Sole Proprietorship Accounting in Switzerland: What You Actually Need to Do (and What You Don't) 2026

id: wichtigste-punkte theme: elevated item-width: 250px items:

• icon: "📒" title: "Single-entry bookkeeping up to CHF 500'000" description: "Milchbüechli accounting is enough. No balance sheet needed."
• icon: "⚠️" title: "Two obligations at CHF 100'000" description: "Commercial Register AND VAT. Two different authorities, nothing automatic."
• icon: "📦" title: "10-year retention obligation" description: "OR 958f. Digital is fine; one photo per receipt is enough."
• icon: "💳" title: "Strictly separate accounts" description: "Business and private on two accounts. Now, not later."
• icon: "💼" title: "Fiduciary from ~CHF 200'000" description: "Earlier than that, it usually costs more than it saves." ---::::pages-landing-comparison

label: Thresholds title: "The three thresholds for a sole proprietorship" subtitle: "Three numbers, three separate obligations, two of them sharing the same trigger." table: columns:

• label: Threshold
• label: What happens
• label: With whom
• label: How to register rows:
• label: "CHF 100'000 revenue" values:
• text: Commercial Register entry becomes mandatory
• text: Cantonal Commercial Register office
• text: One-time application with certified signature
• label: "CHF 100'000 revenue" values:
• text: VAT liability begins
• text: "ESTV (Swiss Federal Tax Administration)"
• text: Register, then file quarterly statements
• label: "CHF 500'000 revenue" values:
• text: Double-entry bookkeeping becomes mandatory
• text: Tax office requires a balance sheet
• text: Switch to double-entry bookkeeping ---::::feature-grid

id: monatsroutine item-width: 250px items:

• icon: "1️⃣" title: Log invoices description: "Date, client, amount, VAT (if liable)."
• icon: "2️⃣" title: Check incoming payments description: "Which invoices got paid, which are still open."
• icon: "3️⃣" title: Capture receipts description: "Receipts and supplier invoices with date, supplier, amount, VAT."
• icon: "4️⃣" title: File receipts description: "Digital or physical, organised, still findable in ten years." ---::::pages-landing-comparison

label: Single vs. double title: "Single-entry vs. double-entry bookkeeping" subtitle: "What changes when you cross the CHF 500'000 threshold." table: columns:

• label: Criterion
• label: Single-entry bookkeeping highlight: true
• label: Double-entry bookkeeping rows:
• label: Revenue limit values:
• text: "up to CHF 500'000" highlight: true
• text: "above CHF 500'000"
• label: Effort values:
• text: very low highlight: true
• text: significantly higher
• label: Balance sheet required values:
• text: "<span class="check">✓ no" highlight: true
• text: "<span class="cross">✗ yes"
• label: Income statement required values:
• text: "<span class="check">✓ no" highlight: true
• text: "<span class="cross">✗ yes"
• label: Suitable for values:
• text: Sole proprietorships, solo self-employed highlight: true
• text: "larger sole proprietorships, GmbH, AG" ---::::feature-grid

id: entscheidungsbaum item-width: 300px items:

• icon: "🟢" title: "Up to CHF 100'000 revenue" description: "DIY with an app. No VAT, expenses manageable. A fiduciary is a luxury."
• icon: "🟡" title: "CHF 100'000–300'000 revenue" description: "DIY, with optional help for VAT. An accountant can do your first VAT statement; you copy the pattern after."
• icon: "🔴" title: "Above CHF 300'000 revenue" description: "A fiduciary makes sense. Tax optimisation, cantonal quirks, possible GmbH conversion." ---::::pages-landing-features

label: Software title: "What a sole proprietorship actually needs from its software" subtitle: "What a Swiss sole proprietorship really needs in its accounting software, and what's just distraction." items:

• icon: "✅" title: What a sole proprietorship actually needs description: "A short, honest list." features:
• "QR invoices (SIX-compliant)"
• "2026 VAT rates (8.1 %, 2.6 %, 3.8 %) applied automatically"
• Photograph and file receipts
• "Import bank statements, match payments"
• Year-end summary export for the tax return
• icon: "❌" title: What a sole proprietorship doesn't need description: "SME software offers this, but it costs money and attention." features:
• "Payroll (you have no employees)"
• "Inventory management (you usually sell your time)"
• "Sales statistics by store location"
• "Double-entry bookkeeping with a complex chart of accounts" ---::::pages-landing-faq

label: FAQ title: "Common questions about sole proprietorship accounting" items:

• question: "Do I need a fiduciary for my sole proprietorship?" answer: "No, in most cases not. A fiduciary only really makes sense once you're VAT-registered (above CHF 100'000 in revenue), have larger depreciation or tax-complex situations, or you're planning a GmbH conversion. Below CHF 100'000 revenue with simple expenses, you can run the books yourself, with Excel or a simple app."
• question: "Which receipts do I have to keep, and how?" answer: "All receipts for income and expenses of your sole proprietorship must be kept for ten years (OR Art. 958f). That covers supplier invoices, receipts, bank statements and contracts. Electronic storage is allowed, as long as the receipts remain unaltered and legible. A photo dropped into an organised folder is enough. The small receipts count too, not just the big invoices."
• question: "When do I have to register in the Commercial Register?" answer: "Once annual revenue hits CHF 100'000, the Handelsregister entry becomes mandatory. You register your sole proprietorship at the cantonal Commercial Register office. It costs a one-time fee between CHF 120 and CHF 250 and takes a few weeks. Below that threshold the entry is voluntary. Some people do it anyway, because banks want to see the entry, or because it looks more professional."
• question: "Is Excel enough for a sole proprietorship?" answer: "Yes, Excel technically works until about 50 receipts a month or until you become VAT-registered. Beyond that, accounting software pays for itself just in time saved. A modern app scans receipts automatically, matches bank payments and prepares the VAT statement at the press of a button."
• question: "What's the difference between sole proprietorship accounting and GmbH accounting?" answer: "A GmbH has to use double-entry bookkeeping with a balance sheet and income statement from day one, regardless of revenue. A sole proprietorship can use single-entry Milchbüechli accounting up to CHF 500'000 in revenue. The GmbH also draws a clear line between salary and dividend. A sole proprietorship has neither, only private withdrawals and the year-end profit."
• question: "How do I book the profit of my sole proprietorship?" answer: "Profit equals income minus expenses minus VAT paid (if VAT-registered). In single-entry bookkeeping, this profit is transferred to equity at year-end. For tax, you declare it as income from self-employment in your personal tax return. On the profit you pay income tax (varies by canton) and AHV contributions (10.0 % for 2026)."
• question: "What counts as a business expense and what is private?" answer: "Business means anything that directly serves to generate your income. Private living costs don't belong in the books. For a business lunch the business occasion counts, so note it briefly on the receipt. For a home-office share you need a traceable calculation, for example the floor area of your office relative to the flat. For devices or subscriptions used both ways, only book the business share. The cleaner the split at the moment of spending, the fewer discussions later."
• question: "How do I handle depreciation on a laptop, furniture or a vehicle?" answer: "In single-entry bookkeeping you record purchase date, amount and business purpose so the link stays traceable. Smaller purchases are usually booked directly as an expense. Larger purchases are depreciated over several years so the cost lands in the years the item is actually used. Once your fixed assets grow or several larger purchases run in parallel, that's the typical moment where a one-off conversation with a fiduciary pays for itself."
• question: "How do AHV, SVA and bookkeeping fit together?" answer: "Your bookkeeping provides the numbers, the cantonal compensation office (SVA) settles the contribution obligation. You register there as self-employed, the office recognises you and bills AHV contributions on your net profit, provisionally at first and definitively later based on your tax assessment. The VAT side runs entirely separately via the ESTV. Clarify the exact contribution scale directly with your compensation office rather than relying on rules of thumb." ---::::hero-basic{.bg-cream}

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