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

Filters

Filter	Type	Description
search	String	Full-text search across period names
year	Integer	Filter by fiscal year
closed	Boolean	Filter by closed status (true for closed, false for open periods only)
current	Boolean	Filter for current period only (true returns only the period containing today's date)
accounting_method	String	Filter by accounting method (effective or net_tax_rate)
accounting_type	String	Filter by accounting type (agreed or received)

Sorting

start_date, end_date, closed_at, year, sequence_number

Default sort: -start_date (newest first)

Includes

fiscalYear - Include the related fiscal year information

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
    }
}