Membership dues
Membership fees are levied by category — individual, family, corporate, passive —, sent to everyone as a batch invoice run, and then checked for payment and chased.
Definition
The heart of association work is not the invoice but the check: who has paid, who has not, and who therefore no longer has a vote. That link between fee status and membership is entirely missing from company invoicing.
For VAT, statutory membership fees are as a rule exempt — unlike consideration the association actually provides. Where a fee covers a concrete service, the boundary has to be examined.
Where to read it
What the software must be able to do
Check: fee categories on the member record, batch invoicing with QR code, payment matching via the reference, dunning, and the link between fee status and the membership list for the assembly.
Checked Aug 2026
More terms under Bookkeeping and retention: Accrual principle Accrued liabilities Annual accounts Association accounting Balance sheet Balance sheet total Book value Break-even point Business assets Business expenses Cash book Cash flow statement Cash receipts Contribution margin Cost centre Current assets Debit and credit Depreciation Double-entry bookkeeping Duty to keep accounts EBIT EBITDA Equity Equity ratio Financial year Fixed assets Fixed costs Foreign currency General ledger Gross profit Hidden reserves Income statement Inventory count Journal Journal entry Liabilities Liquidity Loss carry-forward Net profit Opening balance sheet Overheads Pass-through item Prepaid expenses Provision Record-keeping ordinance Reserves Retained profit Simple accounts Swiss SME chart of accounts Tamper resistance Turnover Value adjustment Variable costs Volunteer-run structure Voucher Year-end closing modules