Enacted 📅 Plan ahead Compliance

Switzerland defers the VAT portal obligation for flat-rate and group taxpayers to 2027

Jurisdiction
Switzerland
Tax
VAT
Change type
Compliance
Status
Enacted
Impact
Plan ahead
Effective
1 January 2027
Authority
Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV)
Systems
Tax engine, Reporting
Verified
Fetched from official source · high confidence
Who this affects

VAT-registered businesses using the flat-rate or lump-sum method, VAT groups, and taxpayers deregistering as a taxable person.

What to do

VAT-registered businesses using the flat-rate/lump-sum method, VAT groups, and taxpayers planning deregistration must be ready to use the ESTV online portal for these procedures from 1 January 2027.

Tax engineReporting

The change

Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) confirms that the portal obligation (Portalpflicht) for the flat-rate and lump-sum tax-rate methods, VAT group taxation, and deregistration as a taxable person -- part of the partially revised VAT Ordinance (MWSTV) that otherwise entered into force 1 January 2025 alongside the revised VAT Act -- is deferred and will only be introduced on 1 January 2027.

What changed in detail

The partially revised VAT Ordinance (MWSTV) entered into force alongside the revised VAT Act on 1 January 2025, but the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) confirms one exception: the Portalpflicht — the mandatory use of the ESTV online portal — for the flat-rate and lump-sum tax-rate methods, VAT group taxation, and deregistration as a taxable person, is deferred and will only be introduced on 1 January 2027.

Every other part of the revised MWSTV, including the general portal requirements that already took effect in 2025, is unaffected by this deferral.

What it means

Businesses using the flat-rate or lump-sum scheme, VAT groups, and anyone planning to deregister have until 2027 before the portal channel becomes mandatory for those specific procedures — the general portal obligation elsewhere in the VAT Ordinance already applies and is not touched by this deferral. Confirm which of your VAT procedures actually rely on flat-rate/lump-sum treatment, group taxation, or deregistration before assuming the extra runway applies to your filings generally.

Proof

Eine Ausnahme bildet die Portalpflicht für die Bereiche Saldo- und Pauschalsteuersatzmethode, Gruppenbesteuerung sowie die Abmeldung als steuerpflichtige Person, die erst auf den 1. Januar 2027 eingeführt wird.

An exception is the portal obligation for the balance and flat-rate methods, group taxation, and deregistration as a taxable person, which will only be introduced on 1 January 2027.

Teilrevision Mehrwertsteuergesetz und Mehrwertsteuerverordnungen — Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV) · captured 22 September 2026
Screenshot of Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV) captured 22 September 2026, showing the quoted passage Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗

Sources

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