Switzerland effectively removes foreign VAT registration threshold

The Swiss Federal government has proposed in the new Swiss VAT Act, changes to the threshold for foreign companies to Swiss VAT register. The proposal will mean that most non-residents providing taxable supplies in Switzerland will have to register immediately.

The current Swiss VAT registration threshold for foreign traders is CHF 100,000 taxable sales in Switzerland per annum. The new proposal would include all global sales made by the company in the CHF 100,000 threshold. For all but small, one-person traders, this would immediately push foreign businesses over the threshold.

In the European Union, there is no VAT registration threshold for foreign companies providing taxable supplies in another EU member state. The one concession is for sales to consumers of goods over the Internet. There are special distance selling VAT thresholds that initially allow companies to use their domestic VAT number to charge and report foreign sales.