Value Added Tax Ordinance (VAT Ordinance)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.
Art. 143 Entitlement to claim tax relief
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) 1 Institutional and individual beneficiaries are entitled to claim relief from VAT. 2 Institutional beneficiaries are: a. beneficiaries under Article 2 paragraph 1 HSA who are exempt from the indirect taxes in accordance with public international law, an agreement concluded with the Federal Council for exemption from the indirect taxes or a decision of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) under Article 26 paragraph 3 HSA; b. beneficiaries under Article 2 paragraph 1 HSA domiciled abroad, to the extent they are exempt from the indirect taxes in accordance with their foundation deeds, a protocol concerning the privileges and immunities or other public international law agreements. 3 Individual beneficiaries are: a. heads of state and government while actually exercising an official function on Swiss territory and persons in their entourage who enjoy diplomatic status; b. diplomatic representatives, consular officials, and persons in their ent
Para. 2 let. a — SR 192.12
Art. 144 Tax exemption
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) 1 Exempt from the tax are: a. supplies of goods and services on Swiss territory by taxable persons to institutional and individual beneficiaries; b. the acquisition of supplies from businesses with their place of business abroad by institutional and individual beneficiaries. 2 The tax exemption applies only to supplies of goods and supplies of services: a. to individual beneficiaries if they are exclusively for personal use; b. to institutional beneficiaries if they are exclusively for official use.
Para. 1 let. b — Amended by No I of the O of 18 Oct. 2017, in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2017 6307).
Art. 145 Conditions for the tax exemption
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) 1 An institutional beneficiary that wishes to claim a tax exemption must before every acquisition of supplies certify on the official form that the supplies acquired are for official use. 2 An individual beneficiary who wishes to claim tax exemption must before every acquisition of supplies have certified by the institutional beneficiary to which the person belongs, on the official form, that the person enjoys the status under Article 143 paragraph 3, which confers entitlement to tax free acquisition. The individual beneficiary must hand over the official form signed in person to the supplier and provide proof of identify on every acquisition of supplies with the identification card issued by the competent federal authority. 3 A tax exemption under Article 144 paragraph 1 letter a may be claimed only if the effective acquisition price for the supplies indicated on the invoice or an equivalent document is at least 100 francs, including tax. This minimum
Para. 4 — SR 641.611 Para. 4 — SR 631.144.0 Para. 4 — SR 631.145.0
Art. 146 Tax refund
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) 1 In justified cases, the FTA may on application refund tax amounts already paid for which a claim to tax relief exists; it may, in consultation with the FDFA, charge a processing fee for this service. 2 For the tax refund, Article 145 paragraph 3 applies by analogy. 3 An institutional beneficiary may not make more than two applications for a tax refund per calendar year. The official form must be used. 4 Individual beneficiaries may not make more than one application for a tax refund per calendar year. The applications by individual persons must be collected by the organisation to which they belong for submission once annually. 5 The FTA may, in consultation with the FDFA, set a minimum refund amount per application. No payment interest is paid on the refund amounts.
Art. 147 Retention obligation
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) The taxable person must retain in full the originals of the official forms used, together with the other receipts, in accordance with Article 70 paragraph 2 VAT Act. For electronically transmitted and stored official forms, Article 122 applies by analogy.
The reference has been adapted in application of Art. 12 para. 2 of the Publications Act of 18 June 2004 (SR 170.512) on 1. Jan. 2018.
Art. 148 Input tax deduction
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) The tax on supplies of goods, on imports of goods and on supplies of services that are used to effect tax free supplies to institutional and individual beneficiaries may be deducted as input tax.
Art. 149 Subsequent tax collection and offences
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) 1 If the conditions for a tax exemption under Articles 144 and 145 are not met or subsequently not fulfilled, in cases of tax exemption under Article 144 paragraph 1 letter a the institutional or the individual beneficiary is obliged to pay the taxable person an amount equivalent to the tax due. If this amount is not paid, it is due by the taxable person, to the extent this person is at fault. Institutional and individual beneficiaries are obliged to pay the tax subsequently on the acquisition of supplies of services from businesses with their place of business abroad. 2 The provisions of the Vienna Conventions dated 18 April 1961 on Diplomatic Relations and dated 24 April 1963 on Consular Relations and of the Headquarters Agreement are reserved.
Para. 2 — SR 0.191.01 Para. 2 — SR 0.191.02
Art. 150 Voluntary taxation of supplies exempt without credit
(Art. 107 para. 1 let. a VAT Act) The supplies referred to in Article 21 paragraph 2 numbers 20 and 21 VAT Act, without the value of the land may be taxed voluntarily, provided they have been made to institutional beneficiaries under Article 143 paragraph 2 letter a, regardless whether the institutional beneficiary is liable for tax on Swiss territory. This option is limited to properties and parts of properties which: a. are used for administrative purposes, in particular offices, conference rooms, warehouses, parking places, or which b. are intended exclusively as the residence of the head of a diplomatic mission, a permanent mission or another representative in inter-governmental organisations or of a consular post.
Art. 150 — Amended by No I of the O of 21 Aug. 2024, in force since 1 Jan. 2025 (AS 2024 485).