Save money with bookkeeping

When must bookkeeping be kept?
In principle, accounts must always be kept if you are self-employed. Profits must be taxed and AHV contributions only have to be paid if profits exceed CHF 2,300.

How do I create an accounting system?
Up to a turnover of CHF 500,000 (sole proprietorship), bookkeeping can generally be prepared in the form of a simple income and expenditure statement. In other words, only the income and expenses are listed and the profit is calculated from this. In practice, however, it is advisable to prepare double-entry bookkeeping even if turnover is significantly lower.

What revenue must be recognized?
All income from self-employment for which no salary certificate exists must be recorded in the sole proprietorship's accounts.

Which expenses must be recorded?
All business-related expenses are deductible. This means that the expenses must be related to the income and therefore necessary to generate the income. It is important that no expenses are forgotten, as otherwise taxes will be too high. The basic principle here is that every franc forgotten increases taxes by 20 centimes. The finer points are often regulated differently from canton to canton, which is why it is well worth taking a closer look at the legislation of the individual cantons.

What is the purpose of accounting?
Accounting is certainly used to determine the amount of AHV contributions and the amount of tax - and in the age of Corona, it is used to determine certain compensation. However, the most important benefit is that bookkeeping allows you to determine where you stand.

Scholarships
Scholarships are an important point in accounting. Scholarships from the public sector are tax-free. Work contributions, basic income, recognition awards and the like are generally taxable. It is advisable to clarify this on a case-by-case basis. In many cases, the "prizes" are offset by expenses anyway. If the income and expenditure are mentioned in the accounts, this has no tax consequences as they cancel each other out.

Corona compensation
Corona compensation paid out by the compensation offices as compensation for loss of earnings does not have to be recorded as income in the accounts. These allowances are declared and taxed directly in the tax return as compensation for loss of earnings.
In principle, compensation for which AHV contributions have already been deducted (this can be seen from the statements) must be declared in the tax return and does not have to be recorded in the accounts. In case of doubt, it must be clarified on a case-by-case basis whether compensation is taxable and whether it must be recorded in the accounts or tax return.