Bookkeeping for the Self-Employed: What Is Actually Required?

01What Does the Law Say?

The bookkeeping obligation for Swiss businesses is regulated in the Swiss Code of Obligations, specifically in Art. 957 CO. It states: anyone who is required to register their business in the Commercial Register must maintain proper accounting in accordance with the principles of proper financial reporting.

For sole proprietorships, this means: once you achieve an annual revenue of CHF 500,000 or more, you are required to register in the Commercial Register -- and are therefore automatically subject to full (double-entry) bookkeeping. Below this threshold, Art. 957 para. 2 CO applies: you only need to keep records of income, expenses and your financial position. This is known as simplified bookkeeping.

But be careful: even if you are below the threshold, you must document your income and expenses without gaps. The tax office does not accept empty folders. The bookkeeping obligation exists from the first day of your self-employment -- regardless of revenue.

02Simplified vs. Full Bookkeeping

Swiss law recognises two levels of bookkeeping. Which one applies to you depends primarily on your annual revenue. Here is a direct comparison:

The income-expenditure statement is the right choice for most self-employed people. You list all income and expenses chronologically and calculate the profit at the end of the year. This is sufficient for the tax office and can be done in just a few minutes per week with good software.

Double-entry bookkeeping becomes mandatory from CHF 500,000 annual revenue. Each transaction is recorded in at least two accounts (debit and credit), and you prepare a complete balance sheet and profit and loss statement at year-end. This is significantly more work but provides greater transparency about your company's financial position.

03What Must I Retain?

The retention obligation is clearly regulated in Swiss law: you must retain all business-relevant documents for 10 years. Everything you need to know is covered in our article on retaining receipts. The period begins at the end of the financial year in which the document was created. This obligation applies to all self-employed persons -- regardless of the size of the business.

What exactly must you retain? The obligation covers the following categories:

• Transaction receipts: All receipts underlying a booking -- receipts, till slips, bank statements, credit card statements
• Invoices: All issued and received invoices (accounts receivable and payable)
• Business correspondence: Contracts, quotations, order confirmations, relevant emails
• Accounting records: The income-expenditure statement or balance sheet/profit and loss statement, journal, account statements
• Tax documents: Tax returns, VAT returns, OASI certificates
• Inventory: If applicable, an annual asset statement

The 10-year period applies to both paper and digital documents. You must ensure that the documents remain legible and accessible throughout the entire retention period. Use our year-end closing checklist for guidance. A well-organised digital archive is clearly superior to paper filing.

04VAT and Bookkeeping

Once you are subject to VAT -- i.e. from a worldwide annual revenue of CHF 100,000 -- the requirements for your bookkeeping increase considerably. The FTA (Federal Tax Administration) demands more detailed documentation than the cantonal tax office.

Specifically, if you are subject to VAT, you must also consider the following points:

• VAT-compliant invoices: Every invoice you issue must contain the legally required information -- including VAT number, tax rate and tax amount
• Document input tax deductions: If you use the effective method, you must be able to produce a formally correct receipt for every input tax deduction. No receipt = no deduction
• VAT journal: You need a complete record of all taxable revenues and input taxes, broken down by tax rates (8.1% standard rate, 2.6% reduced rate, 3.8% special rate)
• Quarterly or semi-annual returns: Depending on the method, you file your VAT return quarterly (effective method) or semi-annually (flat tax rate) with the FTA

05Digital vs. Paper Bookkeeping

Swiss law permits fully digital bookkeeping. You may scan, photograph or receive and archive your receipts directly in digital form. Paper originals do not need to be additionally retained, as long as the digital copy meets the requirements.

However, the law sets clear requirements for digital archiving:

• Immutability: Stored receipts must not be modifiable after the fact. PDF files on a hard drive are generally sufficient -- but tamper-proof formats are recommended
• Legibility: Documents must remain legible throughout the entire 10-year retention period. Regular backups are mandatory
• Systematic filing: You must be able to locate receipts within a reasonable time. A chaotic folder structure on your desktop is not sufficient
• Availability: In the event of an audit by the tax office or the FTA, you must be able to present the documents promptly and in legible form

Digital bookkeeping is not only permitted but clearly superior in practice. You save space, find receipts faster and can send your entire bookkeeping as a PDF or ZIP to your accountant or the tax office. Important: make sure you do regular backups -- ideally automated in the cloud.

06How einzly Simplifies the Obligation

The legal requirements may sound like a lot of work at first. In practice, however, most of it can be automated -- and that is exactly what einzly is built for. As an accounting tool specifically for Swiss self-employed professionals, einzly covers all obligations without you needing to study accounting theory.

Here is how einzly helps you specifically:

• Automatic categorisation: Income and expenses are automatically assigned to the correct categories. You do not need to know any chart of accounts
• Digital receipts: Photograph receipts directly in the app. They are linked to the correct transaction and archived for 10 years
• Income-expenditure statement at the click of a button: Your income-expenditure statement is created automatically and can be exported as a PDF at any time
• VAT return: If you are subject to VAT, einzly calculates your liability automatically -- whether you use the effective method or the flat tax rate
• Year-end closing as ZIP: All receipts, the income-expenditure statement, VAT summary and other documents in a single ZIP export for the tax office or your accountant

07Frequently Asked Questions About Bookkeeping Obligations