Swiss QR-Bill for Therapists: Everything You Need to Know in 5 Minutes

If you are a therapist in Switzerland, you have certainly heard of the QR-Bill. Since late 2022, the old orange and red payment slips (BVR) have definitively disappeared. They have been replaced by a more modern, faster and more reliable system.

This guide explains concretely what this means for your practice, how the QR-Bill works, and how to generate it effortlessly for your Tarif 590 or PsyTarif invoices.

End of payment slips: what changed

Until 30 September 2022, therapists used payment slips (orange or red BVR) to collect payments from their patients. The patient had to manually copy a long reference number into their e-banking — a frequent source of errors.

Since that date, only the QR-Bill is accepted by banks and PostFinance in Switzerland. If you still use BVR, your patients simply cannot pay with them anymore.

What is a QR-Bill?

The QR-Bill is the new Swiss payment standard, defined by SIX Group (the operator of Switzerland's financial infrastructure). It consists of a payment section and a receipt, both containing a Swiss Payment QR code.

The QR code contains all the information needed for payment: creditor IBAN, amount, reference and addresses. The patient simply scans the code with their banking app (or Twint) to pay instantly — no manual entry required.

Why it matters for your practice

For an independent therapist, the QR-Bill is not just a regulatory obligation — it is a real daily benefit:

• Faster payments — the patient pays in 10 seconds from their phone, instead of copying a 21-character IBAN
• Fewer errors — no more miscopied references, no more approximate amounts
• Automatic reconciliation — thanks to the structured reference, you immediately identify which patient paid which invoice
• Professional image — an invoice with a QR code inspires confidence and shows your practice is up to date

Mandatory elements of a QR-Bill

According to the SIX Group Implementation Guidelines v2.4, each QR-Bill must contain:

Swiss rounding: amounts must be rounded to the nearest 5 centimes. For example, CHF 127.42 becomes CHF 127.40, and CHF 127.43 becomes CHF 127.45. This is the standard commercial rounding in Switzerland.

QR-IBAN vs classic IBAN: what is the difference?

This is the most frequently asked question. In summary:

In practice: if you are an independent therapist with a moderate billing volume, your classic IBAN is sufficient. The SCOR reference (Structured Creditor Reference, ISO 11649 standard) already enables reliable reconciliation. The QR-IBAN is mainly useful if your bank offers it and you wish to benefit from the 27-digit QR Reference.

How to generate a compliant QR-Bill

Generating a QR-Bill compliant with SIX standards is not trivial. The QR code must follow a precise format (SPC, Latin encoding, fixed structure) and the payment section has strict layout requirements (dimensions, margins, perforation).

Integration with Tarif 590 and PsyTarif

If you bill with Tarif 590 (complementary medicine) or PsyTarif 581 (psychotherapy KVG/LAMal) or 582 (UVG/IVG/MVG), your invoice must combine two elements on a single PDF:

• The clinical section — service details, tariff codes, DataMatrix (for 590), GLN and RCC numbers
• The payment section — the QR-Bill with the Swiss Payment QR code, receipt and payment section

The patient receives a single document: they send the top part to their insurance for reimbursement, and scan the QR code at the bottom to pay you. Simple and effective.

How Therago generates your QR-Bills

Therago is a Swiss software designed specifically for therapists. QR-Bill generation is fully automated:

• Enter your IBAN once — in your practice settings (classic IBAN or QR-IBAN, both supported)
• QR code generated automatically — compliant with SIX Group v2.4 standards, with structured reference (SCOR or QR Reference depending on your IBAN)
• Automatic Swiss rounding — to the nearest 5 centimes, applied everywhere (invoice + QR code)
• Single PDF — the complete invoice (Tarif 590 with DataMatrix, or PsyTarif) + QR-Bill at the bottom
• One-click email sending — the patient receives the PDF and can scan the QR code directly from their phone
• Encrypted IBAN — your IBAN is stored encrypted (AES-256-GCM) on our Swiss servers in Geneva

All data is hosted exclusively in Switzerland (Geneva), in compliance with the new Data Protection Act (nDPA/nLPD).