Simple accounts
Simplified accounting records receipts, payments and the asset position, without a balance sheet or income statement; it suffices for sole proprietorships and partnerships with less than CHF 500,000 of annual turnover.
Definition
The requirements on documents, completeness and retention are the same as in double entry. Whoever thinks that below the threshold nothing needs evidencing confuses the form with the content.
For the tax return the statement is the basis of self-declaration. Whoever wants to grow should plan the switch early: double-entry accounts cannot be reconstructed retroactively from a list of receipts.
The wording
The following must keep accounts only on income and expenditure and on their asset position: 1. sole proprietorships and partnerships with sales revenue of less than CHF 500,000 in the last financial year; 2. those associations and foundations which are not required to be entered in the commercial register.
The numbers
- CHF 500,000
- turnover limit for simplified accounting Art. 957 para. 2 CO
Where to read it
What the software must be able to do
Here programs suffice that fail in any general comparison — and precisely for that reason the question of legal form and turnover is the first step in the selection, not the last.
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 Membership dues Net profit Opening balance sheet Overheads Pass-through item Prepaid expenses Provision Record-keeping ordinance Reserves Retained profit Swiss SME chart of accounts Tamper resistance Turnover Value adjustment Variable costs Volunteer-run structure Voucher Year-end closing modules