Payment reference

When making an account-to-account transfer to a company or institution, the payer often has to enter a payment reference. This allows the recipient to easily and correctly identify who is paying and what for.

For a European transfer, the payer can enter any description they like or a specific, standardized payment reference.

Reconciliation

When a company or institution sends an invoice or tax assessment, it contains certain information that the recipient must enter when paying by account-to-account transfer. This information includes, for example, a customer and invoice number or a specific standard payment reference. This information allows the company or institution to easily and correctly identify the payment and process it in its accounts, linking it to the correct customer and the correct invoice or tax assessment. Recognizing and correctly processing the payment in the accounts is also known as ‘reconciliation’ or ‘reconciling’.

Without the requested invoice or assessment details accompanying the transfer, such as the payment reference, the payment may be incorrectly entered in the company’s or institution’s accounts. They may then mistakenly believe that the customer has not yet paid a particular invoice or assessment.

Standards for payment references

There are two types of standard payment references: a Dutch payment reference and an international ISO payment reference. Both types of payment references include special check digits that allow the bank to verify whether the payer has made any typing errors.

At most banks, the payer must enter a payment reference in a separate field when making the transfer. The bank can then check the payment reference for typing errors. Other details, such as a customer and invoice number, must be entered by the payer as a free description when making the transfer. The bank cannot check these for typing errors.

Verification of payment reference accuracy

The payer’s debit payment service provider (bank) must verify the accuracy of an ISO payment reference. A Dutch payment reference can be verified if it contains at least 9 digits.

If the reference is correct, it is transmitted as “structured remittance information.” If the reference is incorrect, it is transmitted as “unstructured remittance information.”

The Dutch payment reference consists of 7 to 16 digits. It may include a check digit and a length code. Payment service providers can request the specifications for this reference from the Dutch Payments Association.

The ISO payment reference is officially called “Structured creditor reference to remittance information.” This payment reference consists of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 25 letters and digits. It always begins with the letters “RF” (positions 1 and 2), derived from the English “ReFerence” (reference or identifier). This is followed by two check digits (positions 3 and 4) calculated based on all other digits and letters in the identifier.

The ISO payment identifier is described in ISO Standard 11649. We are not permitted to publish the specifications because they are copyrighted. Request the specifications from ISO(opens in new window) or NEN(opens in new window) .

Examples

An example of a valid Dutch payment reference is 5000 0567 8901 2345. The first digit, 5, is a check digit that the sender of an invoice or tax assessment calculates based on all the other digits in the reference. If the payer makes a typing error when entering the reference, the check digit will no longer be correct and the bank may display a warning.

An example of an international ISO payment identifier is RF98 REF 1234. In this example, the two check digits are 98.