What has changed
The QR-bill replaced the orange and red payment slips, which were withdrawn on 30 September 2022. Its payment part contains a QR code holding every detail of the payment: account, amount, reference and addresses.
Until now, these addresses could be written in two ways. Type K, the combined address, put the street and house number on one line and the postcode and town on another. Type S, the structured address, gives each element its own field: street, house number, postcode, town and country.
Since 22 November 2025, only type S is allowed. This is what the implementation guidelines published by SIX require. SIX operates the Swiss payment infrastructure.
Why the change
A machine can read a structured address without ambiguity. It makes payments easier to check and aligns with the ISO 20022 standard that banks use for transfers.
How to check your invoices
- Scan the QR code of a recent invoice with your banking app. If it reports an address error, the format is the problem.
- Check that your software stores the customer’s address in separate fields (street, house number, postcode, town) rather than in a single block of text.
- Check your own address as well, the creditor’s: the same rule applies to it.
- A 27-digit QR reference must go with a QR-IBAN. With an ordinary IBAN, you use the creditor reference (starting with RF) or no reference at all.
Other rules worth knowing
- The payment part measures 210 × 105 mm: a 62 mm receipt on the left and the 148 mm payment section on the right.
- The QR code measures 46 × 46 mm and carries a Swiss cross in its centre.
- On paper, the payment part must be perforated so it can be torn off. On a PDF invoice sent by email, a dotted line with a scissors symbol shows where to cut.
- The amount is optional: a QR-bill without an amount works well for a donation, for example.
- Only two currencies are possible: Swiss francs and euros.
What Qompta does
Qompta, our free accounting software, adds a QR payment part that meets Swiss standards to every invoice exported as a PDF. There is nothing extra to install and no module to pay for.
Using other software? Ask your vendor whether your version produces type S addresses. If the tool is no longer maintained, this may be the right time to talk to us.