Glossary: the terms you will meet

Updated: August 2026 · 16 min read · eBilanz Fabrik — information, not tax advice

Anyone working on the electronic tax declaration of Swiss legal entities reads vocabulary from four houses: from the eCH association and the Swiss Tax Conference (Schweizerische Steuerkonferenz, SSK), from XBRL Switzerland, from swissdec, and from the cantonal tax administrations. This glossary explains eighteen of those terms twice — once in a sentence, once as precisely as the source allows — each with its reference and its date. Most sources are German; renderings into English are ours, and where the exact wording carries the point the original stands beside it. This is information, not Steuerberatung (tax advice) and not legal advice; we are a German sole proprietorship, and we have never imported a file into a cantonal portal.

The format words: eCH-0276, XBRL, CH taxonomy, instance document

eCH-0276

Short: The Switzerland-wide XML exchange format for the tax return of legal entities, including the e-balance sheet.

Precise: The standard "describes the exchange format for the E-Bilanz and E-Tax of legal entities on the basis of the data models of the Swiss Tax Conference". What it is not matters just as much: it "does not deal in detail with the subject of data transmission, of system architecture, or of the technical implementation of the overall solution". And on binding force, in the original: eCH standards «haben nur den Status von Empfehlungen» — they have the status of recommendations only. Main document V1.0.0 of the eCH association, issue date 19.11.2024, published 05.12.2024, §§ 1.2, 1.3 and 4. Version 2.0.0 has been available as a draft since 23.07.2026.

XBRL

Short: An international markup language that encodes business reports so machines can read them.

Precise: "XBRL – eXtensible Business Reporting Language – is a markup language for the standardized coding of business reports … maintained by XBRL International." And the boundary that makes the definition usable: "XBRL is not a programming language, but ‹only› a data coding agreement. XBRL does not impose any requirements regarding the software to be used." Permitted syntaxes: "xBRL-XML, xBRL-JSON, xBRL-CSV, and Inline XBRL". Source: "XBRL CH Taxonomy 2025 – Guidance and consultation", XBRL Switzerland Working Group, §§ 1 and 3 iii–vi, in consultation since September 2025. That document is published in English; these quotations are verbatim, not rendered.

CH taxonomy (OR)

Short: The catalogue of line items used to name, in XBRL, a Jahresrechnung — the annual financial statements prepared under the Swiss Code of Obligations (Obligationenrecht, OR).

Precise: An OR taxonomy was proposed in 2018; in 2025 the working group produced a new version that is at once a simplification and an extension "with concepts relevant to the cantonal tax offices". The scope stays narrow on purpose: "The taxonomy is deliberately kept concise … It therefore plays the role of a ‹master taxonomy›." Every line item is tied back to the chart of accounts: "Each account in the CH taxonomy is noted with an account from the account framework for SMEs" (§§ 1 and 4 xii). Counted on 05.08.2026: the 2024-06-23 file contains 453 element declarations, the 2025-05-31 file 519 — under an identical namespace, http://taxonomies.xbrl-ch.ch/ch-taxonomy. The vintage lives in the filename and nowhere else.

Instance document

Short: The XBRL document carrying the figures of a set of accounts — the field now calls it a "report".

Precise: "An annual report is described in an XBRL document called a report (historically, it was called an ‹instance document›). This document consists of one or more facts … Each fact has associated metadata (what, where, how, when, …) and a value" (XBRL Switzerland, § 3 iii). The cantons still use the older word: XBRL instance documents for tax purposes deliver data "mostly at the level of account groups", departing from that only where an account balance makes the return easier to prefill (Canton of Zurich, 08.09.2025).

Three schema files, three counts — read with an XML parser on 05.08.2026:

The words of the transmission chain: swissdec, ERP, transmitter, distributor, Deklarationslösung

These roles are defined in exactly one place: in swissdec's «Technische Spezifikation eBILANZ – Richtlinien für Transmitter», issue of 06.03.2026, addressed to software manufacturers and developers (§ 1). Because the definitions are the source's own, they stand here in the original, with our rendering after the dash:

ERP gets no definition of its own; swissdec equates it with the sending system: «ERP-System (resp. Buchhaltungssoftware)» — ERP system, or accounting software (§ 2).

swissdec nowhere describes itself in that document. What we can evidence is the outside description by the Canton of Zurich, 08.09.2025: the canton is following swissdec's development, «deren Ziel der Aufbau einer gesamtschweizerischen Distributionsplattform ist» — whose aim is to build a Switzerland-wide distribution platform. According to swissdec's own account on swissdec.ch/ebilanz-info, a pilot phase is running, with productive operation from 2027 — their statement, not ours.

Deklarationslösung (declaration solution)

Short: The application in which the declaration is captured — usually a cantonal web portal.

Precise: The taxpayer or the Treuhänder — the Swiss fiduciary professional, with bookkeeping, tax and corporate administration under one roof — captures the declaration and e-balance-sheet data in the declaration application, and "the user interface may for example be a cantonal web portal" (eCH-0276 § 1.2). swissdec distinguishes «kantonseigene» (canton-owned) from «private» declaration solutions and records on 06.03.2026: «Aus vertragsrechtlichen und statuarischen Gründen seitens Swissdec können aktuell nur kantonseigene Deklarationslösungen die E-Bilanz via Distributor elektronisch empfangen» — for contractual and statutory reasons on swissdec's side, only canton-owned declaration solutions can currently receive the e-balance sheet electronically via the distributor. Which format runs on which leg is set out in the communication matrix:

The interface is a SOAP web service; the WSDL names the endpoint https://distributor.swisscom.com/services/ebilanz/BalanceSheet/V1 and seven operations (read 05.08.2026). The cantons use the word the same way: a "user-friendly, efficient and secure online declaration solution" has been available for legal entities since August 2025 (Zurich, Wegleitung 2025), and Obwalden states that from tax period 2025 it is moving to "the Switzerland-wide transmission standard eCH-0276" (ow.ch, 18.02.2026). That a cantonal portal and a tax software package are two different things is visible in one vendor's own helpdesk: «Kanton ZH – Steuererklärung JP: Es ist derzeit keine elektronische Einreichung möglich» — for Zurich, no electronic submission is currently possible for legal entities; for legal entities in AG, GL, SG and TI the same article describes an online submission (Dr. Tax Helpdesk, last edited 03.07.2026).

The access words: AGOV, Registernummer, Zugangscode

AGOV

Short: The federal authorities' login, used to sign in to cantonal tax portals.

Precise: "AGOV is the new authorities' login of Switzerland. You can use it with the Confederation and with cantonal and communal authorities, for example if you want to deal with your tax return electronically. … AGOV is a service of the Confederation and is available in the first authority applications from 2024" (agov.ch, German-language home page, retrieved 04.08.2026). The sentence that matters for a Treuhand practice comes from the canton: «Ein AGOV-Konto repräsentiert immer eine natürliche Person, die entweder für sich selbst oder im Auftrag handelt» — an AGOV account always represents a natural person, acting either for themselves or on behalf of someone else (zh.ch, «Auf die Online-Steuererklärung ZHcorporateTax umsteigen»).

Registernummer (tax register number)

Short: The number under which the cantonal tax administration holds the company — not the same number as the UID.

Precise: In the Canton of Zurich it appears together with the access code on "the access-code letter of the cantonal tax office" (zh.ch, ibid.); the paper-form instructions open with "first enter your Registernummer (J00…)". In eCH-0276, registerNumber is a mandatory header field, and beside it sits a separate, optional uid field: the UID is a different number, maintained by the Federal Statistical Office "on behalf of the Confederation" (swissdec glossary, 06.03.2026). One detail with practical force, checked on 05.08.2026: in V1.0.0 registerNumber is typed xs:long, a pure integer, and the official example instance carries the value 123456. In the V2.0.0 draft the same field is xs:string. No document available to us says why.

Zugangscode (access code)

Short: The code from the tax office's letter that opens a tax return — and, at the same time, the instrument of authorisation.

Precise: The taxpayer "may authorise third parties, by handing over the access credentials, to capture their tax return data via the application and to submit the tax return electronically", and may "revoke that authority at any time by requesting a new access code from the cantonal tax office" (LS 631.121 § 11 paras. 1 and 2, version of 13.05.2025, in force since 01.07.2025). Who receives the letter depends on the mandate on file: «Beim Vorliegen einer registrierten, generellen Vollmacht wird das Schreiben an den Vertreter verschickt» — where a registered general power of attorney exists, the letter goes to the representative (Canton of Zurich, 08.09.2025). From the help centre, edited 25.07.2025: when entering the access code, "correct upper and lower case is mandatory". The name is cantonal: Obwalden asks instead for "your PID number and the matching identification code" (18.02.2026).

The procedural words: juristische Person, Steuerperiode, Wegleitung, Beilage, Steuergeheimnis

juristische Person (legal entity)

Short: The set of taxable subjects to which eCH-0276 applies at all.

Precise: "The standard deals exclusively with the E-Bilanz and tax return of legal entities" (eCH-0276 § 1.3); it covers "the data for all company forms (corporations, associations, foundations, etc.)" (§ 2.2). For scale: "in 2024, around 97'000 legal entities (mostly public limited companies and GmbHs) were liable to tax in the Canton of Zurich" (Finance Directorate of the Canton of Zurich, 18.07.2025). The CH taxonomy carries a legal-form dimension with exactly nine members; in the taxonomy's own English label linkbase they read Sole proprietorship, General partnership, Limited partnership, Limited liability company, Public limited company &Co limited partnership, Limited partnership company, Cooperative, Association and Foundation (label linkbase 2024-06-23, read 05.08.2026). Three of those are not legal entities, and there is no plain "public limited company" member standing on its own.

Steuerperiode (tax period)

Short: For corporations and cooperatives, the financial year.

Precise: "Both the tax period and the assessment period coincide with the financial year … so that, depending on the financial year, they may fall together with the calendar year, be shifted against it, or in special cases run shorter or longer than twelve months" (Wegleitung 2025). In the format, the tax period is not a vintage but a date interval: taxPeriodFrom and taxPeriodTo, both xs:date and both mandatory.

Wegleitung (the canton's guidance notes)

Short: The canton's official aid to completing the tax return.

Precise: "These guidance notes for corporations and cooperatives are intended to make completing the tax return easier" — that is how the document opens. It carries the deadline ("by 30 September of the calendar year following the tax period"; "workload or missing documents do not count as important reasons") and the anchor on which everything else hangs, in the original: «Grundlage für die steuerliche Gewinnermittlung bildet die nach den Bestimmungen des Obligationenrechts (Art. 957 ff. OR) erstellte Jahresrechnung» — the basis for determining taxable profit is the Jahresrechnung drawn up under Art. 957 ff. OR (Wegleitung zur Steuererklärung 2025, Cantonal Tax Office Zurich).

Beilage (attachment)

Short: Everything that travels with the declaration — the Jahresrechnung first among them.

Precise: "The required attachments are to be submitted electronically together with the tax return" (LS 631.121 § 8 para. 4). The Wegleitung names them concretely: signed copies of the general meeting's resolutions approving the annual report and the Jahresrechnung, those documents themselves, and supplementary forms. eCH-0276 "describes the possibility of adding attachments to the tax return" (§ 1.3); the document types are a closed enumeration of twenty values, from completeTaxDeclaration to otherAttachments. Obwalden puts it plainly: «Pflichtbeilage: Die Jahresrechnung muss zwingend angefügt werden» — the Jahresrechnung is a mandatory attachment (18.02.2026). Mind the double meaning: on the eCH standard page, the annexes to the standard itself are also called «Beilagen» — the Excel mapping, the XSD file, sample forms, and, from V2.0.0, the SSK rule set.

Steuergeheimnis (tax secrecy)

Short: The statutory duty of confidentiality to which all of this data is subject.

Precise: "The data exchanged under this standard is subject to the data protection laws of the Confederation and the cantons and, in particular, to the Steuergeheimnis governed by federal and cantonal tax statutes" (eCH-0276 § 3, word for word in both versions). The cantonal tax office takes the measures needed so that "tax secrecy under § 120 StG is guaranteed" and so that "it can be traced at any time which persons accessed which data" (LS 631.121 § 3 para. 1 lit. c and d).

Vernehmlassung — and three places where people go wrong

Vernehmlassung

Short: The formal Swiss consultation procedure on a piece of legislation — not the procedure by which a data standard is commented on.

Precise: In our material the word appears only in the cantonal legislative context: on the total revision of the cadastral valuation, "two Vernehmlassungen were carried out" (minutes of the Solothurn tax office with EXPERTsuisse and TREUHAND|SUISSE, 25.11.2025). eCH calls its own procedure something else: the status of version 2.0.0 is «Entwurf» (draft), the comment form is headed «Ihr Kommentar zur öffentlichen Konsultation» — your comment on the public consultation — with a deadline of 3 September 2026 (eCH standard page, retrieved 04.08.2026). XBRL Switzerland uses the English word "consultation".

Three quiet traps

First: the version attribute in the schema is not the version of the standard. All three files tabulated above carry version="0"; the version lives in the namespace (…/1 against …/2) and in the filename.

Second: the namespace is spelled differently in the prose than in the schema. § 2.4 gives http://www.ech.ch/xmlns/ech-0276/1; the XSD declares http://www.ech.ch/xmlns/eCH-0276/1. XML namespaces are compared character by character; in V2 the divergence repeats.

Third: two files in the same namespace can differ. Between the eCH version V1.0.0 and the file from the swissdec package of 06.03.2026 we counted, on 05.08.2026, thirteen removed and fifteen new element names, plus 85 type changes, 82 of them from xs:long to xs:decimal. A check that reads only the namespace sees none of this.

Where this glossary stops

We do not say what swissdec is as an organisation — we hold no self-description. We do not quote the OR, the StHG or cantonal tax statutes verbatim, only the references to them found in the Wegleitung and the ordinance. We say nothing about cantons for which we have no source. And we do not say whether a given portal accepts a given file: we have never imported a file into a cantonal portal. The SSK rule set (as at 31.03.2026) does at least say what applies afterwards: «Wird die E-Bilanz elektronisch übermittelt (Upload oder via Swissdec), können die Positionen nicht überschrieben werden» — where the e-balance sheet is transmitted electronically, by upload or via swissdec, the positions cannot be overwritten — and otherwise, that the CH Taxonomy 2025 applies to manual capture as well.

In short

• eCH-0276 is the XML exchange format for the tax return of legal entities; it does not govern transmission, and it has «nur den Status von Empfehlungen», the status of recommendations only (eCH, 19.11.2024).
• XBRL is the markup language, the CH taxonomy (OR) the catalogue of line items; the instance document is today called a "report" in XBRL usage.
• Sendersystem/ERP, transmitter, distributor, Endreceiver, Empfängersystem: five defined roles (swissdec, 06.03.2026) — XBRL runs from the ERP to the canton, eCH-0276 from the canton to the tax domiciles.
• Deklarationslösung: at present, only canton-owned declaration solutions can receive the e-balance sheet electronically via the distributor.
• AGOV, Registernummer, Zugangscode are what it takes to start in Zurich; the access code doubles as the instrument of authorisation (LS 631.121 § 11).
• Wegleitung, Steuerperiode, Beilage, Steuergeheimnis, juristische Person: the procedural words — and the tax period is a date interval, not a vintage.
• Vernehmlassung belongs to the legislative context; eCH calls its own procedure «öffentliche Konsultation», public consultation, with a deadline of 03.09.2026.
• Information, not Steuerberatung and not legal advice.

Sources

• eCH-0276 «E-Bilanz und E-Tax JP», main document V1.0.0 — issue date 19.11.2024, adopted 02.12.2024, published on ech.ch 05.12.2024; §§ 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, 2.4, 3, 4.
• eCH-0276 V2.0.0, draft — issue date 03.07.2026, published on ech.ch 23.07.2026, comment deadline 03.09.2026; §§ 1.1, 1.3, 2.3, 3; standard page retrieved 04.08.2026.
• Schema files eCH-0276-1-0.xsd, eCH-0276-1-0-4_20260115.xsd, eCH-0276-2-0-0.xsd and the example instance Beispiel_eBalanceSheetETaxLegalEntity.xml — retrieved 04.08.2026, counted 05.08.2026.
• Regelwerk SSK zur Online-Steuerdeklarationslösung für Juristische Personen (SSK rule set), annex to eCH-0276 V2.0.0, as at 31.03.2026.
• XBRL CH Taxonomy 2025 – Guidance and consultation, XBRL Switzerland Working Group, consultation version from September 2025; §§ 1, 3 iii–vi, 4 ii, 4 v, 4 xii.
• CH taxonomy schema files ch-taxonomy-2024-06-23.xsd, ch-taxonomy-2025-05-31.xsd and the English label linkbase ch-taxonomy-lab-en-2024-06-23.xml — retrieved 04.08.2026, counted 05.08.2026.
• swissdec, Technische Spezifikation eBILANZ – Richtlinien für Transmitter, version 20260306, issue of 06.03.2026; §§ 1 and 2, tables 1.1 and 2.1, annex B, together with BalanceSheetDeclarationService.wsdl.
• Canton of Zurich, tax office: «Fragen und Antworten» on the online information event of 25.08.2025 — document dated 08.09.2025.
• Canton of Zurich: Wegleitung zur Steuererklärung 2025 für Kapitalgesellschaften und Genossenschaften, Cantonal Tax Office Zurich.
• Canton of Zurich, zh.ch: «Auf die Online-Steuererklärung ZHcorporateTax umsteigen» and «Steuererklärung für juristische Personen» — retrieved 04.08.2026.
• Canton of Zurich, help centre: «Registernummer und Zugangscode finden» — created 16.07.2025, edited 25.07.2025.
• Verordnung über die elektronische Einreichung der Steuererklärung, LS 631.121 — §§ 3, 8, 10, 11; version of 13.05.2025, in force since 01.07.2025.
• Media release of the Finance Directorate of the Canton of Zurich, 18.07.2025.
• Canton of Obwalden, ow.ch: page on online declaration for legal entities (page date 18.02.2026) and help page «Erste Schritte» (18.02.2026).
• Minutes of the Solothurn tax office with EXPERTsuisse and TREUHAND|SUISSE, 25.11.2025, sections 4.2 and 8.
• agov.ch — home page, retrieved 04.08.2026.
• Dr. Tax Helpdesk, «Online-Einreichung / Fristen einreichen» — last edited 03.07.2026.

Frequently asked questions