In the vote on September 25, 2022, the amendment to the AHV Act and the federal decree on the additional financing of the AHV through an increase in VAT were approved. At its meeting on December 9, 2022, the Federal Council set the date for entry into force as January 1, 2024. The standard rate will be increased from the current 7.7% to 8.1%. The reduced rate of currently 2.5% and the accommodation rate of 3.7% will be increased by 0.1% to 2.6% and 3.8% respectively.
The applicable tax rate is determined neither by the date of invoicing nor the date of payment, but by the date on which the service is provided. In the case of periodic services (e.g. subscriptions), the period of service provision is decisive. Services rendered up to December 31, 2023 are subject to the previous tax rates, while services rendered from January 1, 2024 are subject to the new tax rates. If services that are subject to both the previous and the new tax rates due to the period in which they are provided are listed on the same invoice, the date or period of provision of the service and the respective proportion of the amount attributable to it must be shown separately. If this is not the case, all invoiced services must be settled using the new tax rates.
Due to the VAT agreement with Switzerland, VAT rates in Liechtenstein will also be increased in parallel with Switzerland.
