VAT Period

• Introduction
  • VAT Accounting Methods
  • Period Status
• Allowed query parameters
• Retrieve a VAT period
• List VAT periods

Introduction

VAT periods represent the time intervals for Swiss VAT accounting and reporting. They are automatically generated based on the organization's VAT accounting method and serve as the foundation for VAT calculations, reporting, and compliance with Swiss tax regulations.

VAT Accounting Methods

Switzerland supports two primary VAT accounting methods, each with different period structures:

Method	Period Length	Description
Effective	Quarterly	Standard method with quarterly VAT periods (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)
Net Tax Rate	Semi-annual	Simplified method with two periods per year (S1: Jan-Jun, S2: Jul-Dec)

Period Status

VAT periods can be in different states:

• Open: Period is active and transactions can be posted
• Closed: Period is finalized with saved VAT calculations, no further changes allowed
• Current: The period that includes today's date

Allowed query parameters

VAT periods support no filters, sorts or includes. They are always sorted by start_date, newest first.

Retrieve a VAT period

get

/vat_period/{id}

Example response

// HTTP 200 OK
{
    "id": "v7rnRjBn9o",
    "name": "2024 / 1. Quartal",
    "short_name": "2024-Q1",
    "sequence_number": 1,
    "year": 2024,
    "start_date": "2024-01-01",
    "end_date": "2024-03-31",
    "closed_at": "2024-04-15T10:30:00.000000Z",
    "is_closed": true,
    "accounting_type": {
        "name": "Agreed",
        "value": "agreed",
        "label": "Nach vereinbartem Entgelt"
    },
    "accounting_method": {
        "name": "Effective",
        "value": "effective",
        "label": "Effektive Abrechnungsmethode"
    },
    "booking_method": {
        "name": "Net",
        "value": "net",
        "label": "Nettomethode"
    }
}

List VAT periods

get

/vat_period

The list endpoint accepts the same parameters as in Retrieve a VAT period and returns a paginated array of the same VAT period object in the data property.

Read more about Pagination, Filtering, Sorting and Includes on the Introduction page.

Example response

// HTTP 200 OK
{
    "data": [
        {
            "id": "current_q4",
            "name": "2024 / 4. Quartal",
            "short_name": "2024-Q4",
            "sequence_number": 4,
            "year": 2024,
            "start_date": "2024-10-01",
            "end_date": "2024-12-31",
            "closed_at": null,
            "is_closed": false,
            "accounting_type": {
                "name": "Agreed",
                "value": "agreed",
                "label": "Nach vereinbartem Entgelt"
            },
            "accounting_method": {
                "name": "Effective",
                "value": "effective",
                "label": "Effektive Abrechnungsmethode"
            },
            "booking_method": {
                "name": "Net",
                "value": "net",
                "label": "Nettomethode"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "closed_q3",
            "name": "2024 / 3. Quartal",
            "short_name": "2024-Q3",
            "sequence_number": 3,
            "year": 2024,
            "start_date": "2024-07-01",
            "end_date": "2024-09-30",
            "closed_at": "2024-10-10T14:22:15.000000Z",
            "is_closed": true,
            "accounting_type": {
                "name": "Agreed",
                "value": "agreed",
                "label": "Nach vereinbartem Entgelt"
            },
            "accounting_method": {
                "name": "Effective",
                "value": "effective",
                "label": "Effektive Abrechnungsmethode"
            },
            "booking_method": {
                "name": "Net",
                "value": "net",
                "label": "Nettomethode"
            }
        }
    ],
    "links": {
        "first": "https://api.example.com/vat_period?page=1",
        "last": "https://api.example.com/vat_period?page=3",
        "prev": null,
        "next": "https://api.example.com/vat_period?page=2"
    },
    "meta": {
        "current_page": 1,
        "from": 1,
        "last_page": 3,
        "per_page": 25,
        "to": 25,
        "total": 68
    }
}