Deposit invoice in Switzerland: when to ask for one, when the VAT is due and how to deduct the deposit on the final invoice

For a tradesperson's job (a work contract, Art. 363 CO), the basic rule is Art. 372 of the Code of Obligations: “The customer must pay for the work on completion or delivery.” Paragraph 2 adds: “Where the work is delivered in stages and payment in instalments has been agreed, the amount due for each stage of the work is payable on delivery thereof.” The law therefore provides for payment on delivery, in full or in stages, but says nothing about a payment BEFORE the work.

The word “deposit” does not appear in the rules on work contracts (Art. 363 to 379) or on sales; the sales rules only mention an advance payment of the price where the item is to be delivered against it (Art. 214 para. 1). For a sale, Art. 184 para. 2 says: “Unless otherwise provided by agreement or custom, the seller and the buyer are obliged to discharge their obligations simultaneously quid pro quo.” In practice, a deposit is agreed (for a sale, it may also follow from custom). The simplest way is to write it in the quote (a percentage or an amount, and when it is due) before the customer accepts it. The law sets no deposit percentage.

The quotes above come from the English translation published on Fedlex, which is for information only and has no legal force; the binding texts are in German, French and Italian.

For VAT, the title of the document does not matter: an invoice “means any document by which the consideration for a supply is settled with a third party, irrespective of how the document is titled in business transactions” (Art. 3 let. k VAT Act). A deposit invoice therefore follows the rules of other invoices. The details of Art. 26 (supplier and VAT number, recipient, nature of the supply, consideration, tax rate and tax amount, the rate alone being enough when the consideration includes the tax) are due when the recipient asks for an invoice, and “as a rule”. For the public sector, the FTA writes that deposit invoices should preferably meet the requirements of Art. 26 (Info TVA 19, public authorities, section E.1.4).

When the VAT is due depends on the reporting method and on the type of deposit. The table follows Art. 40 VAT Act. The FTA speaks of an advance payment when no supply has yet been made at the time the tax claim arises, and of a partial payment when the amount paid only covers the part of the supply already made (Info TVA 19 on the 2024 rate increase, sections 2.3 and 2.2.1). For construction, when reporting on agreed considerations, it attaches partial invoices and the deposit requests treated like them to the period in which they are issued, and advance payments to the period in which they are collected (Info TVA 04, construction industry, section 6). If in doubt about your case, ask your fiduciary.

A tradesperson registered for VAT (standard rate 8.1%) issues a quote for CHF 10,000.00 net of VAT and asks for a 30% deposit when the order is placed. The three documents:

This is the layout that the FTA gives as incorrect (Info TVA 19, public authorities, section E.1.4.3). If the final invoice calculates VAT on the total (810.00) and then deducts the deposit including VAT (3,243.00), the customer pays the right amount, but the VAT of the deposit is printed twice: 243.00 on the deposit invoice and again within the 810.00 of the final invoice. Under Art. 27 para. 2 VAT Act, persons who “detail too high a tax for a supply, shall owe the tax detailed”, unless the invoice is corrected or they show probable cause that the Confederation has not suffered a loss of tax.

The FTA reminds issuers that, because of the deposit invoices, the final invoice must not show the VAT twice or too high an amount. The layout it gives as an example: the deposit collected, net of VAT, is first deducted from the total net of VAT, then VAT is calculated only on the remaining amount (Info TVA 19, public authorities, sections E.1.4 and E.1.4.2). That is the layout of the example above.

Another layout appears in an FTA publication for lawyers and notaries: the total including VAT at 8.1%, less your deposit including VAT at 8.1%, then the balance, with no separate VAT amount (Info TVA 18, section 6, example 3): the rate alone is enough when the tax is included (Art. 26 para. 2 let. f VAT Act). If your deposit invoice showed a VAT amount, the final invoice the FTA gives as correct is the one in section E.1.4.2. Deposit invoiced before a VAT rate change and balance after it (for example the VAT increase put to the federal vote of 29 November 2026, at the earliest in 2028): see our page VAT at 8.5% in 2028?.

In Fele-facture, the deposit invoice is created from the quote, as long as it has not been converted into an invoice: the “Deposit invoice” button, as an amount or a percentage of the quote (10, 25, 30 or 50% in one tap, or another percentage), with a “Round down” button that brings the amount down to the hundred below (to the thousand below from 10,000.00). It is an ordinary invoice, with its own number, titled “Deposit invoice” and showing “As per quote No. …”; it takes the customer and the VAT yes or no choice of the quote, and its total lands to the centime on the percentage or amount asked for; if it exceeds what remains to be invoiced on the quote, the window caps it at that remainder and says so. You can create several for the same quote: from the second one, the window shows what has already been invoiced and what remains, and suggests that remainder, which you can change. Each one counts towards the documents of the month. Once the quote has been converted, it no longer accepts deposit invoices: “Copy into a new quote”, in My documents, starts again from a copy.

When the work is finished, “Convert to invoice” creates the final invoice: the sum of the deposit invoices is prefilled and can be changed, printed with their numbers, and the QR payment part asks for the remaining amount. With VAT, the deposit is deducted net of VAT and VAT is calculated only on the balance, as in the example. A deposit received without a deposit invoice is entered in the “Deposit paid” field: it is then deducted including VAT, after the VAT on the total, which only suits a deposit for which no invoice showing VAT was issued. The QR payment part is included from the Independent plan (CHF 15 a month); the Free plan (5 invoices or quotes a month) produces invoices without a QR payment part. Progress invoices for work in stages (one invoice per stage of a building site) are not handled as such. Invoices are in Swiss francs.

If the customer pays the deposit in cash and asks for a receipt, a receipt can state that the payment is partial and what remains due. To chase an unpaid deposit invoice, see unpaid invoice: what to do.