Why two offers differ so widely

The one question that makes the difference

What does the provider measure the volume on? Your price depends on it, and the answer is rarely stated prominently.

Most of the 4 providers count documents: invoices, receipts and debits that have to be posted. At least one counts payment transactions — the credits and debits on the bank account and credit card. Another works in tiers of documents per year, another with fixed packages.

For one business that is the same number. For another, a multiple.

When you have to watch out

If you pay every supplier invoice separately and are paid for every customer invoice separately, the model makes no difference. Both ways of counting give the same figure for you.

Three cases are different. If you work largely in cash, you have documents with no matching movement on the account. If you make lump payments — one transfer for twenty invoices — it is the other way round. And if you sell through a payment platform, you get one collective credit for many sales.

In all three cases you fare markedly better with a provider who counts payments — for exactly the same work. If instead you have many small account movements and few documents, say card subscriptions, it is precisely the reverse.

What is billed on top

Alongside the base volume come three items that add up faster than the «from» prices suggest: an amount per salary recipient per month, a surcharge for the VAT return, and the one-off setup in the first year.

One provider itemises these in their PDF offer — payroll CHF 39 per employee, VAT on the effective method CHF 40, tax return CHF 30, each per month. That makes the calculation transferable to your own business. In this trade it is the exception.

The VAT method is no minor detail: the net tax rate takes less work and costs less. If you are below the turnover threshold and have the choice, you are deciding your fiduciary’s price as well.

What you can count on in every case

Offers only become comparable once the scope is identical. At the 4 providers in this survey it is:

• ✓VAT returnQuarterly or half-yearly filing with the Federal Tax Administration, using the method of the sample business concerned.
• ✓Payroll accountingMonthly payslips including social insurance filings, for the stated number of salary recipients.
• ✓Annual financial statementsBalance sheet and income statement at the financial year end — the item most often missing from an offer.
• ✓Tax returnThe company tax return, not the owner’s private one.

Criterion	SEBONA Treuhand	Findea.ch	Leuchtenstadt Treuhand	Paradies Treuhand
Annual statements included	✓	✓	✓	✓
Tax return included	✓	✓	✓	✓
Client portal	✓	✓	not researched	not researched
Registered office service	✓	✓	not researched	✓
Company formation support	✓	✓	✓	✓
Software used	Accounty	verschiedene	not researched	Infoniqa ONE 50