Team analysing financial charts around a table

Real estate accounting for restaurants in St. Moritz: rules, deadlines, best practice

Delegate, digitalise or do it all yourself? Around real estate accounting in St. Moritz, every SME draws its own line. The reference points below — federal law, cantonal practice and lessons from the field — help you place the cursor well.

The Swiss legal frame for real estate accounting

AHV audits and VAT audits follow the same logic: start from the documents, trace to the entries, check consistency. A business in St. Moritz with a clean audit trail sails through these exercises.

One simple principle drives real estate accounting: every franc in or out must be explainable by a document, an entry and an account. All of Swiss accounting law fits inside that traceability requirement.

Outsource real estate accounting or keep it in-house?

Responsibility stays with the client: the fiduciary executes with care, but the signed accounts bind the company. Understanding what you sign is not optional.

In St. Moritz, as everywhere, the right collaboration rhythm follows the activity: monthly for payroll and data entry, quarterly for VAT, yearly for the closing and tax advice.

A well-structured SME chart of accounts

The same chart serves three readings: accounting (accuracy), tax (accepted adjustments) and management (margins by activity). Modern software produces all three views without double entry.

For real estate accounting, the right granularity is decisive: enough accounts to steer the business (margins by activity, expenses by nature), few enough that every entry finds its place without hesitation. The VAT accounts (input VAT, VAT due) deserve special care — they are the basis of the annual reconciliation.

Advisor handing a document and pen to a client

Digitalising real estate accounting: what actually works

Digitising does not mean hoarding PDFs: without the document-entry link, a digital file is as opaque as a box of archives — true in St. Moritz as everywhere.

The selection criterion for a tool is not the length of its feature list but the robustness of the daily flow: reliable bank imports, VAT computed correctly (8.1 / 2.6 / 3.8%), a complete audit trail from document to entry, and a clean export for the auditor or fiduciary. Everything else is secondary.

St. Moritz: what changes, what does not

Sole proprietorship, Sàrl or SA in St. Moritz: the AHV contact remains the competent compensation office, and taxes follow the scales of the canton Grisons.

Federal deadlines do not move in St. Moritz: VAT within 60 days, salary declaration in January, 10-year record retention — postal code 7500 changes nothing about those rules, only the sender's address.

Frequently asked questions

Does MyFiducia.ai work for a business based in St. Moritz?

Yes: the platform runs online, the rules applied are federal (VAT, CO, AHV), and the file can be shared with any fiduciary. A business in St. Moritz manages its documents, VAT and exports exactly as anywhere in Switzerland.

When is entry in the commercial register mandatory?

A Sàrl and an SA only come into existence with their registration. A sole proprietorship must register from CHF 100,000 of annual revenue; below that, registration stays voluntary but adds credibility and protects the business name. Registration goes through the canton's commercial register office — for St. Moritz too.

How long must records related to real estate accounting be kept?

Ten years from the end of the financial year concerned (art. 958f CO). Electronic retention is permitted if the integrity and readability of the records are guaranteed — a serious digital archive validly replaces paper binders. A business in St. Moritz can therefore archive fully digitally.

What are the current Swiss VAT rates?

Since 1 January 2024: 8.1% (standard), 2.6% (reduced — for example food and medicines) and 3.8% (accommodation). Returns must be filed and paid within 60 days after the period ends (quarterly under the effective method, semi-annually under the net tax rate method). These federal rates apply unchanged in St. Moritz.

Also worth reading

In neighbouring municipalities

Switch to accounting that keeps itself up to date

MyFiducia.ai automates real estate accounting for businesses in St. Moritz: AI-read documents, posting suggestions, VAT and exports ready for your fiduciary. Try the platform or browse our other guides.

The application is operated in French.

    Real estate accounting for restaurants in St. Moritz