QR-Bill: How to State Payment Terms Correctly

The QR-bill has replaced traditional payment slips and simplified invoicing in Switzerland — yet many invoice issuers stumble not over technical mandatory fields, but over what seems like a trivial question: How do I correctly state payment deadlines, early payment discounts, or instalment arrangements so that neither the recipient's accounting department nor the bank runs into problems?

What the QR Code itself stores — and what it doesn't

The payment section of a QR-bill contains a Swiss QR Code that encodes certain data in machine-readable format: amount, currency (CHF or EUR), IBAN or QR-IBAN, recipient address, reference number, and a free message field. What the standard does not encode in the QR Code are payment terms such as due date, early payment discount rules, or instalment payment agreements.

This means: payment terms belong exclusively in the invoice text above the payment section — they are legally binding, but technically invisible to bank systems.

The three types of terms at a glance

Term	Where on the invoice	Machine-readable in QR Code?
Payment deadline (e.g. 30 days)	Invoice text	No
Early payment discount (e.g. 2% if paid within 10 days)	Invoice text	No
Instalment / part payment	Invoice text + separate invoices	No
Amount	QR Code	Yes
Due date (value date)	QR Code optional via message field	Partly

Payment deadline: concrete date preferable to day count

Wrong: "Payable within 30 days."
Better: "Payable by 22 June 2026."

Why? A concrete date leaves no room for interpretation as to whether the deadline runs from the invoice date, receipt date, or performance date. Swiss company law (Code of Obligations Art. 75) assumes immediate payment in the absence of a clear statement — which of course no one applies in practice, but ambiguities can become relevant in dunning proceedings.

If you still use day counts, define the starting point: "Payable within 30 days from invoice date."

Combining deadline and early payment discount

A typical Swiss formulation reads:

"2% early payment discount if paid by 2 June 2026; net payable by 22 June 2026."

Key points:

• The early payment discount is always calculated on the net amount (invoice amount excluding VAT adjustment, provided you are VAT-liable — check this with your accountant).
• You do not need to enter the discounted amount in the QR Code. The payer transfers the reduced amount, and you book the difference as a discount expense.
• Enter the full invoice amount in the QR Code. Some accounting software reads this value automatically; a differing payment entry then triggers a variance booking that your system or accountant will clarify.

VAT and early payment discount: a subtlety often overlooked

Those liable for VAT who grant early payment discounts must handle VAT correctly. The Swiss Federal Tax Administration allows the so-called net method: you state the VAT amount only on the net amount actually paid. In practice, this means you should explicitly state in the invoice text:

"VAT (8.1%) calculated on the discounted amount according to net method."

Alternatively, many SMEs simply apply the gross method (state VAT on the full amount) and book the difference as a discount expense gross — which is permissible from an accounting standpoint, but slightly less favourable tax-wise. Details on the current standard VAT rate of 8.1% and the reduced rates of 2.6% and 3.8% can be found in the guide to Swiss VAT basics 2026 — rates, duties and special rules.

Handling instalments and advance payments cleanly

For larger contracts (e.g. construction projects, IT implementations), partial invoices are common. The rule is:

Each instalment receives its own QR-bill with its own amount. In the message field of the QR Code, reference the contract number and type of partial invoice ("Advance payment 1/3, Contract 2026-047"). This makes it easier for both payer and payee to allocate the payment.

A single QR-bill with the total amount and the instruction "please pay in three instalments" is technically possible, but bookkeeping-wise disadvantageous: each instalment appears as an open partial amount, and many accounting solutions can only assign this correctly with manual effort.

Don't forget the final invoice

After advance payment invoices, you issue a final invoice in which you deduct the amounts already paid and enter only the remaining balance in the QR Code. In the invoice text, list the deductions transparently:

"Contract sum CHF 12,000.00
Less advance payment 1 from 15.03.2026: CHF –4,000.00
Less advance payment 2 from 20.04.2026: CHF –4,000.00
Remaining balance (in payment section): CHF 4,000.00"

Using the message field strategically

The QR Code offers an optional field "Additional information" (max. 140 characters). Use it for the invoice number or contract number — this greatly simplifies automatic posting for the payer. Payment terms do not belong here: the space is too limited, the field is intended for machine processing, and squeezing a discount agreement into 140 characters leads to misunderstandings.

If you use a QR-IBAN (instead of a standard IBAN), a structured reference number (QR reference) is mandatory — the message field then remains empty. A clear overview of when which account number belongs on the invoice is provided by the article on IBAN vs. QR-IBAN: Which number goes on your Swiss invoice?

Checklist: payment terms on the QR-bill

• Payment deadline stated with concrete date or clearly defined starting point
• Discount rate, discount amount, and discount deadline listed in invoice text
• VAT treatment for early payment discount determined (net or gross method)
• Full invoice amount (not the discount amount) entered in QR Code
• For partial invoices: separate QR-bill per instalment with partial amount
• Final invoice transparently shows already-paid advance payments
• Message field used for reference number, not for conditional text

When you create your next invoice with correct payment terms and QR Code, you can do so directly in the SnapBill app — the QR Code is generated automatically from your entries.

At a glance

Payment terms such as deadline, early payment discount, and instalments belong in the invoice text, not in the QR Code. The full amount always appears in the payment section. Those granting discounts should determine the VAT method and communicate it transparently. Partial invoices each receive their own QR-bill; the final invoice deducts advance payments openly. Reserve the message field in the QR Code for reference numbers — not for conditions. With this structure, payments run smoothly, and dunning remains limited to the essentials. Should a payment still fail to arrive despite these measures, the Swiss dunning process guide will walk you through the next steps.