Self-Employment Registration for AHV Contributions in Zurich?

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Hi everyone,

I’ve been a long-time follower of the Mustachian Post but am new to the forums. This year, I started a side job teaching online courses for EU-based educational institutions.

My main employer is aware of this side work and has no issues with it. However, I recently realized that my earnings from this activity have exceeded CHF 2,300 this year. From what I understand, this means I need to register as self-employed for AHV contributions.

I was aware that registration wasn’t necessary for earnings below CHF 2,300, but now that I’ve crossed this threshold, I want to ensure I handle everything properly.

I’ve read that the registration process is relatively straightforward, but I would greatly appreciate advice from anyone who has gone through this in Zurich. Specifically:

Which forms should I fill out?
Are there any official links or resources you recommend?

For context, I have a B permit and live in Zurich. I will also include this self-employment income when filing my Quellensteuer at the start of 2025 (I hope I don’t miss any other step or requirement).

Thank you in advance for your help and guidance!

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As long as your revenue is below 100k you don’t have to register VAT and you also don’t need an entry in the commercial register. You have to perform at least simple bookkeeping to be able to fill out the tax declaration.

Voluntarily registering VAT may be beneficial to be able to get a refund for VAT on your business expenses. However, depending on your expenses, it may not be worth the additional accounting complexity.

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That was super helpful! Thanks a lot, jay :smiley:

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Leeching onto the existing thread -
Does anyone have recommendations of (free or paid) tools for billing/bookkeeping for self-employed “simple” accounting?

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For really simple accounting? Excel is not as bad as some make it out to be…

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I used cashctrl.con for some years for a small project. It was OK to use, issuing invoces was possible with the free version and compared to excel there are still some helpful things like automatic „Abschlussbuchungen“ etc.

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For tracking/accounting, sure.

What I meant when I said “billing” more specifically is something like https://www.koleo.ch/.
Seems to make it it easier to issue (and track) offers/invoices to clients.
(vs. editing word docs, generating pdfs + has a nice QR code feature). :slight_smile:

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bexio.
Using it. loving it.

Makes life so much easier. It is a cross over between ERP and CRM. For about 300 CHF/year you have a real powerful tool. I have the starter pack and all I can ask for.

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