Employees visiting customers, buying lunch while travelling or purchasing materials advance money that must be reimbursed. Expense claims cover collecting receipts, reporting, approval, payment and posting. This guide explains Swiss reimbursement duties, policies, records, input VAT and an efficient process.
Who pays: Art. 327a–327c CO
Employment provisions in the Code of Obligations (OR; CO) govern reimbursement:
- Duty (Art. 327a, para. 1): employers reimburse all necessary work-related expenses, including subsistence when working away.
- No transfer (para. 3): agreements making employees bear necessary expenses wholly/partly are void.
- Vehicles (Art. 327b): authorised work use requires reimbursement of usual running/maintenance costs proportionate to business use. Employee-owned vehicles additionally warrant public charges, liability premiums and appropriate depreciation compensation.
- Due date (Art. 327c, para. 1): reimburse based on employees’ accounts together with salary, unless a shorter period is agreed/customary.
- Advances (para. 2): regular necessary expenses require appropriate advances at intervals, at least monthly.
“Necessary” is decisive: unnecessary spending need not be reimbursed. Contractually transferring necessary costs is ineffective. Employees should claim promptly and employers process promptly; reimbursement falls due based on the claim.
Actual expenses or allowances
Two approaches:
- Actual: each outlay supported by receipt. Swiss Tax Conference (SSK) models use actual expenses per event against original receipts as the principle.
- Flat-rate: written agreements, standard employment contracts or collective agreements may set daily, weekly or monthly allowances covering all necessary expenses (Art. 327a, para. 2 CO). Employers remain liable for shortfalls.
For flat-rate representation expenses, SSK recognition rules require approximate correspondence to actual expenditure. Above CHF 6’000 annually, maximum 5 per cent of gross salary including variable pay; absolute maximum CHF 24’000 annually. These are tax-authority recognition rules, not statutory articles.
Expense policy
A written policy clarifies rules and helps tax treatment. SSK provides models. Under the model, approval by the registered-office canton’s tax authority allows companies to omit amounts of actual, receipted expenses from salary certificates. Cantons recognise other registered-office cantons’ approved policies if SSK principles are met.
Model values may be adopted/adapted:
| Area | Model value |
|---|---|
| Breakfast (departure before 07.30 or preceding overnight stay) | Guideline CHF 15 |
| Lunch | Guideline CHF 35 actual or CHF 30 allowance |
| Dinner (overnight away or return after 19.30) | Guideline CHF 40 actual or CHF 35 allowance |
| Private-car mileage | CHF 0.75 |
| Small expense without original receipt | Own voucher up to CHF 20 |
Private-car compensation applies only with substantial time/cost savings or unreasonable public-transport use. The model normally requires claims after each event, at least monthly, with receipts submitted for the line manager’s sign-off. These are model values, not law; your policy determines applicable values.
Receipts and retention
Claims are supporting accounting records. Art. 957a, para. 2, point 2 CO requires supporting evidence per entry. Paper, electronic or comparable written records must explain the transaction (para. 3). Retain ten years from financial year-end (Art. 958f, para. 1). Electronic retention is allowed if records correspond to transactions and remain readable (para. 3). Properly stored receipt photos can replace paper. See Bookkeeping obligations for SMEs.
Input VAT on expenses
VAT-registered companies may deduct business input tax subject to statutory conditions: domestic VAT invoiced to them (Art. 28, para. 1(a) of the VAT Act (MWSTG)) and evidence it was paid (para. 3). Receipts must identify tax. Automated till receipts need no recipient details up to CHF 400 (Art. 26, para. 3 MWSTG; Art. 57 of the VAT Ordinance (MWSTV)). Small-expense receipts therefore work if the rate is visible. No input tax arises on compensation without third-party invoices, such as mileage. See Input tax deduction and corrective returns; discuss difficult cases such as hospitality with your fiduciary.
Seven-step process
- Policy: reimbursable expenses, guidelines and approvers.
- Receipts: photo/PDF immediately after spending.
- Claim: date, category, amount, purpose; exchange rate for foreign currency.
- Submit: to line manager.
- Review/approve: inspect receipts; approve or reject with reason.
- Post: expense and input VAT.
- Pay: salary (Art. 327c, para. 1 CO) or payment order; then file receipts.
Practical example: Beispiel Metallbau AG
Fictional VAT-registered Beispiel Metallbau AG uses SSK model values. Sara Beispiel visits a customer in an industrial zone without public transport on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. She drives her own car 118 kilometres, eats lunch and buys small DIY-store materials. She submits on Wednesday, 14 October; her manager approves Thursday, 15 October.
| Item | Expense | Evidence | Amount CHF | Included input VAT 8.1% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mileage, 118 km × CHF 0.75 | Route record | 88.50 | 0.00 |
| 2 | Restaurant lunch (CHF 35 guideline) | Till receipt | 34.50 | 2.59 |
| 3 | Small DIY-store materials | Till receipt | 28.90 | 2.17 |
| Total | 151.90 | 4.76 |
118 × 0.75 = 88.50. Included VAT = gross × 8.1 ÷ 108.1: 34.50 gives 2.59; 28.90 gives 2.17, rounded to centimes. Net expense: 151.90 − 4.76 = CHF 147.14. Mileage contains no tax because no third-party invoice exists.
Accounting posts the approved claim Thursday, 29 October 2026. CHF 151.90 is paid with October salary Friday, 30 October 2026, meeting Art. 327c, para. 1 CO.
Checklist
- Written policy sets meals, mileage and own-voucher values
- Submitted for cantonal approval where appropriate
- Approval responsibility clear; no self-approval
- Complete, readable receipts identify tax
- Claims submitted at least monthly
- Allowances cover all necessary expenses (Art. 327a, para. 2 CO)
- Regular expenses receive at least monthly advances (Art. 327c, para. 2)
- Payment with salary or earlier
- Receipts retained ten years
How KMU | base helps
KMU | base is also available in French, Italian and English.
Employees enter expenses, managers approve, accounting posts, and optionally payroll pays within the same system.
1. Claim. Under Personal › Expenses, create a title, e.g. “Customer visit Bern”, select receipt photo/PDF first, then date, category, amount and purpose; save in one step. Existing QR/text/OCR reading proposes receipt values for checking. Exchange-rate fields appear for foreign currencies only; VAT expands. New claims inherit payout IBAN from the personnel file.
2. Checks. Finance rejects future dates and dates over a year old; foreign-currency rates require confirmation. Receipts are optional up to CHF 50 per line, mandatory above. This limit is hard-coded: the purchasing setting for receipt-free amounts is stored but not applied during entry. Approvers must enforce stricter policies themselves, such as original receipts by default or model own vouchers only up to CHF 20. Expense receipts enter the archive unalterably.
3. Submit/approve. Status stays visible; rejected claims can be revised. Absence approvers and accounting may approve, never the claimant. Expand lines/open receipts; rejection needs a reason; bulk approval is possible. My expenses, To approve and To post tabs with counters combine work within permissions. Managers see To approve while items await them; accounting finds Accounting › Approve expenses.
4. Post. To post turns approved claims into open payment-run items. Expense reports analyse a period by category, month and person.
5. Payroll. Payroll pays approved claims instead of payment orders when it collects them: HR | base as lead payroll, external payroll integration or explicit “Payroll”. Finance posts expense/input VAT against payroll-expense account 5820; map the external expense wage type to 5820. Payroll pays and HR marks the claim paid. HR-only customers can also claim: managers approve, then direct payroll payment without accounting.
6. App. Employees directly submit receipts with CHF amounts and view expenses, receipts and status.
Important: collapsed VAT fields default to the category rate if blank, e.g. 8.1 per cent for vehicles/travel, 3.8 for accommodation. Check receipts. Enter 0 for mileage and other expenses without stated tax to avoid fictitious input VAT. Flat-rate expenses are unsupported in claims; enter variable payroll components such as expenses as payroll transactions. Lines above CHF 50 need evidence; attach a journey record for mileage.
See Input tax deduction and corrective returns and the Finance | base guide. Try the Demo or open a test account. Questions? See the Contact page.
Sources
- Code of Obligations (OR, SR 220), Art. 327a, paras. 1–3; Art. 327b, paras. 1–2; Art. 327c, paras. 1–2; Art. 957a, paras. 2–3; Art. 958f, paras. 1 and 3, as at 1 October 2026: Fedlex (German original), accessed 26.10.2026.
- VAT Act (MWSTG, SR 641.20), Art. 26, para. 3; Art. 28, para. 1(a) and para. 3, as at 31 March 2025: Fedlex (German original), accessed 26.10.2026.
- VAT Ordinance (MWSTV, SR 641.201), Art. 57, as at 1 January 2025: Fedlex (German original), accessed 26.10.2026.
- Swiss Tax Conference (SSK): model expense policies for companies and non-profit organisations, 1 February 2024, effective 1 May 2024, updated 1 January 2026; part I (mutual recognition guidelines), part II (company model, points 1.3, 2.4, 3, 5.2, 6.1, 7): FTA PDF (in German), accessed 26.10.2026.
This guide does not replace legal or tax advice. Information as at 26 October 2026.