Simple Bookkeeping Template: Free for Beginners

01What is simple bookkeeping?

Simple bookkeeping — also called an income and expense statement — is the simplest form of accounting allowed by Swiss law. You only record what comes in and what goes out. No balance sheet, no double-entry bookkeeping, no complicated accounts.

Under Swiss Code of Obligations Art. 957, sole proprietorships with annual revenue below CHF 500,000 may use this simplified bookkeeping. This applies to the vast majority of freelancers, consultants, therapists and small business owners in Switzerland.

Simple vs. double-entry bookkeepingSimple bookkeeping only records cash flows (income and expenses). Double-entry bookkeeping additionally records assets, liabilities and equity. Below CHF 500,000 revenue, simple bookkeeping is sufficient — and that's exactly what our template is designed for.

02What needs to be recorded?

Even simple bookkeeping must meet certain requirements. The tax office expects a complete, chronological record of all business transactions.

Date: When did the transaction take place?
Type: Is it income or an expense?
Description: Who paid or what was paid for?
Category: What type of entry is it (services, rent, software, etc.)?
Amount: How much in CHF?

Don't forget receiptsEvery entry needs a receipt — an invoice, a receipt or a bank statement. Receipts must be kept for 10 years according to Swiss law. Scan paper receipts and store them digitally.

If you are not VAT-registered (below CHF 100,000 annual revenue and not voluntarily registered), you don't need any VAT columns. That's exactly what makes our template particularly beginner-friendly.

03Our free template

Our simple bookkeeping template is intentionally minimalist. No jargon, no unnecessary columns — just what you actually need.

Sheet 'Buchungen' (Entries): All income and expenses in one place. Date, type (income/expense via dropdown), description, category and amount.
Sheet 'Monatsübersicht' (Monthly overview): Automatic summary — total income, total expenses, profit/loss and number of entries. All calculated by formulas.

Download simple bookkeeping template

Free, no registration required — .xlsx file, compatible with Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.

Are you VAT-registered?Then use our Excel template with VAT calculation — with separate sheets for income, expenses and VAT overview.

04How to fill in the template

Open the template

Download the .xlsx file and open it in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice. Delete the sample rows.

Record income

For every payment you receive: enter the date, select type 'Einnahme' (income), add a description and amount. One transaction per row.

Record expenses

For every business expense: same process, but select type 'Ausgabe' (expense). Remember rent, software, materials, insurance and AHV contributions.

Check the overview

Switch to the 'Monatsübersicht' (monthly overview) sheet. Your profit and summary are calculated automatically. Check at least monthly.

05Avoid common mistakes

Especially at the beginning, errors creep in quickly. These five points cost most self-employed people time and money:

Putting off entries: If you wait until year-end, you'll forget entries and lose receipts. Record at least weekly.
Mixing personal and business: Use a separate business account. If you buy groceries and invoice clients from the same account, your bookkeeping becomes chaos.
Not keeping receipts: Without a receipt, the expense is not tax-deductible. 10-year retention requirement — digital is fine.
Inconsistent categories: Use the same categories throughout the year. 'Office', 'Office costs' and 'Büro' shouldn't exist side by side.
Ignoring private use: If you use your phone, car or office privately too, you must deduct the private share. The tax office checks this.

06When is a simple template no longer enough?

An Excel template is a good start — but at some point it reaches its limits. These signals tell you it's time for a proper tool:

You have more than 20 entries per month — you lose track
You become VAT-registered (from CHF 100,000 revenue) — the template has no VAT logic
You want to send QR invoices — Excel can't do that
You need a clean year-end closing as PDF for the tax office
You want to link receipts directly instead of storing them separately

Watch out with a growing businessOnce your revenue exceeds CHF 100,000, you automatically become VAT-registered. Then you need VAT columns, a correct input tax statement and the ability to submit VAT returns to the Federal Tax Administration. Excel can't do that.

07From template to einzly

einzly was built specifically for self-employed people with no accounting knowledge. You don't need an accountant or a business degree. The app guides you step by step — and handles everything Excel can't.

Feature	This template	einzly
Income & expenses	✓ Manual	✓ Automatically categorised
Type dropdown	✓ Income/Expense	✓ Automatically detected
Monthly overview	✓ Formulas	✓ Live dashboard
VAT calculation	✗ Not included	✓ Automatic
QR invoices	✗ Not possible	✓ Swiss QR standard
Link receipts	✗ Not possible	✓ Photo upload
Year-end closing	✗ Manual	✓ PDF export
Price	Free	From CHF 9/month

You can switch at any time — import your existing data and continue working immediately. No data is lost.

Try free for 30 daysStart free with einzly — no credit card required. When the template is no longer enough, einzly is the next step.

08Frequently asked questions

Yes. According to Swiss Code of Obligations Art. 957, you must at least keep records of income, expenses and financial position. Simple bookkeeping fulfils this obligation for sole proprietorships below CHF 500,000 revenue.

Yes — as long as you document all entries completely, chronologically and with receipts. The tax office accepts a clean income and expense statement as an attachment to your tax return. What matters is that the profit is calculated transparently.

Simple bookkeeping only records cash flows — what comes in and goes out. Double-entry bookkeeping additionally records assets and liabilities via a balance sheet. Below CHF 500,000 revenue, the simple version is sufficient.

That's exactly what it's designed for. The template intentionally contains no VAT columns and is ideal for self-employed people who are not yet VAT-registered (below CHF 100,000 revenue). If you need to record VAT, use our extended template with VAT calculation.