QR-bill – Swiss Payment Standards

Q: Can additional elements like advertising be placed on the QR-bill?

The use of the payment part and the receipt as an advertising medium or advertising material is excluded. Printing on the back side is not permitted.

The QR-bill: Efficiency Squared

The QR-bill, which has been in circulation since June 2020, definitively replaced Swiss payment slips on 1 October 2022. The QR-bill features a QR code with a Swiss cross as an identifying feature. The Swiss QR code contains all the information necessary for a payment in digital form. This ensures improved security and enables a smoother financial process.

How the QR-bill Works

The QR-bill can be printed or issued digitally. It is the successor to the previous payment slips. The QR-bill consists of a payment section and a receipt. All payment information is contained both digitally in the Swiss QR Code and – as usual – in plain text. This enables the invoice recipient to check the correctness of the payment data after scanning and before approving the payment and, if necessary, to enter payments manually.

Just like existing payment slips, the QR-bill is divided into two parts – into a receipt (1) and a payment section (2).
The Swiss QR Code (3) contains all relevant information needed both for invoicing and for payment.
The QR-bill is perforated (4). In this way, the invoice recipient can easily separate the payment section and the receipt from the invoice and either pay it at the post office counter, or send it to the bank with the payment order by mail.

Three Options For Paying a QR-bill

Specifications for the QR-bill

If all the processes involved in producing and processing QR-bills are to work smoothly, the QR-bill Guidelines must be carefully observed. The specifications for the QR-bill are addressed primarily to the issuers of invoices, but they also apply to financial institutions and their service providers who offer their customers payment traffic services based on the QR-bill, the developers of software for invoice issuers and recipients and banks, and all other associated participants in the market.

Currently valid versions

IG QR-bill version 2.3 (valid as of 1 January 2024 resp. 21 November 2025)

- 20 Nov 2023
- Entry into force date: 21 Nov 2025
Implementation Guidelines QR-bill SPS (Version 2.3)

As early as 1 January 2024, the new chapter 3.8 "Layout rules for the online use of the QR-bill" and changes to chapter 4.3.3 regarding the printing of information from the "Billing information" field will come into force. These changes, which come into effect early, do not involve any technical adjustments.
Open document
- Delta Guide: QR-bill Version 2.3
  This document is intended to demonstrate changes between the IG QR-bill Version 2.2 and 2.3

IG QR-bill version 2.2 (valid as of 22 February 2021)

- 15 Feb 2021
- Entry into force date: 22 Feb 2021
Implementation Guidelines QR-bill SPS (Version 2.2)

Technical and functional specifications of the payment section with Swiss QR Code and of the receipt
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- Delta Guide: QR-bill Version 2.2
  This document is intended to demonstrate changes between the IG QR-bill Version 2.1 and 2.2.
- Druckauftrag Standard für QR-Rechnungen
- Style Guide QR-bill
- Technical information about the QR-IID and QR-IBAN

In the Download center you will find various documents including processing rules, implementation tools and factsheets for the QR-bill.

Download center

Are You a Software Supplier?

Feel free to use our platform to validate the Swiss QR code.

Go to validation portal

Generating Swiss QR Codes

The following list features simple and free, publicly available solutions for generating Swiss QR Codes for individuals and small companies that do not have a software solution.

Manufacturer	Link
Andreas Bilger	qr-rechnung.net
Manuel Bleichenbacher	www.codecrete.net/qrbill
Codeblock GmbH	app.qr-invoice.cloud
Epsitec SA	qr-rechnung.online
hakuna AG	www.koleo.ch/qr-rechnung-erstellen
Adrian Kousz	adrian.kousz.ch/swissqr-bill.html
Lerchmüller AG	https://qr-generator.ch
NetCat AG	https://www.proqr.ch
PostFinance AG	postfinance.ch/qr-generator
QR Modul	qrmodul.ch
Räppli - Rechnung	rappli.ch
Raiffeisen Schweiz	raiffeisen.ch/qr-generator
TEC-IT Datenverarbeitung GmbH	label.tec-it.com/en/Group/SWISS/Swiss_QR_Bill_V2
UBS Switzerland AG	qrbill.ubs.com
Swiss Digital Vision	swissqrbill.ch

Disclaimer

SIX Interbank Clearing Ltd ("SIX") has compiled the list of publicly accessible and free generators of Swiss QR Codes on behalf of the Swiss financial center and on the basis of a market analysis and does not make a profit from their publication. SIX is not the manufacturer of the generators ("QR generators") included in the list and assumes no warranty or responsibility whatsoever for their functionality or procedural implementation, in particular for possible errors in QR-bills created on the basis of the QR generators. Likewise, SIX does not provide any advice in this regard and makes no control functions available. Furthermore, SIX assumes no responsibility for actions of the manufacturers of QR generators that result from the disclosure of personal data in connection with the use of the QR generators. Any questions and comments regarding the use of the QR generators shall be addressed to the respective manufacturer. SIX reserves the right to update or remove the list of publicly accessible and free QR generators at any time.

Any Questions About QR-bill

Find answers to your questions in our FAQs.

Can additional elements like advertising be placed on the QR-bill? In the case of a self-printed QR-bill, is there an obligation to examine and approve it?

There is no obligation for the invoice issuer. The QR-bill will only be examined if this is explicitly requested by the financial institution.

The following tools are available to software developers and invoice issuers for self-control purposes:

grid sheet in "Style Guide QR-bill"
SIX QR-bill Validation Portal

The Swiss QR Code printed in a faulty manner may lead to disruptions when processed. Such payment parts can be rejected.

Please contact your bank if you require further assistance in this regard. SIX does not offer any quality checks.

Can the invoice recipient also pay a PDF invoice at the post office counter or send the printed payment order on paper to his bank?

If the invoice issuer sends a QR-bill to his customer in paper form – in line with the financial center’s requirements – it is ensured that the financial institutions can process the payment part via all payment channels (e.g. in e-banking and m-banking, as a physical payment order or at the post office counter).

However, if a QR-bill is sent electronically as a PDF document and is to be further processed in paper form, the creditor must ensure that the relevant requirements are met. Essential requirements are (not exhaustive):

The size of the payment section must correspond to DIN A6 (105 x 148 mm); the markings and the scissors symbol serve this purpose.

The separation of the number part must be done according to the given lines

The paper must have a weight of at least 80 to a maximum of 100 g/m² (white or certified recycled, FSC and TCF paper).

Further requirements can be found in the documents "Implementation Guidelines QR-bill" and "Style Guide QR-bill".

To all FAQs

Use of Alternative Procedures

The Swiss banks are assuming that in the future billers will want to offer their customers other alternative procedures in addition to bank transfers, some of which may not yet currently exist. To design the QR code to be future-capable for this purpose, the banks have built in an "alternative procedures" element at the end of the QR code. Additional information for up to two alternative procedures can currently be filled in here.

Using the Alternative Procedures
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Additional information for up to two alternative procedures can currently be filled in here. The meaning of the first characters of the field is predetermined as follows:

Characters 1-n	indicate the procedures to which the filled in parameters belong.
Characters n+1	defines the separator with which the subsequent parameters are separated.
From characters n+2	for the necessary alternative procedure parameter, separated by the defined separator. All parameters that may contain personal data must first be displayed, followed by the other parameters.

Registered alternative procedures

Organization	Short name	Short description	Link zur Syntaxdefinition
SIX	eBill	Electronic bills	www.ebill.ch
TWINT AG	TWINT	TWINT for QR-bills	www.twint.ch

Other owners of alternative procedures that would like to use the QR-bill can contact billing-payments.pm@six-group.com to clarify the options and further schemes.

Notes

Implementation through providers of solutions for billing

During the implementation of this function, providers of software solutions must make sure that the use of alternative procedures can be managed through the master data. For each biller it must be possible to define whether, and to which schemes, this information should be sent. It is recommended that an internal solution be prepared for the use of procedures that can later be easily upgraded.
If a bill recipient should receive information about a specific scheme, then the "alternative procedure parameters" field should be filled in with values according to the specifications of the scheme owner.

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