QR-Invoice

The QR-bill is a standardized payment form that has been used in Switzerland since the 30th of june 2020. It replaces the previous payment slips and makes both the manual and electronic payment of invoices more comfortable. The main component of the QR-invoice is a QR-code, more precisely the Swiss QR Code, which contains the needed payment information.

General features of QR-invoices:

1. QR code: Contains all relevant data such as IBAN, amount, currency, name of the recipient and payer as well as a reference number. This code can be captured with banking apps or special scanners, which enables error-free and fast payment.

2. In addition to the digital information: The QR-invoice also contains readable text information, so that the invoice can still be filled out manually, if required.

3. Reference and messages: The QR-code supports both structured and unstructured messages, which is important for invoices with reference numbers (e.g. ISR).

Information required in Converia

The following information about the account/account-holder is required to activate the payment method:

• QR-IBAN

• Name of the bank

• Street

• ZIP-Code, City

• Customer-Identification (6 digits, optional, former ESR-Identification, use '000000' if not required)

QR-IBAN validity and structure

A QR-IBAN is required to set up the QR-invoice payment method; it is not sufficient to continue using the regular IBAN.

Formal structure of a QR-IBAN

Fig. 1: Formal structure of a IBAN or QR-IBAN for Switzerland & Liechtenstein according to ISO 13616

QR-IBAN Validity

The Swiss and Liechtenstein IBANs contain an institution identifier (IID) at positions 5-9.

QR-IIDs between 30,000 and 31,999 are reserved for QR-IBANs.

IBANs that do not contain '30' or '31' at the 5th and 6th position are therefore no valid QR-IBANs and will lead to an error 500 when the invoice is generated.

Source: Six, Swiss QR-bill, Technical information on the QR-IBAN and QR-IID

Data contained in the QR-code

• QR-IBAN of the payee

• Name, street, zip code & city, country of the payee

• Amount

• Name, street, ZIP-code & city, country of the payer

• Unique payment reference from Converia (ISR identifier of the customer at the bank, frame, invoice, invoice version)

Different modes

1. QR-bill with QR-IBAN + QR-reference

   

   Fig. 2: QR-bill with QR-IBAN + QR-reference
2. QR-bill with IBAN without reference

   

   Fig. 3: QR-bill with IBAN without reference
3. QR-bill with QR-IBAN + Creditor reference (ISO 11649) 🆕

   

   Fig. 3: QR-bill with QR-IBAN + Creditor reference (ISO 11649)

Source: Six, Style guide QR-bill

Converia currently only supports the 1st mode: QR-invoice with QR-IBAN and unique QR reference.