E-invoicing in Switzerland: is it mandatory, and in what form?

A PDF sent by email is the invoice itself: no format is prescribed. The QR-bill is not an e-invoice in the strict sense: it is the payment part standardised by SIX, printed on the PDF or on paper, which the customer scans, and no law requires you to include one. How to create one is explained in our guide to the Swiss QR-bill.

eBill is a channel: the invoice arrives in the customer's online banking, where they check and approve it. According to eBill (27 August 2026), the service has four million registered users, over 110 banks support it, 93 million invoices were processed in 2025 and the platform expects to process 100 million invoices in a year for the first time in 2026.

A structured e-invoice transmits machine-readable data that is imported into the customer's accounting software. For the Confederation, it goes through PostFinance or Swisscom, or through a provider with an interconnect to them such as ABACUS, io-market, PENTAG or StepCom (Federal Finance Administration).

The Confederation. The Federal Tax Administration writes that, under the Federal Council's decision, suppliers of the federal administration must use electronic invoicing for contracts whose value exceeds CHF 5,000. The Swiss Federal Audit Office speaks of contracts “worth CHF 5,000 or more”, mandatory since 1 January 2016 with a transition until 1 January 2017 (audit 16580): for a contract of exactly CHF 5,000, ask the office. According to the Federal Finance Administration, small procurements are exempt, and the Confederation already receives over 90% of its invoices electronically, about 687,000 out of some 750,000 a year.

Health insurance. Since 1 July 2026, Art. 42 para. 3ter of the Health Insurance Act says that the service provider sends its invoice electronically to the party who owes the payment: the insurer under the “tiers payant” system, the insured person under the “tiers garant” system (Art. 42 paras. 1 and 2). If the insured person asks, they get a paper copy free of charge. Providers and insurers must agree on a single standard for the whole of Switzerland; if they do not agree within two years, the Federal Council sets it (transitional provisions of the amendment of 21 March 2025). Fele-facture does not produce these health insurance invoices.

Cantons, municipalities and other public buyers: the Federal Council's decision covers suppliers of the federal administration. Another public body can set its own requirements; ask it, before you invoice, in what form it wants the invoice.

Between private businesses and to private customers, outside health insurance, no general federal law requires eBill, an XML format or Peppol. A customer can still require one by contract: that is then a commercial matter.

Sending a PDF by email is free for all invoices to the federal administration. The rules (Federal Finance Administration): one PDF file per invoice, including any payment slips and enclosures; several PDFs may go in one email, up to 25 MB; always put the invoice reference you received from the office in the PDF. Digital signatures in the PDF are kept and remain valid.

The address depends on the administrative unit, in the list published by the Federal Finance Administration. Most units use the central address PDF-Rechnung@efv.admin.ch; some, such as the Federal Administrative Court, armasuisse and Defence, have their own. Check the list before sending.

According to the Federal Finance Administration, since 30 June 2023 the federal administration no longer accepts PDF invoices via service providers: a PDF goes by email. Structured data goes through PostFinance, Swisscom or a provider linked to them; entering the invoice in a service provider's online form is another route, suggested for businesses that send the Confederation only a few invoices.

In Fele-facture, the order reference is printed through a custom field: in Settings › Invoice appearance, section “Customise my invoice”, turn on “Enable customisation” (off by default, available on all plans), then add a field named “Order reference”, or rename an existing one such as “Contract / file no.”. This setting is saved on the device.

For a VAT-registered business, the invoice must as a rule contain the details of Art. 26 para. 2 of the VAT Act (set out in our guide on how to invoice as a freelancer in Switzerland); the law says nothing about the medium. Since 1 January 2018, Art. 122 of the VAT Ordinance refers, for the transmission and retention of electronic vouchers, to Art. 957 to 958f CO and to the ordinance on the keeping and retention of accounting records (GeBüV/Olico).

Signatures: the Federal Tax Administration sees no need to require qualified electronic signatures for VAT purposes. What counts is being able to prove the authenticity (origin) and integrity of the data used to deduct input tax or to levy the tax; printed, scanned and electronic invoices have the same evidential value (FTA). In VAT proceedings, “the principle of the free consideration of evidence applies” (Art. 81 para. 3 VAT Act).

Retention: accounting records and vouchers are kept for ten years from the end of the financial year, on paper, electronically or in a comparable manner, provided the link with the underlying transactions is guaranteed and they can be made readable again at any time (Art. 958f paras. 1 and 3 CO). For VAT, a registered business keeps its records until the right to establish the tax claim has prescribed (Art. 70 para. 2 VAT Act); business documents needed for a later input tax deduction or the own use of immovable property, 20 years (Art. 70 para. 3).

As an issuer, you can only connect to the SIX eBill infrastructure through a certified network partner, and your customers must add your business as an invoice issuer in their eBill portal (eBill, “Send invoices”). Business customers who receive eBills are identified by their business identification number (UID) (eBill FAQ).

The price is set by the network partner (eBill FAQ). Example read on 10 November 2026 at PostFinance: CHF 0.40 per invoice up to 1,000 invoices a month, CHF 0.35 up to 5,000, CHF 0.30 up to 10,000, above that on request, all net of VAT; the first tier includes CHF 8 of free transactions each month.

For private customers, eBill is free, and invoices they have approved for payment stay visible in the eBill archive for 730 days after the due date (eBill FAQ).

France: since 1 September 2026, every business established in France must be able to receive e-invoices; large and mid-sized companies must also issue them, and SMEs and micro-businesses by 1 September 2027 at the latest (DGFiP, fact sheet 1, updated June 2026). A foreign business without a permanent establishment in France is outside the e-invoicing scope. But if it makes a supply located in France on which it owes French VAT itself, it falls under e-reporting (sending transaction data to the tax authority), from 1 September 2027 for an SME or micro-business; exports are excluded (DGFiP, webinar of 10 February 2026). For a job in France, have your case checked by an accountant.

Germany: since 1 January 2025, transactions between businesses established in Germany (“inländische Unternehmer”) must as a rule use an e-invoice, with transitional rules, and such businesses have had to be able to receive one since then (Federal Ministry of Finance, FAQ): a German customer may ask you for one. Accepted formats follow the EN 16931 standard, including XRechnung and ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1, except the MINIMUM and BASIC-WL profiles.

Italy: the e-invoicing obligation applies only to transactions between parties resident or established in Italy (Agenzia delle Entrate): a Swiss supplier without an establishment in Italy is not subject to it.

In all three countries, a customer can require a format by contract. Fele-facture produces no structured invoices (no XML, XRechnung or ZUGFeRD); its PDFs exist in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Fele-facture creates invoices and quotes as PDFs. If the customer record has an email address, the “Email to …” button sends the PDF from our servers after you confirm, with a short message you can edit; you receive a copy, and your customer replies straight to your address. You can also share or download the PDF and attach it to your own email. The QR payment part is printed in English, French, German or Italian.

Fele-facture does not issue eBills, is not an eBill network partner, produces no XML files (no Peppol, ZUGFeRD, XRechnung or health insurance invoices) and sends nothing to your customers on its own initiative: an email only goes when you tap “Email to …” or, from the Independent plan (and during the trial), “🔔 Send reminder” for a payment reminder, never automatically.

Plans: Free, 5 invoices or quotes a month, PDFs without the QR payment part. QR-bill included from Independent (CHF 15 a month, 25 invoices or quotes); Unlimited CHF 29 a month; yearly CHF 150 or CHF 290. The full 14-day trial needs no card and starts when you enter a Swiss or Liechtenstein IBAN. The payment part needs a valid CH or LI IBAN and your structured address; app invoices are in Swiss francs (CHF). The payment slip alone: our free QR-bill generator, no account. Other Swiss tools are compared in invoicing software in Switzerland.