True DDP into Switzerland means YOU are importer of record: Swiss VAT registration plus a fiscal representative, or the forwarder clears under their ZAZ deferment as your agent (they will charge for the privilege and the VAT is still yours to recover, slowly). If the customer is VAT-registered in CH, DAP is cleaner for everyone: they import, they recover the VAT in full. Show your customer the cash-flow math; DDP is usually them optimising their convenience at your cost.
DAP vs DDP into Switzerland: who registers for import VAT?
Emma Visser nlImport Compliance Coordinator · Tulip BioSciencesAsked 23 Jul 2026
First shipment into Switzerland (non-EU!). Customer insists on DDP. If we sell DDP, do we need a Swiss VAT registration and fiscal representative, or can the forwarder's deferment account cover it? Under DAP, can the customer recover the import VAT we would otherwise eat? Feeling out of my depth here.
2 replies
Middle path we use: 'DDP, import VAT excluded' written explicitly into the contract (some call it DDP VAT-unpaid). Incoterms purists wince, but it's common practice into CH, just define it in words, never rely on the three letters alone.