Pen pointing at a bar chart on paper

Sole proprietorship for e-commerce in Dardagny: the practical guide

Swiss accounting law (art. 957 ff. of the Code of Obligations) sets a precise frame, yet day-to-day practice often stays fuzzy. This guide walks through what actually matters for a business based in Dardagny.

Choosing the structure: Sàrl, SA or sole proprietorship

The choice of legal form turns on three axes: liability (limited to capital for Sàrl and SA, unlimited for the sole trader), taxation (economic double taxation of company profit and dividends versus direct income taxation) and pensions (the employee of their own Sàrl is subject to mandatory LPP; the self-employed insure voluntarily).

Settling in Dardagny also means thinking about insurance from incorporation: professional liability, property, business interruption — the accounts keep track of them and the closing allocates them correctly.

Digitalising sole proprietorship: what actually works

Security is part of digitalisation: named access, tested backups, encryption of sensitive data. A digital accounting file is protected like a safe — because it is one.

For an owner in Dardagny, a dashboard only has value if the data is fresh: automating data entry means, first of all, buying up-to-date information about your own business.

The Swiss legal frame for sole proprietorship

Three documents summarise the health of a Swiss business: the balance sheet (what it owns), the income statement (what it earns) and the notes (what else you should know). All the work of sole proprietorship converges on those three pages, in Dardagny too.

One simple principle drives sole proprietorship: 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.

Advisor handing a document and pen to a client

Swiss VAT: rates, threshold and filings

Registration happens with the Federal Tax Administration and yields a VAT number based on the business identifier (format CHE-xxx.xxx.xxx VAT). From then on, every invoice must state that number, the rate applied and the tax amount — three details sole proprietorship should lock down from day one to avoid retroactive fixes.

For businesses in Dardagny, VAT is in practice the most audited tax: punctual returns consistent with the books markedly reduce the odds of a deep audit of sole proprietorship.

Dardagny: what changes, what does not

Dardagny (postal code 1283, canton Geneva) applies the same federal rules as the rest of the country: what changes in Dardagny are the cantonal counterparts — tax administration, compensation office, commercial register.

Dardagny requires no special bookkeeping: the Code of Obligations applies at postal code 1283 as everywhere else, and a well-kept digital file transfers smoothly to any auditor in the canton.

Frequently asked questions

Effective VAT method or net tax rate: how to choose?

The effective method deducts actual input VAT and files quarterly; the net tax rate method applies a flat industry rate to turnover, semi-annually, with no separate input VAT deduction. The flat rate suits low-cost structures; as investments grow, the effective method usually wins again. The choice rests on the company's own figures, in Dardagny as anywhere.

How long must records related to sole proprietorship 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 Dardagny can therefore archive fully digitally.

Do you need a fiduciary for sole proprietorship, or can you do it yourself?

Both are defensible. Below CHF 500,000 of revenue, a sole proprietorship may keep simplified accounts itself. As soon as payroll, VAT and a closing with tax stakes are involved, professional support prevents mistakes that cost more than the fees. With a shared platform, the fiduciary does not even need to be in Dardagny.

How much does sole proprietorship cost in Dardagny?

It depends on document volume, the number of salaries and VAT complexity — no serious figure can be quoted without examining the file. Two levers cut the bill everywhere: digitised, well-filed receipts and software that prepares entries instead of having them re-keyed.

Also worth reading

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Switch to accounting that keeps itself up to date

MyFiducia.ai automates sole proprietorship for businesses in Dardagny: 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.

    Sole proprietorship for e-commerce in Dardagny — Swiss guide