A Swedish invoice has no account number on it, just a string of digits labeled Bg and another labeled OCR. Here is what they mean, how Swedes pay with them, and the exact recipe when your bank is not Swedish.
When you need this
A Swedish invoice, a fine or a reminder has landed in your mailbox and the payment slip doesn’t look like anything you know. Or you’ve opened a Swedish bank account and want your rent, phone and electricity paid without typing them in every month. Maybe a gym or landlord has handed you an autogiro form to sign. Or you have no Swedish bank at all, or you’ve left Sweden, and a final bill shows only a bankgiro number.
How the giro system works
Sweden pays bills through giro systems rather than by quoting bank account numbers. A company gets a bankgiro number of seven or eight digits from its bank, and you pay to that number instead of to an account. The banks, not Bankgirot, keep the link between number and account, and Bankgirot won’t tell you which account sits behind a number.
The older rival is PlusGirot, the former Postgirot. Today it’s an account form run by Nordea for companies and associations, with a payment address for plusgiro payments in kronor within Sweden. From a Swedish bank you pay a plusgiro number exactly as you pay a bankgiro number. We found no announcement that PlusGirot is closing.
Behind the scenes, Bankgirot clears bankgiro payments, transfers between banks and autogiro debits, and the Riksbank settles them. Bankgirot is owned by Finansinfrastruktur i Sverige AB (formerly P27), which in turn belongs to Sweden’s largest banks.
2026 note: Bankgirot is being modernized. The banks’ old Dataclearing system is retired in the first half of 2026, and the owner banks must move to the ISO 20022 message standard by December 2026. None of this changes what you type: bankgiro numbers, OCR numbers and autogiro work as before.
Reading a Swedish invoice
Four fields matter, and they usually sit together on the payment slip at the bottom of the bill:
| Field | Swedish label | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | belopp | What you pay, in kronor |
| Due date | förfallodag | When the money must reach the payee |
| Payee’s address | Bankgiro (Bg) or Plusgiro (Pg) | Where the money goes |
| Your reference | OCR-nummer | Tells the company which bill you paid |
The OCR number is 2 to 25 digits long and ends in a check digit, so a typo is usually caught. Depending on the company’s setting, a Swedish internet bank may refuse a wrong OCR number outright. If no OCR number is printed, the invoice number usually serves as the reference.
Paying from a Swedish bank
With a Swedish account the routine takes a minute:
- In your banking app or internet bank, choose “pay bill” (betala räkning).
- Enter the bankgiro or plusgiro number and the OCR number exactly as printed.
- Enter the amount and a payment date at least one bank day before the due date.
- Approve, usually with BankID.
Why a day early? Swedish law requires your bank to credit the payee’s bank by the end of the next bank day after it receives your order, plus one more day for paper orders. An order placed on a weekend or holiday, or after your bank’s cut-off near the end of the day, counts as received on the next bank day. Pay on the due date itself and the money may arrive late.
A late consumer bill can cost you a reminder fee, but only if it was agreed when the debt arose, and it’s capped (see Practical information). For how invoice fees, reminders and interest work in general, see Klarna and pay-by-invoice.
E-faktura and autogiro: letting the bills pay themselves
Swedes rarely type in recurring bills. There are two ways to automate them, and they work differently.
| E-faktura | Autogiro | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The bill arrives in your internet bank, every field filled in | Direct debit: the company takes the money |
| Set up with | Your bank | The company (you sign a mandate) |
| Who starts the payment | You approve, or the bank pays automatically within your limits | The company, on each due date |
| Advance notice | You see each bill before it is paid | Amount and date at least eight bank days ahead |
| Needs a Swedish account | Yes | Yes |
E-faktura. You add the company as an e-invoice sender in your banking app, and future bills arrive with OCR number, due date and giro number prefilled. At Nordea you can also say a general yes to e-invoices (Ja till eFaktura) and receive them from every connected company without signing up one by one. If you switch on automatic payment, set a maximum amount so an unusually high bill waits for your approval.
Autogiro. You give the company a mandate, your bank approves the account, and the company debits it on each due date. It must tell you the amount, due date and payment method at least eight bank days before, unless you approved the amount when you bought or ordered. The money must be in the account by 00:01 on the due date; if it isn’t, the company may try again on the following bank days, and after repeated misses it may end your autogiro connection immediately.
Some autogiro products need more than an account. Gym memberships, for example, may require a Swedish personal identity number, a Swedish account and a Swedish ID card on top of the mandate (see gyms in Sweden).
Stopping autogiro, and what refunds really exist
| You want to | Tell the company | Or tell your bank |
|---|---|---|
| Stop one payment | At least two bank days before the due date | By its cut-off on the bank day before |
| Stop all future payments (withdraw the mandate) | At least five bank days before the next due date | By the bank day before |
The law itself guarantees that you can revoke an autogiro payment with your bank until the end of the bank day before the debit. Withdrawing a mandate stops the debits, not the contract, so end the gym or phone contract separately.
Not the SEPA rule: many Europeans know that a euro direct debit can be reversed within eight weeks, no questions asked. Swedish autogiro in kronor is different. The Swedish payment-services act gives an eight-week refund only when the exact amount wasn’t stated at approval and the debit exceeds what you could reasonably expect; the bank must then answer within ten bank days. Since autogiro amounts are notified in advance, that rarely applies. Stop disputed payments in time instead.
Paying from a foreign bank
This is where visitors get stuck. Bankgirot has no service for payments from abroad, so a foreign bank cannot pay a bankgiro number, and Bankgirot won’t reveal the account behind it. The recipe:
- Get IBAN and BIC. Many invoices print them. If yours doesn’t, reply to the company and ask. A Swedish IBAN starts with SE and has 24 characters; a BIC has 8 or 11.
- Send an international transfer from your bank with the IBAN, the BIC and the invoice amount.
- Put the OCR number in the message to the payee, and nothing else. Transportstyrelsen, which handles parking fines, cannot process a payment without it. Skatteverket asks foreign payers to give exactly one reference (personal identity number, GD number or 13-digit OCR number) and no additional information.
- Choose shared charges (SHA) inside the EU. Banks offer three options: SHA splits the charges, OUR puts all of them on you, and BEN puts all of them on the payee, which reduces what arrives and should only be used by agreement. Handelsbanken notes that SHA must be chosen for a payment to count as an EU or SEPA payment.
- Send kronor if your bank can. The invoice is in kronor, and a payment in another currency is converted on the way and may arrive short.
- Keep the confirmation and allow time. An international transfer is slower than a domestic one. If you’re paying close to the due date, tell the company, and keep the receipt until it confirms payment.
The same recipe works for fines from Sweden, a final invoice after you’ve left Sweden and residual tax from a Swedish tax return. If you’ll be paying Swedish bills for months, a Swedish account is easier; coordination numbers and bank accounts explains who can get one.
Fake invoices and wrong payments
Fake invoices copy the look of real ones, giro number, OCR number and all. If you’re billed for something you never ordered, don’t pay. The police advise contesting the bill by letter or e-mail to the address on the invoice, with a copy attached, and then reporting it on 114 14.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Bill for something you never ordered | Don’t pay; contest it in writing, then report it to the police |
| Unsure the payee is real | Use Bankgirot’s search tool, which lists companies that agree to be shown under their bankgiro number |
| Paid the wrong bankgiro number | Contact the recipient; Bankgirot can’t reverse it |
| Someone sends “new account details” | Get IBAN and BIC from the company’s own invoice or website |
| Bankgiro number starting with 90 | A fundraising account tied to Svensk Insamlingskontroll, the fundraising watchdog |
For phone calls that push you to approve a payment in BankID, see phone and BankID scams. Unpaid genuine bills eventually go to debt collection and the Enforcement Authority, covered in Kronofogden and debt collection.
Practical information
| Item | What to know | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Paying a bill in a Swedish internet bank or app | Fees set by each bank; check your account terms | 2026-10-14 |
| E-faktura at Nordea | Free, according to the bank | 2026-10-14 |
| International transfer from your home bank | Fees set by your bank; SHA splits charges, OUR puts all on you, BEN on the payee | 2026-10-14 |
| Reminder fee on a late consumer bill | At most 60 kr, only if agreed when the debt arose | 2026-10-14 |
| Domestic payment time | Credited to the payee’s bank by the end of the next bank day; one more day for paper | 2026-10-14 |
| Autogiro notice | Amount and due date at least eight bank days before the debit | 2026-10-14 |
FAQ
What is a bankgiro number?
It is a Swedish company’s payment address: a seven- or eight-digit number that its bank links to an account. You pay to the bankgiro number instead of to the account, and the bank behind it keeps the link private. Bankgiro numbers work only for payments from Swedish banks in kronor, so a foreign bank needs the company’s IBAN instead.
What is an OCR number on a Swedish invoice?
It is the payment reference that tells the company which bill you paid, usually printed at the bottom of the payment slip. It is 2 to 25 digits long and ends in a check digit. Copy it exactly into the reference or message field. If no OCR number is printed, the invoice number usually serves as the reference instead.
How do I pay a Swedish bill from a foreign bank account?
Ask the company for its IBAN and BIC if the invoice doesn’t show them, because Bankgirot cannot receive payments from abroad. Send an international transfer with the OCR number as the only message, choose shared charges (SHA) inside the EU, and keep the confirmation. Allow extra days; an international payment is slower than a domestic one.
What is autogiro and how do I stop it?
Autogiro is Swedish direct debit: you give a company a mandate and it debits your account on each due date, after telling you the amount at least eight bank days ahead. To stop one payment, contact the company two bank days before or your bank the bank day before. To stop all payments, withdraw the mandate.
What is the difference between e-faktura and autogiro?
With e-faktura the bill arrives in your internet bank with every field filled in, and you approve it or let the bank pay it automatically within limits you set. With autogiro the company itself initiates the debit under a mandate you signed. Both need a Swedish bank account; e-faktura is set up in your bank, autogiro with the company.
Can I get my money back after an autogiro payment?
Only in narrow cases. Swedish law gives an eight-week refund right for payee-initiated debits when the exact amount was not stated at approval and exceeds what you could reasonably expect. Because autogiro amounts are notified in advance, that rarely applies. The broader no-questions refund belongs to euro SEPA direct debits. Stop disputed payments in time instead.
Is plusgiro the same as bankgiro?
No, but you pay both the same way from a Swedish bank. Plusgiro, formerly Postgirot, is an account form run by Nordea for companies and associations, with a payment address for kronor payments within Sweden. Bankgiro numbers are issued by all banks and cleared by Bankgirot. No announcement of plusgiro being shut down was found.
Related guides
- Klarna and pay-by-invoice — where most visitors meet a Swedish invoice, and the rules on fees and reminders
- Fines from Sweden — paying parking and traffic fines from abroad with IBAN and OCR
- Coordination numbers and Swedish bank accounts — getting the Swedish account that e-faktura and autogiro assume
- Filing a Swedish tax return as a newcomer — paying residual tax and registering an account for refunds
- BankID for visitors — how Swedes approve payments, and life without it
Facts verified 2026-10-14. Sources: Sveriges riksdag (Lag 2010:751 om betaltjänster), Sveriges riksbank, Bankgirot, Konsumentverket, Polismyndigheten, Transportstyrelsen, Skatteverket, and the banks and operators named — full register in this topic’s source file. This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.