QR-Bill Alternative Schemes: What That Field Is For

The QR-bill specification includes an optional “alternative schemes” field. It exists to point the payer toward payment methods beyond the bank transfer.

What it carries

The field can hold a structured instruction for an alternative payment method, such as a card payment or a mobile payment app, alongside the standard QR payment data.

The content is structured, not free text. It follows a defined format so a paying app can interpret it, rather than a loose note the payer has to read.

The field is optional on most invoices. A standard QR-bill with just the IBAN, amount and reference is complete without it.

When present, the alternative scheme offers a second way to pay — for example, a link or instruction for an app-based payment — in addition to the bank transfer encoded in the main data.

• Points to additional payment methods.
• Structured, not free text.
• Optional on most invoices.

When you need it

Most freelancers and SMEs leave it empty. It becomes relevant if you want the QR-bill to also support a specific app-based or card payment flow in addition to the bank transfer.

If you have an integration with a payment provider that the alternative-schemes field can represent, you may use it to offer that method on the QR-bill.

For a plain bank transfer, the field is irrelevant. It only matters when you have a second, structured payment channel you want to encode.

Using it without a real integration is pointless: a payer who taps the alternative scheme and finds nothing working is worse off than a payer who never saw it.

What it is not

The alternative-schemes field is not a place for marketing text or payment instructions. It must be structured data that a compatible app can act on.

It is not a substitute for a correct IBAN and reference. The primary payment data still has to be complete and valid, because that is how most payers will pay.

It is not required for the QR-bill to scan. A QR-bill with the field empty scans perfectly well and is the normal case for most businesses.

Do not confuse it with the reference or the additional-information field, which carry different data and follow different rules.

Keep it simple

Unless you have a specific alternative payment integration, ignore this field. A clean, standard QR-bill with a correct IBAN and reference is all most businesses need.

If your invoicing software supports a particular alternative scheme and you actually use that payment method, enable it deliberately and test the result.

Test any QR-bill that uses the field before sending. A malformed alternative scheme can make the whole QR code unscannable, taking the primary payment down with it.

When in doubt, leave it empty. The cost of an unused field is zero, while the cost of a broken one is a payment that fails.

• Leave the field empty unless you have a real integration.
• It must be structured data, not free text.
• A QR-bill scans fine with the field empty.
• Test any QR-bill that uses the field before sending.