Glossary
Key terms, standards, and identifiers used in Swiss e-invoicing. From QR-Rechnung to PEPPOL — defined clearly and concisely.
40 terms EN 16931 PEPPOL eCH-0069
A
- AS4
- The secure messaging protocol used by PEPPOL access points to exchange business documents between sender and receiver.
- Access Point
- A certified PEPPOL service provider that sends and receives business documents on behalf of its connected participants.
B
- B2B
- Business-to-Business — e-invoicing between two private companies, as distinct from B2G (to government) or B2C (to consumers).
- B2G
- Business-to-Government — e-invoicing between private companies and public sector buyers; mandatory in Switzerland from 2026.
- BIC
- Bank Identifier Code (ISO 9362) — the international identifier for financial institutions used in cross-border payments.
C
- Credit Note
- A document issued by a seller to correct or reverse a previously issued invoice, reducing the amount owed by the buyer.
- Creditor Reference
- ISO 11649 structured payment reference used with a regular IBAN on Swiss QR-bills and international invoices.
E
- EN 16931
- European standard defining the semantic data model for a core electronic invoice, mandatory for EU public procurement.
- ESR
- The orange Swiss payment slip (Einzahlungsschein mit Referenznummer) that was replaced by the QR-bill on 30 September 2022.
- ESTV / AFC
- Swiss Federal Tax Administration (Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung) — the authority responsible for Swiss VAT registration and enforcement.
- eBill
- Swiss interbank platform for sending and receiving structured electronic invoices directly via e-banking.
- eCH-0069
- Swiss e-government standard defining the XML structure for electronic invoices submitted to Swiss federal and cantonal authorities.
F
G
- GLN
- Global Location Number — a GS1 identifier for companies and locations used as a party identifier in PEPPOL and UBL invoices.
- GS1 Switzerland
- Swiss subsidiary of GS1 managing barcodes, GLN identifiers, and supply-chain data standards used in e-invoicing.
- GTIN
- Global Trade Item Number — the GS1 product identifier encoded in barcodes and referenced on invoice line items.
I
M
- MWST / TVA / IVA
- Swiss VAT (Mehrwertsteuer / Taxe sur la valeur ajoutée / Imposta sul valore aggiunto) — the Swiss value-added tax.
O
- OpenPEPPOL
- The international non-profit association that governs the PEPPOL network, specifications, and access point certification.
P
- PDF/A-3
- ISO-standardised archival PDF format that allows embedding arbitrary file attachments — the container used by ZUGFeRD and Factur-X.
- PEPPOL
- Pan-European public procurement network enabling cross-border exchange of business documents via a standardised 4-corner model.
- pain.001
- The ISO 20022 payment file format Swiss companies use to instruct their bank to execute credit transfers — replaced DTA and EZAG in 2022.
Q
- QR-Rechnung
- The Swiss QR-bill standard that replaced payment slips (ESR/LSV) on 30 September 2022.
- QR-Referenz
- The 27-digit numeric payment reference used with a QR-IBAN on Swiss QR-bills, successor to the ESR reference.
R
- Remittance Information
- Structured or unstructured payment reference data transmitted with a credit transfer to allow automated reconciliation.
S
- SIX Group
- Swiss financial infrastructure company operating the SIC payment system, eBill network, and the QR-bill specification.
- SML
- Service Metadata Locator — the DNS-based PEPPOL directory that tells senders which SMP manages a given participant's routing data.
- SMP
- Service Metadata Publisher — the PEPPOL directory service that maps a participant's ID to their access point endpoint.
- Schematron
- Rule-based XML validation language used to enforce business rules in EN 16931, PEPPOL, and ZUGFeRD invoices.
- Swiss Payment Standards
- SIX's implementation guidelines for ISO 20022 payment messages (pain/camt) governing all Swiss bank payment file formats.
T
- Three-Way Matching
- The automated process of reconciling a purchase order, goods receipt, and supplier invoice before approving payment.
U
- UBL
- OASIS Universal Business Language — an XML vocabulary for business documents including invoices, orders, and credit notes.
- UID
- Swiss company identification number (Unternehmens-Identifikationsnummer) used on all Swiss invoices.
- UN/CEFACT CII
- UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice — the XML schema inside ZUGFeRD and Factur-X files, and one of two formats used to implement EN 16931.
V
- VAT Exemption
- A supply of goods or services not subject to VAT, which must be declared on an invoice with the appropriate reason code.
X
Z
- ZUGFeRD
- German e-invoicing standard embedding structured XML data inside a PDF/A-3 file (hybrid invoice).