Opening a “e-démarches” account

Preface

Since September 2024, the procedure for applying for monetary grants from the City of Geneva will change. The new process will centralise grant applications on an online portal that uses the e-demarches platform of the Canton of Geneva. Any association wishing to apply for a grant from a City of Geneva service (e.g. Culture Department, Sports Department, Agenda 21 Department, Social Services Department, Youth Services Department, Community Life Unit) will be required to use the dedicated online portal. No paper or email applications will be processed from now on.

The use of this platform has several administrative and financial implications for associations, which are outlined in section 5 of this document.

As the City of Geneva’s online portal uses the IT environment of the Canton of Geneva e-procedures platform, you will need to obtain an IDE number and a REG identifier from the relevant entities.

  • This framework details the steps to be taken prior to any request for funding from the City of Geneva, namely:
  • Registration in the Federal Statistical Office’s Business and Enterprise Register (répertoire des entreprises et établissements de l’Office fédéral de la statistique – REE);
  • Registration in the Register of Commerce of the Canton of Geneva (répertoire des entreprises du Canton de Genève – REG);
    Creation of an e-démarches account on the Canton of Geneva platform;
  • Creation of an account on the City of Geneva’s online portal.

These steps must be taken no later than one month before the deadline for submitting a grant application.

If your association is registered in the Commercial Register of the Canton of Geneva, you will already have an IDE number. You can therefore skip steps 1 and 2 above.

Need some help during this process?

The City of Geneva has set up a support team within the City of Geneva’s Information and Communication Systems Department (Direction des systèmes d’information et de communication de la Ville de Genève – DSIC). Assistance can be requested by:

The telephone hotline is open on

  • Tuesday from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The team is also happy to welcome visitors on site who have made an appointment.

Within the scope of our expertise, we can also offer guidance on how to complete these various procedures.

1. Registration in the Business and Enterprise Register (REE) of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO)

The REE includes all companies and establishments, both public and private, that are based in Switzerland and engage in economic activity. It is used by certain cantons, such as Geneva, for statistical and administrative purposes.

The register is accessible online. 

Registration is completed by filling out the form titled ‘Request for Company Data’, which can be downloaded. Despite title of the form and the note stating that organisations cannot obtain an IDE directly from the Swiss Federal Statistics Office (OFS), this is, in fact, the correct form to use for registration.

The duly completed form should be returned to uid@bfs.admin.ch, together with the association’s articles of association.

In principle, confirmation of registration with the REE and the IDE number will be received within 3 days.

2. Registration in the Register of Commerce of the Canton of Geneva (REG)

The REG records economic activity across the private, public, and international sectors in the canton of Geneva. Its data is publicly accessible.

If your association is registered in the Register of Commerce, it automatically receives a REG identifier, allowing you to proceed to the next step.

Registration with the REG occurs automatically following registration with the REE. It takes approximately ten days, and no confirmation of registration is sent.

To check whether your association is already listed in the REG, you can search using the REG search engine.

To complete any missing information, you will need to visit the e-démarches (e-services) platform of the Canton of Geneva. If you do not yet have an account, you can send this information, along with any relevant documentation, to reg.geneve@etat.ge.ch.

Please note that if you change your address or contact details in the future, you will need to update them here.

3. Creating an e-démarches account with the Canton of Geneva

Creating an e-démarches (e-services) account is counterintuitive for associations, as you will have to repeatedly state that you are a company until you reach the point where you enter your legal status.

The e-démarches account for businesses, which is also intended for associations, is different to the e-démarches account for individuals.

To register your association, please complete the online form “Registration for companies”, selecting the category “Geneva-based company” and entering the association’s REG identification number.

The form and all supporting documents must be printed, signed and sent by post. Registration may take up to 21 days.

The registration confirmation will be sent along with the association’s e-démarches ID, followed by a security key and an account activation link. Certain information must be completed at this stage. Once this step is finished, it will be possible to add additional account managers for the association via the account management interface.

It is important that the IDE number and REG identifier are linked to the association’s e-démarches account. This verification is carried out in the account manager, under “Manage my organisation”, then “Identity”.

If one or both numbers are missing, they must be sent to portail-demarches.dsic@ville-ge.ch along with the association’s e-démarches ID (GE-0000000), REG number and/or IDE ID.

4. Creating an account on the City of Geneva's administrative procedures portal

This online portal is intended for any association or company that engages with the City of Geneva. It specifically hosts grant applications in areas such as sport, culture, and sustainable development, which are submitted to various departments of the City of Geneva (e.g. the Culture Department, the Sports Department, the Agenda 21 Department, the Social Services Department, the Youth Department, the Community Life Unit, etc.).

Once the association has an e-démarches account, simply go to the portal and accept the terms and conditions of use to finalise the association’s registration.

All funding application forms are available in the list of procedures and can be completed individually. You can fill out an application in several stages by saving it and retrieving it later from the drafts tab.

All information must be completed in French.

The grant application forms available through this platform specifically concern:

  •   grant applications for one-off cultural projects, submitted to the Cultural Department
  •   personal grant applications submitted to the Cultural Department
  •   certain grants from the City of Geneva for artists working in the visual and applied arts
  •   grant applications in the field of international solidarity
  •   individual grant applications for associations working to promote social cohesion
  •   one-off grant applications to the Agenda 21 – Sustainable City Department
  •   applications for support from the G’innove programme for innovative projects with social, environmental and economic impact

Furthermore, accounts and activity reports related to a project funded by a grant from the City of Geneva can also be submitted using the form available on the portal.

5. Tax implications

As this new procedure uses the Geneva State e-demarches platform, information related to associations is automatically shared with the Cantonal Tax Administration (Administration fiscale cantonale – AFC).

The AFC will therefore be able to identify all associations in Geneva and verify their tax status. As a reminder, all associations are required to register with the AFC and submit a tax return each year. If your association is not yet known to the AFC, it will be automatically identified through this procedure. You will then need to regularise your tax situation, which may involve paying taxes retroactively. From a tax perspective, the authorities can claim unpaid taxes for up to 10 years. In terms of criminal liability, if an association has not paid taxes for several years, it risks prosecution for tax evasion, along with a fine ranging from one-third to three times the amount of the unpaid tax.

It is also possible to apply for tax exemption either alongside or following the steps outlined above. However, only a limited number of associations qualify for tax exemption, due to the specific eligibility criteria set by the AFC.

For questions related to taxation and association accounting, two dedicated templates are available here (hyperlink). It is important to keep in mind that the granting of tax exemption is exceptional.

6. Resources used