GUIDES
Automating Swiss QR-bills: what can SMEs have done automatically?
Ben Schmidt, Owner of Flowrenix · Updated:
Short answer
With the Swiss QR-bill, almost the entire process can be automated: creating the invoice from recorded services, sending it, matching incoming payments by their reference and sending reminders for open amounts. For this you need clean service data, an account with a reference procedure and a way to import your bank's account transactions electronically; special cases such as partial payments remain a task for a person.
What the Swiss QR-bill is
The QR-bill was introduced in Switzerland in 2020 and since 1 October 2022 has replaced the former red and orange payment slips. Its core is the payment part with the Swiss QR Code: it contains the account, amount, payee and, if used, a reference in machine-readable form.
For your customers this means they scan the code with their banking app and do not have to type anything. For you it means that, because all details are structured, the invoice can be generated entirely from a system and the payment can later be matched unambiguously.
What can be automated
The path of an invoice has four steps. Each of them can be automated on its own; the biggest gain comes when they are connected.
Creation from services
Instead of filling in an invoice template, the invoice is created from what has already been recorded: a driving lesson, an appointment, an order, a subscription. The system sets the amount, reference and payment part; nothing is typed by hand.
Sending
The invoice goes to the customer as a PDF by email or is available in their customer account, at the agreed time, for example after the service has been provided or collectively at the end of the month.
Payment matching
Banks provide account transactions electronically in the ISO 20022 format, as a so-called camt file, and depending on the bank also via a direct interface. The system imports it, recognises the reference and marks the matching invoice as paid.
Payment reminders
If an invoice remains open after the deadline, a friendly reminder goes out automatically, in several stages if you wish. You can see at any time which amounts are outstanding.
What you need for it
The technology is rarely the problem. A few prerequisites in your business matter more.
- Services recorded in one place, instead of spread across calendars, notes and messages
- A business account with which you can use references; which variant fits is something we clarify using your bank's documentation
- A way to receive account transactions electronically, as a file from e-banking or via an interface from your bank
- Clear rules for payment deadlines and reminders
- An agreement with your accountant on the form in which they receive the figures
Where the limits are
Matching works reliably when the customer pays the full amount with the correct reference. That is the normal case, but not every case. Partial payments, payments without a reference, several invoices in one transfer or a wrong amount end up, in the systems I build, in a list for review instead of the system guessing.
Legal and accounting responsibility also remains with you: which details must appear on the invoice, whether VAT has to be shown and how the accounts record the payments is something you clarify with your accountant. Automation implements what has been defined; it does not replace that definition.
Finally: which files and interfaces your bank offers varies. I check this against your bank's documentation before I commit to anything.
As a single workflow or in your own system
If your services are already recorded cleanly in a program, the invoicing run can be built alongside it as a single automation. How I go about this is described on the page Automation.
If the data is currently scattered, your own system is the better foundation. That is the case at the driving school Alfadrive: the invoice comes straight from the system, with a Swiss QR-bill, reference and amount, and payment reminders go out when an invoice stays open. More on the page Software for SMEs.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
The QR-bill was introduced in 2020. Since 1 October 2022 it has completely replaced the former red and orange payment slips.
What matters for matching is a structured reference on the invoice. Which account variant and which reference procedure suit you is something we clarify using your bank's documentation before the first invoice goes out.
For full payments with the correct reference, yes. Partial payments, payments without a reference or collective payments go into a list that you or your team check briefly. That way no payment is matched incorrectly.
That depends on your program's interface. In the first call I check against the provider's documentation whether a connection is possible before I commit to anything. If there is no open interface, an agreed export for your accountant is sometimes enough.