The guide
Guide: inventory management in a Swiss SME
Managing inventory in Switzerland is both a logistics question and an accounting obligation. This guide covers the rules of the Code of Obligations, the method choices that affect taxable profit, and the practices that avoid unpleasant surprises at the year-end close.
Which inventory management software suits a Swiss SME?
Inventory management software for a Swiss SME must first answer three simple questions: how many units do I have, where are they, and what are they worth. Many tools answer the first two and leave the third to the fiduciary's spreadsheet. The result is familiar: a gap between stock and account 1200 that has to be explained every year, often by hand.
The criteria that matter in Switzerland are therefore multi-warehouse management with locations, batch and serial tracking, valuation in line with the CO with several methods, handling of import costs and customs, and above all automatic posting of every movement. Add data hosting in Switzerland, French, German and Italian, and a direct link to purchasing and invoicing. Numezis brings these blocks together in one platform, run by an AI agent that prepares the work and leaves the decisions to you.
What does the Code of Obligations say about stock and stocktakes?
Under art. 958c para. 2 CO, the existence of every balance sheet item must be evidenced by an inventory or in another way. For stock, that means an inventory list at the balance sheet date, with quantities, unit prices and total value, which the auditor or the tax administration can ask for. These lists are kept for ten years (art. 958f CO).
Art. 960a CO sets the ceiling: inventories are recorded at most at their acquisition or production cost. Art. 960c CO adds the lower-of-cost principle: if net realisable value at the balance sheet date is below cost, that lower value applies. Finally, consistency (art. 958c para. 1 no. 6 CO) forbids switching valuation methods from year to year. Well-kept perpetual inventory meets these requirements all year round, not just in December.
Perpetual or periodic inventory: which should you choose?
With periodic inventory, stock is only known at the annual count: purchases are expensed and a change-in-stock entry adjusts the balance sheet at year end. It is simple, but the real margin stays unknown eleven months out of twelve and gaps are discovered too late.
Perpetual inventory records every receipt and every issue as it happens. The stock account and cost of goods sold are always up to date, the margin per item is reliable every month and the annual count becomes a simple check. This is how Numezis works: physical movements generate their entries, and the reconciliation between inventory value and the ledger balance can be viewed at any time. Any gaps are flagged on the day they appear, while people still remember what happened.
How should import VAT and customs duty be handled?
When a Swiss SME imports goods, the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) collects any customs duty and import VAT, at 8.1 % or 2.6 % depending on the goods. Customs duty, freight and clearance costs are part of the acquisition cost: they must be allocated to the items received to obtain the true landed cost.
Import VAT, on the other hand, is not part of the cost: a VAT-registered business recovers it as input tax on the basis of the electronic assessment notice. Numezis allocates freight and duty across the receipt lines (by weight, value or quantity), updates the item's unit cost and posts import VAT to the correct input tax account. Your margin then reflects what the goods actually cost you.
Hidden reserves on stock: how much room is there?
Swiss tax practice has long accepted a flat-rate write-down on merchandise stock, often called the "one-third goods reserve": up to one third of the inventory value can be deducted, provided the basis is documented. The exact rules vary between cantons and with the nature of the stock; your fiduciary is the right person to settle the amount.
What does not vary is the basis of calculation: an exact inventory value, item by item, at acquisition cost or the lower market value. Without that basis, the reserve can be challenged. Numezis provides the valued inventory list, the method applied, the detail of write-downs under CO 960c and the movement history. The decision to create or release a reserve stays yours, but it rests on figures anyone can check.