAT you owe the ESTV – declare them in the final return, even if the money arrives after deregistration.

No more input tax deduction. Without VAT liability, there's no input tax deduction. Ongoing business expenses after removal (software subscriptions, materials, travel costs) you can no longer deduct for VAT purposes. Concretely: large investments you still had planned before deregistration – new work equipment, a laptop refresh, a marketing campaign – are better made before the cut-off date, while the input tax deduction still applies.

Keeping investments? Declare the change of use. The ESTV's deregistration form specifically asks whether you're keeping items on which you previously deducted input tax. The laptop (CHF 2,400 net) that now only gets personal use, or the photo studio you now rent out instead of using yourself – all of that must be corrected in the final return. You'll find the rules on correcting the input tax deduction in the VAT Ordinance (MWSTV); when in doubt: declare rather than conceal. Asking questions costs nothing; a later fine does.

The final return remains mandatory. Even after removal you must file the last return – within 60 days of the end of the tax period. Miss that and the same thing follows as for missed returns during liability: a late-payment penalty.

Example: Sandra, second act: After her removal at the end of 2026, Sandra sent a new client an invoice for CHF 4,500 in March 2027 – with 8.1% VAT, because her invoice template still contained the old tax line. The CHF 364.50 was gone: the ESTV treats tax shown in error after removal as owed. Sandra's takeaway: clean up the invoice template, remove the tax line – and luckily the difference wasn't passed on to the client. Issuing a correct invoice without VAT takes two minutes with a QR-bill – Magic Heidi hides the tax line automatically as soon as your account is set to 'not VAT-liable'.

The last VAT return: preparing the final return correctly

The final return isn't a special form – it's your regular periodic return, just the last one. It covers the entire tax period up to the removal date and is filed with the same deadline as always: within 60 days of the end of the period.

This is what goes in:

• Revenue up to the cut-off date – everything you invoiced up to the removal, at the correct tax rate (8.1% standard rate, 3.8% accommodation rate, 2.6% reduced rate).
• Consideration received after removal for services provided before the cut-off date – as taxable revenue.
• Correction of the input tax deduction for items moved into private assets (keyword: change of use, details in the MWSTV – current version on admin.ch).
• Applying net tax rates correctly: anyone accounting with flat or net tax rates (Saldosteuersätze) finds the applicable rates for the final return in the Net Tax Rate Ordinance; the ESTV publishes the current rates in the ordinance's annex.

And here's what to know if you want to file earlier: you can submit the final return as soon as all revenue for the period has been invoiced – you don't have to wait for the official deadline. This makes particular sense when closing a business: provisions for open receivables become unnecessary if you file as of the date your activity ended.

What you prepare the return with is up to you: directly in the ESTV portal, through your accounting software, or through your fiduciary. If you already keep your accounting data in a tool like Magic Heidi, transferring the numbers takes minutes; if you still work manually, you can easily spend half an afternoon here.

Typical mistakes when deregistering from VAT (they cost money!)

From hundreds of deregistrations and ESTV practice rulings, five error patterns can be distilled that regularly cost money:

1. Missing the 60-day deadline. Consequence: failing to deregister counts as waiving the exemption – you remain VAT-liable, whether you like it or not. You then have to request the exemption again the next year, again with a 60-day deadline. Anyone who hasn't filed returns in the meantime pays late-payment penalties on top. Set a calendar entry for January 1: 'File VAT deregistration – deadline end of February'.
2. Still showing VAT after removal. Tax shown in error becomes owed. That costs you the full amount, without you being able to reclaim it from the client – they did nothing wrong.
3. Choosing the wrong deregistration reason. 'Business closure' instead of 'revenue threshold fallen below', 'retirement' instead of 'taking up employed work': the ESTV has rejected incorrectly completed applications or removed businesses at the wrong cut-off date, which then had to be corrected retroactively. Better to read twice, submit once.
4. Forgetting the final return. Removal doesn't exempt you from the last return. Especially treacherous: whoever receives the ESTV letter and thinks 'done' overlooks that the return is still outstanding.
5. Concealing a change of use. The input tax deduction on the company laptop you use privately after removal must be corrected afterwards. An audit will bring it to light, and you'll have to pay anyway – plus interest.

Example: Lorenzo, a photographer from Lucerne: Lorenzo deregistered his sole proprietorship correctly after retiring – and forgot the final return. The ESTV assessed him ex officio, estimated his revenue based on earlier periods, and issued a back-payment demand, including a late-payment penalty and default interest. Lorenzo's objection brought the estimate down to the real numbers, but the late-payment penalty stood: it's tied to the late filing, not to the amount of tax. One hour of work that cost him money because he did it a month too late.

Checklist: VAT deregistration for sole proprietorships

When you tackle deregistration, work through this list from top to bottom:

• Clarify the deregistration reason (revenue threshold, business closure, giving up self-employment?)
• Calculate the relevant revenue – worldwide revenue from services, without VAT
• Determine the cut-off date (end of the tax period or end of the activity) and note the deadline (60 or 30 days)
• Submit the deregistration in the ESTV ePortal (mwst-formulare.estv.admin.ch) or via myESTV
• Answer the form's questions consistently with your returns (amounts received, items kept, further VAT invoices)
• Wait for the ESTV confirmation and keep it
• Prepare the final return and file it within 60 days
• Declare changes of use (assets moved to private use)
• Switch invoice templates to 'without VAT' (remove the tax line and VAT number)
• File the AHV deregistration with your compensation fund
• If registered: dissolve or adjust the commercial register entry

If deregistration is your first contact with the topic of VAT at all: I've covered classifying your VAT liability and registering in a separate article – VAT registration in Switzerland in five steps. And if you want to know how VAT works for a sole proprietorship in general, the comprehensive VAT guide for freelancers is a good read. The basics of VAT in Switzerland and the path through the VAT return with myESTV after the end of MWST Easy also belong to the topic.

Conclusion: VAT deregistration is a process with cut-off dates

The deregistration itself is a form you fill out in half an hour. The rest is scheduling: the right cut-off date, the right deadline, the correctly prepared final return, and a clean cut on your invoices. Tick off these four points and you're out – without back payments, without a late-payment penalty, and without the ESTV knocking again a year later.

If you're taking this step because your revenue has dropped: congratulations, you've just abolished the biggest admin item of your sole proprietorship. If you're giving up the business entirely: all the best for the next chapter. In both cases, a look at your tools pays off – Magic Heidi issues QR-bills correctly with and without VAT, including final invoices, and with Pro from CHF 24.99 a month it costs a fraction of what a single missed deadline with the ESTV costs. Try it for free – three invoices and three receipts are free, with no time limit.

This article is not a substitute for tax advice. The legal basis is the Federal Act on Value Added Tax (MWSTG) in its current version on fedlex.admin.ch, supplemented by the Value Added Tax Ordinance (MWSTV); binding information is available from the ESTV (deregistration page linked above). ::

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