Last Article Update 09.10.2025
Instant Payments (SEPA) are a convenient way to transfer money within moments in the European Union and European Economic Area (e.g. Liechtenstein, Norway, United Kingdom). Find out what Instant Payments (SEPA) are, how they work and what to consider.
You can transfer 24/7 and 365 days a year with Instant Payments (SEPA), giving you flexibility over payments. There is, by default, no limit to how much you can send with Instant Payments (SEPA). However, as a George Business admin, you can set a specific limit for each account.
Instant Payments (SEPA) are only possible in Euro and for the following:
Note that you cannot create Instant Payments (SEPA) for connected accounts at others banks (e.g. via EBICS).
The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) currently consists of 41 countries, amongst them all 27 EU member states. SEPA's goal is to unify cashless payments in Euro amongst whithin the area. Basically, a SEPA transfer works the same way as a domestic transfer. The country doesn't need to have EUR as a currency to take part in SEPA, as long as the transfer is done in EUR.
Of course, that means that if an international transfer even within the SEPA area is done in another currency than EUR, it automatically becomes a foreign transfer (non-SEPA). Also, transfers to countries outside of SEPA, will always be foreign transfers (non-SEPA).
As of October 2025, the following countries are part of SEPA:
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland 
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxemburg
Malta
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal (incl. Azores and Madeira)
Romania
San Marino
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain (incl. Canary Island, Ceuta and Melilla)
Sweden
Switzerland
You can find more about Instant Payments (SEPA) from the Austrian National Bank.
1. Create a new transfer (domestic or within the European Union), or a new tax authority payment.
2. Fill the transfer form as usual.
3. Below the transfer date, you will find the item "Execution type". Click on the checkbox to activate Instant Payment (SEPA).
You can also set a future time and date in for George to carry out the transfer (though no less than 30 minutes later).
4. In the next step, sign your transfer. If the transfer can be executed as Instant Payment (SEPA), George will do so. Otherwise, he will execute your transfer as a regular SEPA transfer.
Of course, you can also save this Instant Payment (SEPA) transfer as a template to reuse it at a later time.
Author: Samira El-Shamy