A photo guesses the prices. The fiscal QR code doesn't.
Every printed receipt in a growing list of countries carries a QR code that points straight back to the tax authority's own record of the sale. Scan that code instead of the paper, and you get the real line items — the exact names, quantities, unit prices, and VAT rate the merchant filed — not a best guess from a photo of faded thermal paper.
A fiscal QR code is a code many countries now require on printed receipts, and it links back to the tax authority's own copy of that sale — the receipt as the merchant actually filed it, not just what got printed on paper. Split The Bill can scan that code from Add bill → Scan receipt QR and, for a supported country, fetch the filed receipt so the split uses the tax authority's exact line items, quantities, unit prices, and VAT rates instead of an AI guess from a photo.
How the fiscal QR scan works
- 1
Open Add bill → Scan receipt QR
From the Add-bill flow, choose to scan the receipt's QR code instead of (or alongside) photographing the paper. Most fiscal receipts print the code at the bottom, near the total.
- 2
We fetch the receipt, not just decode the code
For a supported country, the app recognises the QR format, calls the same government portal a cashier or auditor would use, and fetches the actual filed receipt — not just whatever short string is packed into the QR itself.
- 3
Real line items replace the AI's guess
Where we can fetch the itemised receipt (see the table below), those exact items, quantities, unit prices and tax rates overwrite anything the AI extracted from a photo. It's the authoritative source, so it wins.
- 4
Split it exactly like any other bill
Once the items are in, tap each one to the person who had it the same way you would with a photographed receipt — tax and tip still spread proportionally, and the total still has to add up.
What the fiscal QR gets you
Exact items, not OCR's best guess
For a supported country, every line — name, quantity, unit price — comes from the tax authority's filed record of the sale, not from software trying to read faded thermal print.
The correct VAT rate per item
Fiscal receipts often mix tax rates on one bill (a bakery item at one rate, a bottle of wine at another). The fetched receipt carries the real rate per line instead of one guessed rate for the whole total.
No typos from a hard-to-read receipt
Faded thermal paper, a crumpled corner, or bad lighting can turn a 6 into an 8 for OCR. A fetched fiscal receipt sidesteps that entirely — the numbers come from the filing, not from reading pixels.
It overrides the AI automatically
You don't have to choose between the photo and the QR — if the fiscal fetch succeeds, its items take priority over anything the AI read from the picture, with no extra step from you.
Scan the code, not just the paper
Create a free account and try Add bill → Scan receipt QR on your next fiscal receipt.
Try it freeFree forever plan. No card required.
Where a fetched receipt beats a photo
A Belgrade dinner with a mixed VAT bill
A Serbian restaurant receipt where food is taxed at one rate and alcohol at another. Scan the SUF QR code and every item comes back with its real price and its real tax rate — no averaging, no guessing which rate applied to the wine.
A Podgorica or Tirana supermarket run
A long Montenegrin or Albanian grocery receipt printed on thermal paper that's already starting to fade. The D-FAS fiscal lookup pulls the filed items directly, so a faint "1" doesn't quietly become a "7" in the split.
A São Paulo restaurant bill in reais
A Brazilian NFC-e receipt where the printed copy is long and easy to mis-scan by hand. Fetching the DANFE from the state SEFAZ portal gets every line item and price exactly as filed — where the state allows the automatic lookup.
Any receipt where the total looks right but a line doesn't
OCR is good at a receipt's total (it's printed large and clear) and worse at a small mid-receipt line. In a fiscal-QR country, the fetched receipt settles the argument with the tax authority's own numbers instead of a re-scan.
Why this beats a photo alone
It's a record, not a reading
A photo is software interpreting an image. A fetched fiscal receipt is the tax authority's own copy of the sale — there's nothing left to misread once it's fetched.
Per-item tax, handled correctly
Mixed-rate receipts stop being a manual tax puzzle. Each item carries its own real rate straight from the filing.
Works alongside the photo, not instead of it
Scanning the QR doesn't replace the rest of the app — it plugs into the same Add-bill flow and, where it fetches successfully, simply gives the split better source data than the photo would have.
We tell you when we can't, instead of guessing anyway
If a fiscal lookup fails or a country isn't covered for itemised data, the app doesn't pretend otherwise — it falls back cleanly rather than silently presenting a guess as a fact.
Photo OCR vs. the fiscal QR code
Both start from the same receipt in your hand. Here's what's different about where the numbers actually come from.
| Photo OCR vs. the fiscal QR code | ✗ | ✓ |
|---|---|---|
| Where the line items come from | Software reads pixels on the printed paper and infers what each line probably says. | For a supported country, the app fetches the tax authority's own filed copy of the same sale. |
| A faded or crumpled receipt | Directly hurts accuracy — OCR has less signal to read. | No effect on a fiscal fetch — the paper condition never enters the lookup. |
| Mixed VAT rates on one bill | Usually averaged or approximated across the total. | Each item carries its own real rate from the filed receipt, where itemised data is available. |
| Coverage | Works on any receipt, anywhere, at OCR's accuracy. | Itemised fetch is live for Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and Brazil today — see the table below for every country we currently recognise. |
What we actually get, country by country
Recognising a receipt's QR format is not the same as pulling real data out of it — there are three honest tiers, and we'd rather tell you exactly which one applies than blur the line.
| Country | Coverage | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Serbia | Itemised receipt fetched | Fetched from the SUF portal — real names, quantities, unit prices, and tax rates. |
| Montenegro | Itemised receipt fetched | Fetched via D-FAS InvoiceCheck (90-day validity window on the receipt). |
| Albania | Itemised receipt fetched | Fetched via the same D-FAS lookup used for Montenegro. |
| Brazil | Itemised receipt fetched | Fetched per state from the SEFAZ portal (DANFE); ~27 state hosts — São Paulo is CAPTCHA-gated so it can't always be automated. |
| Saudi Arabia | Totals read locally | ZATCA QR payload decoded locally for totals and metadata — no line items. |
| Argentina | Totals read locally | AFIP QR payload decoded locally for totals and metadata — no line items. |
| India | Totals read locally | GST QR payload decoded locally for totals and metadata — no line items. |
| Croatia | Recognised — no extraction yet | Fiscal QR recognised and validated — nothing extracted yet. |
| Spain | Recognised — no extraction yet | VeriFactu and TicketBAI QR codes recognised, including the Basque provincial formats — nothing extracted yet. |
| Greece | Recognised — no extraction yet | myDATA QR recognised — nothing extracted yet. |
| Poland | Recognised — no extraction yet | KSeF QR recognised — nothing extracted yet. |
| Slovenia | Recognised — no extraction yet | Fiscal QR recognised — nothing extracted yet. |
Outside these countries, or for a receipt without a fiscal QR at all, the split still works — it just runs on the AI's reading of the photo, the same as it always has.
Frequently asked questions
- Which countries get exact itemised data from the fiscal QR?
- Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and Brazil today. For those, we fetch the actual filed receipt and its real line items, quantities, unit prices, and tax rates override anything the AI guessed from a photo. Coverage is expanding — the table on this page always reflects what's live right now.
- What happens for a country that isn't in the itemised list?
- It depends on the country. For Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and India we can read the receipt's totals and metadata straight out of the QR code itself, without a network lookup — useful, but not a line-by-line breakdown. For Croatia, Spain, Greece, Poland, and Slovenia we recognise the QR code as a valid fiscal receipt, but don't yet extract data from it, so the split uses the AI's reading of the photo, same as any receipt without a QR code.
- Does the fiscal QR replace photographing the receipt?
- No — they work together. You still add the bill the same way; scanning the fiscal QR is an extra step in that same flow. Where it succeeds, its data simply takes priority over the photo's reading for that receipt.
- What if the fiscal lookup fails?
- The app doesn't silently fall back to a guess and call it verified. If a fiscal fetch fails or returns no items, you still have the AI's reading of the photo to review and correct as normal — you just don't get the extra confirmation the fiscal fetch would have provided.
- Is my data shared with the tax authority by scanning the code?
- No — scanning only reads a receipt that already exists in the tax authority's system because the merchant filed it at the point of sale. The app looks up that existing public record; it doesn't submit or report anything on your behalf.
