Between 3,000 and 8,000 CHF. That's what the average Swiss SME using the effective VAT method loses each year by not properly recovering VAT on expense reports. A business coffee at 8 CHF, a client meal at 120 CHF, a taxi to an important meeting... These small expenses add up, and with them, recoverable VAT that's left on the table.
Are you using the net tax rate method (NTDR)? You can skip this article, it doesn't concern you. With this simplified method, you don't recover VAT on your purchases, that's the whole point.
Are you using the effective method? Then keep reading, because we've noticed that even when recovery is possible, many entrepreneurs give up when faced with illegible receipts, incomplete documentation, and confusion about applicable rules. Result: money left unclaimed, and hours wasted manually processing each expense report.
Three questions for you: are you certain you're using the right VAT accounting method? Is your documentation compliant with Art. 26 VAT requirements? And how much time are you wasting each month manually processing your expense reports?
Understanding VAT in Two Lines: Know the Rules to Recover Better
Value Added Tax (VAT) is an indirect tax you pay on your purchases and charge to your clients. But before discussing VAT recovery, one essential question: which accounting method have you chosen?
If you've opted for the net tax rate method (Art. 37 VAT - flat-rate method by sector), you've voluntarily chosen simplicity: you pay the tax authorities a fixed percentage of your turnover according to your business sector. The 2025 rates are, for example, 6.2% for liberal professions (lawyers, fiduciaries, business consultants, IT services), 5.3% for catering and hospitality (excluding accommodation), or 2.1% for trade in goods at the standard rate and hotel accommodation. The advantage? Reduced administrative burden. The disadvantage? You cannot deduct VAT paid on your business purchases. In this case, recovering VAT on your expense reports is not possible, and this article doesn't directly concern you.
If you're using the effective method (standard method according to Art. 28 VAT), the principle is this: you deduct the VAT you paid on your business expenses (input tax) from what you collect on your sales, and only remit the difference to the tax authorities. This is where VAT recovery on your expense reports makes complete sense and can represent several thousand francs in savings per year. But beware: this recovery is subject to strict documentation requirements.
The golden rules for recovering VAT: the expense must be strictly related to your taxable activity (Art. 28 para. 1 let. a VAT), justified by compliant documentation meeting the requirements of Art. 26 VAT stating the supplier's and recipient's company name, the amount excluding and including VAT with indication of the applicable VAT rate (8.1% standard rate, 2.6% reduced rate, 3.8% special accommodation rate). Without these elements, the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) will systematically refuse the deduction.
The Headache of Expense Reports Without Company Names
This is where you need to know the rules well. Your employee pays for a client meal with their personal card, and the receipt shows "Total: 85 CHF incl. VAT". Good news: according to Art. 26 para. 3 VAT Act and Art. 57 VAT Ordinance, for cash register receipts of 400 CHF or less, mentioning the recipient is not mandatory. You can therefore recover VAT on this receipt, provided of course that the expense is related to your activity.
However, the FTA requires that invoices mention the elements of Art. 26 para. 2 VAT Act: supplier's company name, amount excluding and including VAT with indication of the applicable VAT rate (8.1%, 2.6%, or 3.8%), and the supplier's VAT UID number. For amounts over 400 CHF, a complete invoice with recipient identification becomes mandatory (Art. 57 OTVA)
Another important tolerance according to Info VAT 09: for clearly professional expenses (hotel nights, domestic flights, phone subscriptions), the FTA accepts input tax deduction even if invoices are issued in employees' names. The employer can deduct input tax on the portion of expenses they cover.
The pragmatic solution remains to systematically request a nominative invoice in the company's name for significant expenses. For small daily expenses, favor using company cards. And meticulously keep all documentation while documenting the professional context: with whom, for which project, for what purpose. This documentation will facilitate your fiduciary's work and demonstrate your good faith in case of a tax audit.
Going Further: Digitizing Your Expense Reports and Securing Your VAT
Manually managing dozens of expense reports per month is the daily reality for many Swiss SMEs: receipts accumulating at the bottom of wallets, grouped submissions every 3 months when the employee finally remembers, overflowing folders of paper documentation, and ultimately... hours lost re-entering everything in accounting without even being certain of VAT compliance.
At DHAC, we help our SME clients move beyond this archaic process. The goal isn't just to save time, but above all to secure VAT recovery by ensuring documentation compliance from the moment of expense.
The principle is simple: your employee pays, takes a photo of the receipt with their smartphone, and sends it by email. This automatically creates a digital reimbursement request where everything is linked and archived online. No more lost receipts, no more folders, no more manual entries. But most importantly, this allows us to focus on what matters: validating documentation compliance with Art. 26 VAT requirements, and verifying that the expense is properly related to the activity.
As an Official Odoo Partner, we implement these digitized processes via the Odoo Expense module, but our added value goes far beyond the tool: we configure the system according to your specificities (sectoral rates, validation rules, approval workflows), we train your teams on VAT documentation best practices, and we ensure direct integration with your accounting so your VAT returns are accurate and compliant.
Result? Your employees are reimbursed faster, you recover the VAT you're entitled to without risk during an FTA audit, and your fiduciary spends less time on administrative tasks to focus on value-added consulting. That's Swiss digital accounting: precision, compliance, and efficiency.
Stop Losing Money on Your Expense Reports
3,000 to 8,000 CHF lost per year + dozens of hours wasted on manual data entry.
At DHAC, we digitize your expense reports process in less than 2 weeks
- Photo of receipt → Automatic VAT validation → Accounting entry
- Art. 26 VAT Act compliance guaranteed
- Zero risk during FTA audits
Free consultation | Implementation in 2 weeks
I want to save money → | 📞 +41 78 848 83 63