Invoicing as a private person in Switzerland: side income without being registered as self-employed

Yes. An invoice is a written request for payment: it says who did what, for whom, and how much is to be paid. None of the texts quoted on this page reserves it for businesses. You do not need a company, and entry in the commercial register is only compulsory for a sole proprietorship whose revenues reached CHF 100,000 in the most recent financial year (Art. 931 para. 1 CO).

What the law governs is not the right to write an invoice but what surrounds it: AHV contributions, VAT and income tax. The table below takes these questions one by one.

This page is for people who invoice now and then, alongside a job, studies or retirement. If you are starting a real business, with several customers and regular income, your situation is that of a self-employed person: see our guide how to invoice as a freelancer in Switzerland, which covers joining a compensation office, VAT and an invoice template field by field.

Take the questions in order. Each row gives the official text and what it changes for you. The amounts are those in force in 2026. The VAT Act and the Code of Obligations are quoted from their English translation on Fedlex; the AHV Act, the AHV Ordinance and the Federal Direct Tax Act have no English translation there, so their wording is our translation. AHV is the Swiss old-age and survivors' insurance (OASI in the official English leaflets).

The threshold concerns income from self-employment carried on as a secondary occupation (Art. 19 AHV Ordinance). Three words matter. Self-employment: the compensation office establishes it, not the invoice. Secondary: the activity comes alongside something else. Income: not the total of your invoices. To work out this income, the law deducts from gross income, among other things, the general costs needed to earn it (Art. 9 para. 2 let. a AHV Act, our translation).

The amount is counted per calendar year. The current wording of Art. 19 AHV Ordinance has been in force since 1 January 2025.

Up to CHF 2,500, contributions are only collected at your request: so you can ask to contribute. Above it, leaflet 2.02 states the general rule: “If you work in Switzerland you are required to pay contributions to the OASI, DI and IC schemes.”

Two details from the same leaflet (position as of 1 January 2026). If you can show that the minimum contribution has already been paid on your salary the same year, you can ask for the contributions to be collected at the lowest rate of the degressive scale only (5.371%), provided this income stays below the lowest value of the scale (CHF 10,100). And if you have reached the reference age, you get a personal allowance of CHF 16,800 a year.

Watch out for work done in a private household. Cleaning, babysitting, childcare, home help, help with homework and elder care count as “domestic work”, and so does work in or around a house or apartment, for example a neighbour paid for gardening (leaflet 2.06, Domestic work). Paid work in private households is in principle subject to contributions; young domestic staff are exempt until 31 December of the year in which they turn 25, provided their pay does not exceed CHF 750 per calendar year (unless they ask for contributions to be paid). If a household employs you for such tasks, the amount is a salary, not something to invoice; if in doubt, the compensation office decides.

VAT concerns a person who carries on a business, that is, who independently performs a professional or commercial activity “with the aim of sustainably earning income from supplies” (Art. 10 para. 1bis VAT Act). Even then, a person is exempt from VAT liability below CHF 100,000 of turnover in one year (Art. 10 para. 2 let. a VAT Act).

For your invoice, the consequence is simple. Without entry in the Register of Taxable Persons, you “may not include VAT details on invoices” (Art. 27 para. 1 VAT Act): no rate, no VAT amount, no VAT number. A person who does so anyway “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 (Art. 27 para. 2 VAT Act).

A short line such as “Not registered for VAT” helps a business customer understand why there is no VAT. It is recommended, not required by law. Special cases (an activity that starts with CHF 100,000 foreseeable, voluntary registration) are covered in our guide how to invoice as a freelancer. If the VAT rates change, as with the increase put to the federal vote of 29 November 2026, nothing changes on the invoices of a person who is not registered: see VAT increase in 2028.

Federal direct tax covers all of the taxpayer's income, whether one-off or recurring (Art. 16 para. 1 Federal Direct Tax Act), including income from any other self-employed gainful activity (Art. 18 para. 1). A side income therefore goes in your tax return, with or without self-employed status, whether or not AHV collects a contribution on it. For how to declare it in your canton, the cantonal tax administration or a fiduciary can help.

For invoices in general, Swiss law only sets a list of required details for VAT (Art. 26 VAT Act), and that list is aimed at VAT-registered persons; some sectors have their own rules. A business entered in the commercial register must also give on its invoices the business name entered in the register, “in full and unamended” (Art. 954a para. 1 CO). For a person who is neither VAT-registered nor in the register, what follows is common practice: it makes an invoice clear, easy to pay and useful as proof.

Your first name, surname and address. The customer's name and address. The invoice date and, if possible, a number (2026-01, 2026-02). A description of the work, with the date or period, the quantity and the price. The total in Swiss francs. Your IBAN and a payment deadline, for example “payable within 30 days”. And nothing about VAT, except the line “Not registered for VAT” if you wish.

Fictitious example: Alex Example, Sample Street 1, 1000 Lausanne, invoice No. 2026-01 of 23 November 2026 to Model Ltd, Fictitious Road 4, 1009 Pully. “Translation of a 4-page text, delivered on 21 November 2026, 3 hours at CHF 40: CHF 120. Not registered for VAT. Payable within 30 days to the IBAN below.”

Do you need a QR payment slip? No: the QR-bill is not a legal requirement, and an invoice that shows your IBAN is valid. The QR slip only saves your customer from typing the IBAN and the amount. You can create one for free, without an account, with the QR-bill generator; since 22 November 2025, only the structured address (street, number, postcode and town in separate fields) is allowed in a QR-bill.

Keep a copy of every invoice: you will need it for your tax return and, if the compensation office asks, to establish your income. If the customer pays in cash, you can give them a receipt.

Employed: the Code of Obligations forbids paid work for third parties “in breach of his duty of loyalty, in particular if such work is in competition with his employer” (Art. 321a para. 3 CO). An employment contract or company rules may also require you to report a side activity or to get consent. Read yours.

A single customer, always the same: leaflet 2.02 states that “if you work for a sole client, you are normally regarded as an employee”. An invoice does not change that: the compensation office looks at the real circumstances.

Retired: after the reference age, the duty to contribute remains, with a personal allowance of CHF 16,800 a year (leaflet 2.02).

Student or person with no other gainful activity: contributions of non-employed persons follow their own rules (leaflet 2.03 of the AHV/IV Information Centre). This page does not cover them: the compensation office can tell you.

In every case, when the doubt is about your status or your contributions, the answer comes from the compensation office of your canton, not from an invoice template.

Fele-facture is a Swiss app that creates invoices and quotes as PDFs, by voice, by photographing a handwritten paper or by typing. Invoices are in Swiss francs, and VAT is switched on or off invoice by invoice: a person who is not VAT-registered issues an invoice without VAT.

The Free plan allows 5 invoices or quotes a month, without the QR payment part: for a few invoices a year with your IBAN, that is enough. The QR-bill is included from the Independent plan (CHF 15 a month); the Unlimited plan costs CHF 29 a month. A 14-day full trial, with no card, starts when you enter a Swiss or Liechtenstein IBAN.

What the app does not do: it is neither accounting software, nor an AHV statement, nor a VAT return. It does not tell you whether you are self-employed and does not calculate your contributions.