What are the key dates for the Swiss QR-bill?
The dates that matter are 21 November 2025 (new QR-bills with structured addresses only), end of September 2026 (several banks stop guaranteeing old bills), 13 November 2026 (standing orders and templates updated) and 14 November 2026 (no more unstructured addresses in payment orders, QR-bill version 2.4). Version 2.3 expires in November 2027. The table below shows which dates come from SIX and which only from individual banks.
To see whether your own bills are up to date, use our QR-bill checker: it runs in your browser and never uploads the bill.
All dates at a glance
| Date | What happens | Source |
|---|---|---|
| June 2020 | The QR-bill goes into circulation. | SIX |
| 1 October 2022 | The QR-bill definitively replaces the orange and red payment slips. | SIX |
| 21 November 2025 | Implementation Guidelines 2.3: new QR-bills may only contain structured addresses (type S). | SIX |
| End of September 2026 | Several banks only guarantee processing of bills with a combined address (type K) until this point. | individual banks |
| 13 November 2026 | Banks must have updated standing orders and payment templates. PostFinance guarantees type K until this date. | SIX, PostFinance |
| 14 November 2026 | Swiss Payment Standards: no more unstructured addresses in payment orders. Implementation Guidelines 2.4 apply. | SIX |
| November 2027 | Version 2.3 of the Implementation Guidelines expires. EUR QR-bills are processed as SEPA credit transfers by then at the latest. | SIX |
2020 and 2022: launch and end of the payment slips
The QR-bill has been in circulation since June 2020. For a while it ran alongside the orange and red payment slips, which it definitively replaced on 1 October 2022. Many Excel and Word templates date from that period, when the combined address was still allowed. See Swiss QR-bill Excel or Word template.
21 November 2025: address type K is gone
With version 2.3 of the Implementation Guidelines, SIX removed the combined address type K. Since then, newly issued QR-bills may only contain structured addresses, for both the biller and the payer. The guidelines give 21 November as the start of validity; the SIX web pages say "in force since 22 November 2025", because the switch coincided with the SIC release weekend. What this means in practice is explained in Structured address on the Swiss QR-bill.
End of September 2026: a bank deadline, not a SIX one
Bills created before the cut-off are still in circulation. Several banks, including Graubündner Kantonalbank and Banque Cantonale Neuchâteloise, only guarantee processing them until the end of September 2026; BCN refuses them after that. This date does not come from any SIX document, and not every bank uses it: PostFinance guarantees processing until 13 November 2026. What to do if a payment is refused: Swiss QR-bill rejected by the bank.
13 and 14 November 2026: the hard deadline
From 14 November 2026, the Swiss Payment Standards no longer allow unstructured addresses in any payment order, whether domestic, SEPA or cross-border. Unstructured addresses are only possible for orders with an execution date before 14 November 2026. That is why banks have to update standing orders and payment templates by 13 November 2026.
The same day, Implementation Guidelines 2.4 take effect. Nothing changes for CHF bills with a structured address. For EUR bills, QR-IBAN and QR reference are no longer provided for. Details: 14 Nov 2026: Swiss QR-bill 2.4 and end of unstructured addresses.
November 2027: end of version 2.3
Version 2.3 remains valid until November 2027. By then at the latest, QR-bills in euros will be processed as SEPA credit transfers; SIX points out that an unstructured message is not guaranteed to reach the biller in EUR payments.
Common questions
Do I need to act before 30 September 2026? If your bills still contain type K: yes, as soon as possible. New bills haven't been allowed to use it since November 2025 anyway, and depending on your customers' bank, old bills are no longer guaranteed to be processed from October 2026.
Does 14 November affect me if I don't issue QR-bills? Possibly: the rule applies to all payment orders, including payment files that companies send to their bank. Recipient addresses in those files must be structured or hybrid; your own address as the ordering party is filled in by the bank from its customer records.
Sources
- SIX: QR-bill
- SIX: Swiss Payments – Structured/Hybrid Address
- SIX: QR-bill transition factsheet for SMEs (PDF)
- SIX: addresses in payment orders factsheet for SMEs (PDF)
- SIX: QR-bill Implementation Guidelines 2.4 (PDF)
- Graubündner Kantonalbank: structured addresses factsheet (PDF, DE)
- PostFinance: Changes to QR-bills (PDF)