Public Consultation on digital platforms responsible for VAT collections for e-commerce goods of their third-party sellers
Switzerland’s Federal Tax Administration has launched on 9 July 2024 a public consultation on its plan to impose Switzerland to deemed supplier obligations on digital platforms for goods. The consultation completes on August 2024.
From 1 January 2025, this makes the platform or online marketplace responsible for the VAT collections and remittance on low-value consignments (imported or already on Swiss territory) being sold to consumers by third-party sellers. The VAT Act revisions were approved on 16 June 2023.
In determining if the marketplace is facilitating the sales, the Federal Tax Administration will consider all of the following requirements to be in place:
- Platform makes the order after the sale;
- The platform is not just a payment service;
- The platform is in receipt of income for the transaction; and
- The platform is not just an ad board for the goods, with the customer being forwarded to another site/platform to purchase the goods.
However, the deemed supplier regime was not extended to the marketplaces for the sales of digital services.
Need for level-playing field on VAT for local e-commerce
Currently, imported consignments with an intrinsic value not exceeding CHF 62 (at the standard rate) or CHF 193 (at the reduced rate) are exempt from VAT. Any online third party seller with total income above CHF 100,000 from small consignments must VAT register in Switzerland to charge VAT to local B2C and B2B sales. However, the Federal Tax Administration has noted that there are still large amounts of evasion, and it has limited powers to enforce the rules. This creates an unfair advantage for non-resident e-commerce sellers operating in Switzerland.
But how to calculate the CHF 5 VAT (CHF 65 x 8.1% standard VAT) ? VAT Calc’s in real-time global Calculator and Auditor services produce instant and accurate tax calculations for the Swiss changes, as well are our Filer produce automatic VAT returns from the shared transactions.
Read our Swiss VAT guide.
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