Who may file a legal entity's tax return?
Updated: August 2026 · 17 min read · eBilanz Fabrik — information, not tax advice
In the canton of Zurich a tax return counts as filed electronically only once it has been transmitted through the cantonal tax office's own application and the filer has electronically confirmed, in the same act, that it was completed truthfully and in full — § 8 para. 1 of the Verordnung über die elektronische Einreichung der Steuererklärung (LS 631.121, in the version in force since 1 July 2025). Legal entities carry a second duty on top: the confirmation names the natural persons who give it (§ 8 para. 3). The work can be delegated, but only along two published routes — and neither of them makes anyone a representative in the Veranlagungsverfahren, the assessment procedure that runs after filing.
This page reproduces published sources. It is information; it is neither Steuerberatung (tax advice) nor legal advice. We are a German sole proprietorship, we offer nothing in Switzerland, and we have never imported a file into a cantonal portal or filed a return in ZHcorporateTax. All sources here are published in German. Statutory text, the wording of the eCH standard and statements by a software vendor are quoted in the original with an English rendering beside them; everything else is quoted in our English rendering. The translations are ours and have no official status.
«Legally valid» is an attribute of the cantonal application
§ 1 para. 1 LS 631.121 obliges the cantonal tax office to make applications for electronic filing available «über das Internet», over the internet. Para. 2 attaches the legal consequence to precisely that tool: «Mit diesen Applikationen kann die Steuererklärung gemäss den Vorgaben dieser Verordnung rechtsgültig elektronisch eingereicht werden» — with these applications the return can be filed electronically with legal validity, in accordance with this ordinance. Validity therefore hangs on the canton's channel, not on a file format and not on the software that produced a file. zh.ch is consistent with that on «Steuererklärung für Unternehmen» (retrieved 4 August 2026): returns submitted by e-mail "are not admissible under the Zürcher Steuerbuch […] and will not be processed."
Two acts, not one
§ 8 para. 1 requires both: transmit and confirm. An upload alone is not a filing. The ZHcorporateTax help centre spells out the mechanics in the article «Steuererklärung einreichen» (edited 17 September 2025): "By clicking the checkbox you confirm the complete and truthful declaration. Only after this checkbox has been clicked does the button for transmission become active."
That click is not a UI detail, and the canton says so itself. Its announcement of 22 February 2021: "When filing online, taxpayers now confirm electronically that the tax return has been completed truthfully and in full. This electronic confirmation replaces the former Freigabequittung" — the paper release receipt that used to close the process.
The open question: § 8 para. 3
How the confirming natural persons are actually named inside the application is described nowhere in the canton's published material — not in the help centre, not in the slide deck of 25 August 2025, not in the questions and answers of 8 September 2025. What is documented is a checkbox. The card «Verwaltungsorgane / Geschäftsleitung» records, per the help centre (17 September 2025), the chair of the board, the management and the person responsible for accounting, and those data are "carried over automatically into the new tax period" — master data, not the confirmation. On the current state of publication, anyone who wants a record of who confirmed keeps that record themselves.
The account belongs to a person, the key belongs to the company
Access has two parts. The login is AGOV, the Swiss authorities' login; the key to the individual file is a pair of numbers. Help centre, «Steuererklärung eröffnen» (edited 17 September 2025): "Enter the register number and the access code. Please take the credentials from the letter sent by the Kantonales Steueramt Zürich."
Who owns the login is stated on zh.ch, «Auf die Online-Steuererklärung ‹ZHcorporateTax› umsteigen» (retrieved 4 August 2026): "An AGOV account always represents a natural person, acting either for themselves or on someone's behalf." The Swiss Federal Chancellery confirms the shape in «Informationen für Behörden» (published 2 June 2026): "An AGOV account is available for life. Several AGOV accounts per person are possible." And, on the division of labour: "Rights and roles: AGOV is an access management system; rights and roles are a matter for the target systems."
There is therefore no company account. The account used to transmit survives every change of job and every end of mandate; the company can neither delete it nor take it over. What the company can pull back is the access code — and that arrives by post. zh.ch: "For data protection reasons the access code has to be sent by post. Dispatch is as a rule triggered within 24 h, so the new code reaches you within 1-2 working days." A company that already has a registered general power of attorney will not receive the letter itself: "Where a registered general power of attorney exists, the letter is sent to the representative. Otherwise the taxable legal entity is written to" (questions and answers, 8 September 2025).
AGOV, incidentally, appears nowhere in the ordinance: § 5 refers only to the requirements «auf der Webseite des kantonalen Steueramtes veröffentlichten Vorgaben», published on the tax office's website. A deadline extension needs neither login nor access code — zh.ch and the help centre article «Frist verlängern» (28 July 2025) ask only for the register number.
Four kinds of representation — and what each one does
The help centre article «Rückfragen und Vertretung» (edited 17 September 2025) distinguishes four roles and one non-role. The entries come out of the tax register: "ZHcorporateTax receives from the tax register for legal entities all representative information held there" (8 September 2025).
| Role | Effect, per the help centre (17.09.2025) | How it arises |
|---|---|---|
| Representative for this return | "Authorised to receive orders and decisions, i.e. assessment rulings, for the respective tax period." | "No additional power of attorney has to be filed." Valid only for the one return in which the representative was entered |
| General representative (genereller Vertreter) | "Authorised to receive any correspondence (order, decision/ruling, invoices)" — and: "The future access codes for electronic declaration are also sent to this representative" | The "duly signed Vertretungsvollmacht form for legal entities", filed electronically as an attachment; revocation likewise signed |
| Statutory representative | "A representative determined on the basis of statutory provisions" | Taken over from the tax register |
| Contact person for queries | "Naming a person for queries creates no relationship of representation." | An entry in the form |
That last sentence appears verbatim in Wegleitung 505 — the canton's official filing instructions for the 2025 return — and it has a Switzerland-wide counterpart. Annex D of the eCH-0276 standard (version 1.0.0, approved 5 December 2024) recommends that cantons display the note «Eine vertragliche Vertretung im Veranlagungsverfahren wird nur angenommen, wenn eine schriftliche Vollmacht vorliegt» — contractual representation in the assessment procedure is assumed only where a written power of attorney exists. The rulebook of the Schweizerische Steuerkonferenz in the draft of version 2.0.0 (23 July 2026) repeats the note and places it: «Dieser Hinweis ist als Vorschlag für die Kantone zu verstehen» — it is to be understood as a suggestion to the cantons. eCH standards are recommendations, not law.
Worth noting is what the data format does not contain. Annex D has person fields for the chair of the board (Z1300), management (Z1201), accounting (Z1202) and the contact for queries (Z1400 to Z1402) — but no representative field, no power-of-attorney field and no field for the confirming persons. An eCH-0276 file cannot, by construction, establish representation; the representation relationship lives in the cantonal tax register.
Delegating without representing: § 11 and portal sharing
§ 11 para. 1 LS 631.121 — recast by the decree of 13 May 2025, in force since 1 July 2025 and thus six weeks before the application for legal entities went live — reads: «Die steuerpflichtige Person kann Drittpersonen durch Übergabe der Zugangsdaten bevollmächtigen, ihre Steuererklärungsdaten über die Applikation zu erfassen und die Steuererklärung elektronisch einzureichen» — the taxpayer may authorise third parties, by handing over the credentials, to enter their tax return data in the application and to file the return electronically. The scope is limited by the text to those two acts. Para. 2 governs revocation: the authorisation ends «indem sie vom kantonalen Steueramt einen neuen Zugangscode verlangt», by requesting a new access code, which «wird per Post an die im Steuerregister aufgeführte Adresse der steuerpflichtigen Person gesandt» — is sent by post to the taxpayer's address in the tax register.
The second route is sharing inside the portal, which zh.ch runs under the heading «Weitergabe der Online-Steuererklärung an Vertreter»: "You can grant third parties equal access to your tax return by sharing the return in your user account with other users, and can revoke this at any time" (retrieved 4 August 2026).
| Authorisation under § 11 (credentials) | Sharing in the portal | |
|---|---|---|
| Arises through | Handing over register number and access code | Invitation, acceptance, and confirmation by the recipient "with the code received by SMS" (help centre, 16.09.2025) |
| Scope | «erfassen» and «elektronisch einreichen» — to enter and to file (§ 11 para. 1) | "all users have the same rights" (Q&A, 08.09.2025) |
| Revocation | Requesting a new access code (§ 11 para. 2) | "End sharing", in the sharing manager (help centre, 16.09.2025) |
| Takes effect | On delivery by post; per zh.ch dispatch is triggered within 24 h and the code arrives in 1-2 working days | In the portal, immediately |
| Standing in the procedure | none | none |
Both routes confer the ability to act in the application. Standing as addressee in the procedure — orders, decisions, rulings, invoices — arises exclusively through the validly signed power of attorney held in the tax register. One date trap for anyone looking § 11 up: entry ZStB 109c.4 of the Zürcher Steuerbuch shows «Gültig ab» 1 January 2021 (retrieved 4 August 2026), while zhlex gives 1 July 2025 as the publication date for supplement 129.
No role model — and what follows for internal control
Asked how several people with different permissions (edit, review, file) can be set up, the cantonal tax office answered on 8 September 2025: "ZHcorporateTax does not offer a role model with different permissions. A tax return can be shared, with all users having the same rights." On joint signatory authority, the same document says: "Only one person can ever perform the filing. As with married natural persons, we assume that the consent of the other authorised signatories exists."
A chain closes here. The Federal Chancellery pushes rights and roles down to the target system; the target system offers none. Then there is traceability. § 3 para. 1 lit. d LS 631.121 obliges the cantonal tax office to take measures «damit jederzeit nachvollzogen werden kann, welche Personen auf welche Daten zugegriffen haben» — so that it can be traced at any time which persons accessed which data. From the user's side it looks different: "This information is partly present in the database, but is not visible to users in the application" (8 September 2025). Those are two perspectives — the authority's duty and the user's view. Anyone who has to evidence an internal four-eyes check evidences it outside the application. And: "After filing, the tax return can no longer be deleted. It remains listed in your account" (help centre, 17 September 2025).
The Treuhänder register: not a seal of quality, an access precondition
§ 12 LS 631.121 lets companies that hold a UID and «gewerbsmässig Steuererklärungen für Dritte erstellen» — prepare tax returns for third parties commercially — apply through the ZHservices transaction platform for entry in a «Register gewerbsmässiger Steuervertreter (Treuhänder-Register)». Treuhänder here means a Swiss fiduciary firm that keeps the books and files for its clients; "trustee" is a misleading English equivalent. The depth of vetting is slight — «Weitere Abklärungen werden nicht vorgenommen», no further enquiries are made (para. 2) — and the entry may not be used in marketing: «Das Register ist nicht öffentlich. Die Aufnahme in das Register darf Dritten in Inseraten, auf Websites, Briefpapier oder in anderer werbewirksamer Form nicht bekannt gegeben werden» — the register is not public, and membership may not be disclosed to third parties in advertisements, on websites, on letterhead or in any other promotional form (para. 4), with removal from the register as the sanction (para. 5). Paper form 500 (2025) provides a line «Treuhänder-ID:» next to the representative field.
What the entry is technically for is described by the Dr. Tax helpdesk in the article «Online-Einreichung / Fristen einreichen» (last edited 3 July 2026) for the canton of Zurich, split by category of person. On natural persons: «Voraussetzung für die elektronische Einreichung ist ein Konto im Treuhänder-Register des Steueramts» — an account in the tax office's Treuhänder register is the precondition for electronic filing. On legal entities, in the same article: «Es ist derzeit keine elektronische Einreichung möglich» — electronic filing is currently not possible.
That matches the canton's own answer of 8 September 2025: "At present no connection to Dr. Tax is available. […] Whether third-party applications will be connected via the existing ZHservices interface (as for natural persons) or not is not yet clear." For legal entities, § 11 para. 1 therefore remains the only published route for delegation: no register, no interface, no role model. That fiduciary firms see a break in their processes here, the canton published without comment; among the participant questions of 25 August 2025 stands, verbatim: «Freigaben geht komplett an den Arbeitsprozessen der Treuhandfirmen vorbei. Wieso kein ZHservices, das schon besteht?» — sharing bypasses fiduciary firms' working processes entirely; why not use the ZHservices that already exists? The answer points to developments "on the Zürikonto side, in particular with regard to account functionality for companies."
Who carries it if it is wrong
The question "who may file" is only complete alongside the question "who carries it if it is wrong". Wegleitung 505 (tax period 2025) answers both. A taxpayer who fails to file despite a reminder is assessed «nach pflichtgemässem Ermessen», at the authority's dutiful discretion, and such an assessment can be challenged "only for manifest incorrectness". For breach of procedural duties: a fine "of up to CHF 1'000, in serious cases or on repetition up to CHF 10'000". In cases of tax evasion, the back tax is joined by a fine "of up to three times the amount of the evaded tax", reduced on voluntary disclosure "to one fifth of the evaded tax".
And then the sentence that turns delegation into a decision: «Wer vorsätzlich zu einer Steuerhinterziehung anstiftet, Hilfe leistet oder als Vertreter der Steuerpflichtigen eine Steuerhinterziehung bewirkt oder an einer solchen mitwirkt, wird ohne Rücksicht auf die Strafbarkeit der Steuerpflichtigen mit einer Busse bis zu CHF 50'000 bestraft und haftet überdies solidarisch für die Nachsteuer bis zum Betrag der hinterzogenen Steuer» — whoever intentionally instigates or assists tax evasion, or as the taxpayer's representative brings it about or takes part in it, is fined up to CHF 50'000 regardless of the taxpayer's own criminal liability, and is additionally jointly and severally liable for the back tax up to the amount evaded. Where "books of account, balance sheets, income statements" are used to deceive, "imprisonment or a fine of up to CHF 30'000" may follow.
The canton draws the competence line itself. Slide 8 of the deck of 25 August 2025 says, under «Fachliche Fragen oder Probleme» — substantive questions or problems: "we ask you to keep to the route you have taken so far: via your tax adviser, Treuhänder or representative." The helpdesk covers registration, login, operation, help with transmission and lost access codes — not content. And the contrast with paper: there, per form 500 (2025), «die zuständigen Organe» sign, in the plural; electronically, one person ticks a box.
For comparison: how two other cantons solve the same access problem
| Zurich | Obwalden | Appenzell Ausserrhoden | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Login | AGOV, a "2-factor login" (slide deck, 25.08.2025) | Its own user account, with a "freely chosen password" and two-factor authentication by SMS (login flyer, February 2026) | AGOV (instructions for legal entities, tax period 2025) |
| Key per file | Register number and access code | "PID number and the matching identification code" | "the PID and the identification code" |
| Delivery of the key | "For data protection reasons the access code has to be sent by post" | "by post or electronically in the tax portal" | "on the letter sent by the tax administration in February" |
| Several mandates per login | no published statement found | returns "for any number of clients" (beliebig viele Mandanten) | "file tax returns for several companies with the same AGOV login" |
| Confirmation | Checkbox confirming the "complete and truthful declaration" | "tick the box that the tax return has been completed truthfully and in full" | "Once it has been confirmed that the tax return was completed truthfully and in full, it can be filed" |
| Receipt | «Übermittlungsquittung», a transmission receipt | «Einreichequittung», a filing receipt | «Einreichequittung» — "it does not have to be signed and does not have to be filed" |
The Appenzell Ausserrhoden row is the most instructive: that canton states explicitly, for its own solution, that one AGOV login is enough for several companies. For ZHcorporateTax we found no equivalent published sentence, so the statement does not transfer.
In short
- It is filed only once it is confirmed. § 8 para. 1 requires transmission and electronic confirmation; since 2021 that confirmation has replaced the paper Freigabequittung. For legal entities, the confirming natural persons are to be named (§ 8 para. 3).
- Legal validity attaches to the canton's channel, not to the file format.
- The login belongs to a person, not to the company — an AGOV account always represents a natural person and is available for life.
- Two delegation routes, neither creating representation in the procedure: hand over the credentials (§ 11 para. 1) or share inside the portal. Revocation runs by post in the first case, through the sharing manager in the second.
- Representation in the procedure arises elsewhere — through a validly signed power of attorney held in the tax register.
- No role model: shared users hold identical rights, only one person can file, and changes are not visible to users in the application.
- The Treuhänder register is neither public nor advertisable — and the third-party software channel for which it is a precondition for natural persons does not, according to canton and vendor, currently exist for legal entities.
- Liability is shared: per Wegleitung 505, a representative who takes part in tax evasion faces a fine of up to CHF 50'000 and joint liability for the back tax.
Sources
- Verordnung über die elektronische Einreichung der Steuererklärung, LS 631.121, of 18 October 2011, supplement 129; §§ 1, 3–5, 7–9, 11 para. 1 and 12 in the version of the decree of 13 May 2025 (OS 80, 149; ABl 2025-05-23), in force since 1 July 2025. Canton of Zurich, Finanzdirektion.
- Zürcher Steuerbuch, entry ZStB 109c.4 on the same ordinance, field «Gültig ab 1. Januar 2021»; zhlex, enactment 631.121, supplement list 129/111/075, publication date 1 July 2025. Both retrieved 4 August 2026.
- Kantonales Steueramt Zürich, «Fragen und Antworten. Online-Infoveranstaltung vom 25.08.2025», 8 September 2025.
- Kantonales Steueramt Zürich, slide deck «Neue Online-Deklarationslösung ist da – ZHcorporateTax ist live!», information event of 25 August 2025.
- Kantonales Steueramt Zürich, «Wegleitung zur Steuererklärung für Kapitalgesellschaften und Genossenschaften 2025» (Wegleitung 505) and form 500 (2025).
- Canton of Zurich, announcement «Änderung der Verordnung über die elektronische Einreichung der Steuererklärung und weitere Anpassungen im Zürcher Steuerbuch», 22 February 2021.
- zh.ch, «Steuererklärung für Unternehmen» and «Auf die Online-Steuererklärung ‹ZHcorporateTax› umsteigen». Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ZHcorporateTax help centre (zh-support.etax.ch), articles «Rückfragen und Vertretung» (edited 17.09.2025), «Steuererklärung einreichen» (17.09.2025), «Steuererklärung eröffnen» (17.09.2025), «Steuererklärung löschen» (17.09.2025), «Firma» (17.09.2025), «Verwaltungsorgane / Geschäftsleitung» (17.09.2025), «Freigabe der Steuererklärung für weitere Nutzer» (16.09.2025), «Nutzerzugriff für gemeinsame Nutzung beenden» (16.09.2025), «Frist verlängern» (28.07.2025), «Registernummer und Zugangscode finden» (25.07.2025), «Vertreter, Vollmacht, Formular» (22.08.2025). Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- Swiss Federal Chancellery, agov.admin.ch, «Informationen für Behörden», published 2 June 2026.
- Verein eCH, standard eCH-0276, version 1.0.0 (approved 5 December 2024), annex D «E-Bilanz_Deklaration_JP»; and version 2.0.0, draft of 23 July 2026 (public consultation until 3 September 2026), annex D and the rulebook of the Schweizerische Steuerkonferenz.
- Steuerverwaltung des Kantons Appenzell Ausserrhoden, instructions for legal entities, tax period 2025 (document created 16 January 2026).
- Canton of Obwalden, login flyer and help for legal entities, February 2026.
- Dr. Tax helpdesk (Ringler Informatik AG), article «Online-Einreichung / Fristen einreichen» (article 115000806069), created 24 January 2017, last edited 3 July 2026.
We follow what the cantons, the SSK and eCH publish. When something moves, we write it up here — with a date. A short note by mail if you want one: one line is enough.
Get the noteFrequently asked questions
When does a tax return count as filed electronically?
Two acts are needed: transmission through the cantonal tax office's application, and an electronic confirmation in the same act that the return was completed truthfully and in full — § 8 para. 1 LS 631.121, in the version in force since 1 July 2025. An upload alone is not a filing. For legal entities the confirmation additionally names the natural persons who give it (§ 8 para. 3).
Can our Treuhänder file the tax return for us?
Two published routes exist. § 11 para. 1 LS 631.121 lets the taxpayer authorise third parties, by handing over the credentials, to enter their tax return data in the application and to file the return electronically. The second route is sharing inside the portal: the return is shared in the user account with other users and can be revoked at any time.
Does delegating make the Treuhänder our representative in the procedure?
Both routes confer the ability to act in the application; in neither does standing in the procedure arise. Standing as addressee for orders, decisions, rulings and invoices arises exclusively through the validly signed power of attorney held in the tax register. On a contact person, the help centre records that naming someone for queries establishes no relationship of representation.
Who owns the AGOV login — the company or the person?
The person. zh.ch: an AGOV account always represents a natural person, acting either for themselves or on someone's behalf. There is therefore no company account; the account used to transmit survives every change of job and every end of mandate. What the company can pull back is the access code, and it arrives by post — per zh.ch dispatch is triggered within 24 h and the code arrives in 1-2 working days.
Is there a role model for several people in ZHcorporateTax?
The cantonal tax office, 8 September 2025: ZHcorporateTax does not offer a role model with different permissions; a tax return can be shared, with all users having the same rights. On joint signatory authority the same document says only one person can ever perform the filing. Anyone who has to evidence an internal four-eyes check evidences it outside the application.