It is possible to start your cross-border e-commerce business in the destination of Switzerland. There is no legal obligation to register. Learn about the commercial, administrative and fiscal implications below.
What is the commercial implication of not using a fiscal representation in Switzerland?
- When you as a merchant are not registered, you have no ZAZ/CSP (Central settlement procedure) account in order to balance the VAT and Duties automatically with the Swiss custom. Therefore Swiss Post needs to use its own ZAZ/CSP account in order to pre-pay the import Vat as well as the duties for the merchant
- Swiss Post invoices the VAT and Dutyamounts along with the monthly logistics invoice
- Swiss Post charges 1CHF per parcel for this upfront payment service (many CEP Carrier charges>10 Euro for that one). It's not our core service, but we offer it in order to keep the entrance barrier as low as possible 😊
What is the administrative implication of not using a fiscal representation in Switzerland?
- there is now a specific onboarding admin connected when we overtake the import VAT and duty payments on behalf of the merchant.
What is the fiscal implication of not using a fiscal representation in Switzerland?
- Merchants who generate >100.000 CHF in revenues with order values below the VAT threshold of 65CHF (valid for articles where the standard VAT rate of 7,7% applies) or 200 CHF (valid for articles where the VAT rate of 2,5% applies) are obliged to register in Switzerland.
- in any case, merchants can start without a fiscal representation as they can register further down the road
- This blog article refers in detail to the fiscal implications and the fiscal representation process
Who can help me with professional fiscal consulting and fiscal registration?
Swiss Post as a public service company is not allowed to provide a fiscal representation service. Swiss Post, therefore, installed loose and open cooperation with GJS consulting-here are the contact data:
Gerrit Schröder
www.gjs-fiscal.com
fiskalvertretung@gjs-consulting.com
+41 (0)44 387 46 40
The advantage of GJS-Consulting is that they have an interface to the Swiss customs system and can therefore partially automate the quarterly VAT accounting. This makes a very cost-effective fiscal representation service possible. Furthermore, GJS-Consulting speaks the language of e-commerce!