Why does the Swiss QR-bill require a structured address?
Because banks need to identify the parties to a payment unambiguously. A structured address stores street, building number, postcode, town and country in separate fields, so machines can process it reliably. SIX says the move meets the requirements of regulators worldwide for transparent monitoring of payments and for fighting money laundering. Switzerland is keeping its November 2026 deadline, even though Swift and the European Payments Council postponed theirs in summer 2026.
Our QR-bill checker shows you in a few seconds whether your bill is already structured. The check runs in your browser; the bill never leaves your device.
The trouble with free-text address lines
With the combined address (type K), the QR code held two free-text lines, for example "Rue du Lac 1268/2/22" and "2501 Biel". A person can tell which part is the street and which is the town. Software has to guess: where does the street name end, what is the building number, is "2501" the postcode? With foreign addresses, PO boxes or extra details, that guessing becomes error-prone.
A structured address (type S) removes the question. Every element has a fixed place. The bank can check which country the other party is in and pass the address on without interpreting it.
What S and K look like inside the QR code
The QR code on a QR-bill contains plain text, one item per line. Here are the first lines of two fictitious examples.
Combined address (type K, no longer allowed):
SPC
0200
1
CH5800791123000889012
K
Robert Schneider AG
Rue du Lac 1268/2/22
2501 Biel
CH
Structured address (type S):
SPC
0200
1
CH4431999123000889012
S
Max Muster & Söhne
Musterstrasse
123
8000
Seldwyla
CH
Line 5 gives the address type of the biller (the creditor). With K, the name is followed by two free lines and the postcode and town fields stay empty. With S, street, building number, postcode and town each have their own line. The payer's address comes further down in the code, with its own address type (from line 21). Since 21 November 2025 both must be type S.
On the printed payment part, both versions look the same. That's why the problem often only shows up when a payment is refused. What to do then is covered in Swiss QR-bill rejected by the bank.
ISO 20022 and anti-money-laundering
Swiss payments are based on the ISO 20022 message standard, which the Swiss Payment Standards specify for Switzerland. The QR-bill is its paper counterpart: what is in the QR code ends up in the payment order. According to SIX, the move to structured and hybrid addresses meets the requirements of regulators worldwide for transparency and anti-money-laundering controls. An unambiguous address is the foundation for that.
Swift and the EPC postponed; Switzerland didn't
Swift (for cross-border payments) and the European Payments Council (for SEPA) had also planned to end unstructured addresses in November 2026. Both suspended that deadline in summer 2026; the EPC decided on 9 September 2026 and intends to set a new date in October 2026.
The Payment Committee Switzerland (PaCoS) decided that Switzerland keeps November 2026. From 14 November 2026, the Swiss Payment Standards therefore no longer allow unstructured addresses in payment orders. One consequence of the international delay: the SIC release of 13 November 2026 does not introduce interbank address validation, so unstructured addresses may still arrive from abroad. More on the deadline: 14 Nov 2026: Swiss QR-bill 2.4 and end of unstructured addresses.
What about the hybrid address?
For bank payment files there is also a hybrid address: town, postcode and country structured, plus up to two free lines. It is not available on the QR-bill, which only accepts the fully structured address. What billers need to change in practice is explained in Structured address on the Swiss QR-bill.
Quick answers
Does a type K bill become valid if I reprint the address? No. The address is inside the QR code. The bill has to be regenerated.
Can the building number stay in the street field? Version 2.4 of the guidelines tolerates it for the time being. Separate fields are still recommended.