Red inpayment slips and orange inpayment slips have been part of everyday life in Switzerland for decades. Now the Swiss Post and its banking subsidiary PostFinance are phasing these out completely.
The current red and orange inpayment slips can only be used until September 30, 2022. From that date, they will be completely phased out in favor of the QR bill and eBill.
Businesses under pressure
Although the new QR-bill has been available for around half a year, hardly any businesses have adopted it for billing. Now that the post office has announced a clear date on which the existing billing services will be phased out, businesses are under pressure to change their billing systems.
Online banking users are also affected
Consumers who pay their bills via online banking or bank apps are also affected by the phaseout. These consumers will have to adjust to paying bills received as QR-bills rather than inpayment slips. Swiss banks have offered QR-bills since June 30, 2020.
125 million payments made at Swiss post offices
Although many bills are now paid using online banking and bank apps, paying bills at post offices using inpayment slips is still extremely popular in Switzerland. In 2019, residents of Switzerland collectively paid approximately 125 million bills via inpayment slips at Swiss post offices.
The postal deposit service has been criticized by some because fees charged by the post office for the service are deducted directly from the amount paid. The recipient receives the deposited amount, minus the fee. Bank account holders cannot deactivate the option of receiving incoming transfers paid by postal deposit slip.
It is worth noting though that you will still be able to pay QR-bills at the post office in the same way that you pay bills with orange inpayment slips. The post charges a minimum fee of 1.20 francs per payment for the service.
More on this topic:
Swiss QR-bill guide
Swiss eBill guide
