How to Write a Swiss Invoice: The Complete Guide (2026)

A correct Swiss invoice is two things at once: a legally sound document and a payment slip your customer can actually pay. Get both right and you get paid faster.

The mandatory invoice fields

Under the Swiss Code of Obligations (Art. 954a CO), a proper invoice contains a short but specific list of information. The core fields are the same whether you bill as a freelancer or a registered company.

• Your name and address as the issuer — exactly as registered if you are in the commercial register.
• The customer's name and address.
• Invoice date and the service date or period.
• A unique, consecutive invoice number — this is a bookkeeping requirement.
• A description of the service and the amount due.

The issuer details must match your registration exactly if you are in the commercial register. The customer's name and address matter just as much — a missing or wrong address delays payment and complicates bookkeeping.

The invoice date and the service date or period anchor the document in time. They tell the customer when the obligation arose and, together with your payment term, when it falls due.

A unique, consecutive invoice number is a bookkeeping requirement, not just good practice. It keeps your records auditable and makes it possible to trace any single invoice in a dispute.

The payment part: QR-bill

Since 1 October 2022, invoices with a Swiss payment connection must carry a QR-bill instead of the old orange and red payment slips. The QR code holds the payment data, while the visible part repeats it in plain text so the customer can check it.

The QR-bill has a fixed set of mandatory fields that must be filled correctly:

• IBAN or QR-IBAN of the payee (an account in Switzerland or Liechtenstein).
• Payee name and address.
• Currency (CHF or EUR).
• Amount (can be left blank for donations).
• Reference — mandatory only if you use a QR-IBAN; optional with a standard IBAN.

Most freelancers only need a normal Swiss IBAN. A QR-IBAN is required only if you want the 27-digit QR reference for automatic payment matching — it is not needed for basic invoicing.

The amount, currency, and reference must match the printed slip exactly. A mismatch between the QR code and the visible text makes the bill unscannable or invalid, even if it looks right.

Payment terms

Swiss law does not prescribe a payment deadline. In practice, 30 days has become the standard — it is clear, fair, and simplifies dunning if payment is late.

State the deadline explicitly on every invoice. A plain line like "Payment within 30 days" removes ambiguity and gives you a firm date to act on if nothing arrives.

For private customers or smaller amounts, shorter terms of 10 to 14 days are common and perfectly acceptable. For long-standing business relationships, some companies extend to 60 days — but only deliberately, never by accident.

Whatever term you choose, keep it consistent across quotes and invoices. A customer who sees one deadline in the quote and another on the invoice has an excuse to pay late.

A quick checklist

Before you send any invoice, run through this checklist. It takes less than a minute and catches most of the errors that delay payment.

• Issuer + customer name and address ✔
• Invoice date and service period ✔
• Consecutive invoice number ✔
• Service description and amount ✔
• VAT details (if registered) ✔
• QR-bill with correct IBAN, amount and reference ✔
• Payment deadline (e.g. 30 days) ✔

The issuer and customer details are the most common place for mistakes — check that both are complete and correctly spelled.

The dates and the consecutive invoice number anchor the document and keep your records clean. Never reuse a number, and never skip one.

Finally, confirm the QR-bill's IBAN, amount, and reference against your own records. A compliant, scannable payment part is what actually gets you paid on time.