Switzerland: e-invoices for federal suppliers, nothing yet for private B2B
Suppliers billing the Swiss federal administration on larger contracts must send e-invoices; businesses invoicing each other are not required to. Below: what vendor guides report, where they disagree, and what this checker can and cannot tell you.
The rules (as vendor guides report them)
| Who | What is required |
|---|---|
| Suppliers to the federal administration, contracts of CHF 5,000 or more | E-invoice since 2016. Paper and plain PDF are reportedly not accepted. |
| Private B2B | No mandate reported, and no announced timeline. Voluntary exchange over Peppol or by agreement. |
Where sources disagree: whether the federal buyer has a central receiving platform with a few certified providers, or no central portal and routing through certified Peppol providers; and the list of accepted formats. All sources found were vendor and advisory pages; the EFV, the federal customs office and the ordinance text were not read. No penalty is stated because none was verified. Confirm against the law. A summary, not tax advice.
Which file counts
Guides name UBL 2.1 and CII, Peppol BIS and the Swiss eCH-0069 (swissDIGIN) content standard, with Factur-X also listed by one source. A plain PDF is not accepted for in-scope federal invoices.
What this checker does and does not cover
It has no Swiss eCH or federal-channel rules, and a clean result says nothing about acceptance there. It applies the EN 16931 and Peppol BIS 3.0 rules it knows, which suits a Peppol-routed UBL or CII invoice and a Swiss supplier invoicing an EU customer.
Test a file before you send it
Open the checker, drop your UBL or CII XML, and tick Also apply the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 rules. It flags arithmetic that does not add up, a missing tax reason on a 0% or exempt line, malformed electronic addresses, and VAT, IBAN and BIC typos, each with a rule ID and a fix (the rule reference). No account, nothing uploaded.
No invoice yet? The e-invoice creator turns a form into UBL or CII XML and checks it. Other countries: all side by side, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Norway, the UK, or the EU e-invoicing mandate checker.
Common questions
Is e-invoicing mandatory in Switzerland?
Per vendor and advisory guides: for suppliers invoicing the federal administration on contracts of CHF 5,000 or more, since 2016, paper and plain PDF invoices are reportedly not accepted. There is reportedly no mandate for private B2B invoices and no announced timeline for one. These are not the Federal Finance Administration (EFV) or the law, so confirm there. This is a summary, not advice.
How are Swiss federal e-invoices sent?
Sources disagree. Some describe a central receiving platform run by the EFV with a small number of certified service providers; others say there is no central portal and invoices travel through certified Peppol providers. Peppol is accepted; Swiss Peppol access points exist. Check the EFV's own instructions for the channel your contract uses.
Which formats does Switzerland accept?
Guides list UBL 2.1, UN/CEFACT CII, Peppol BIS, eCH-0069 (swissDIGIN) content standard and Factur-X. The list differs between sources, so confirm the one your buyer's channel takes.
What is the checker useful for in a Swiss context?
Testing a UBL or CII file before you send it to a federal buyer or an EU customer. It checks totals, tax breakdown arithmetic, identifiers, and VAT, IBAN and BIC typos with a rule ID and a fix. It has no Swiss (eCH) rules and cannot confirm acceptance by the federal channel. It is an offline observation, not legal advice.
Open the E-invoice Preflight checker to validate your own invoice file.
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