EU late payment interest: what you can charge on overdue B2B invoices
If a business customer pays a B2B invoice late, EU law lets you charge statutory interest anda fixed recovery fee — automatically, without it being written into the contract. Most small suppliers never claim it. Here's exactly what you're entitled to, how it's calculated, and how to put a number on it.
The law: Directive 2011/7/EU
Late payment in commercial transactions across the EU is governed by Directive 2011/7/EU, usually called the Late Payment Directive. It applies to business-to-business and business-to-public-authority transactions — not to consumers — and every EU member state has transposed it into national law. Its core promise is simple: when a business pays late, the creditor is entitled to interest and compensation as a statutory right, so suppliers aren't forced to absorb the cost of someone else's delay.
Two things follow from that. You don't need a late-payment clause in your contract for these rights to exist — they apply by default. And while you can agree different commercial terms, you can't contract belowthe statutory floor in a way that's grossly unfair to the creditor.
When does an invoice become “late”?
Where no payment date is agreed, the Directive sets a default deadline of 30 calendar days after the customer receives the invoice (or the goods/services, if that's later). Businesses can agree a longer period, but for B2B it generally shouldn't exceed 60 daysunless both parties expressly agree otherwise and it isn't grossly unfair to the supplier. Once that deadline passes, interest starts to run automatically — you don't have to send a warning first.
How much interest can you charge?
The statutory B2B interest rate is the reference rate plus at least 8 percentage points. For euro-area countries, the reference rate is the European Central Bank's main refinancing operations (MRO) rate, fixed every six months: the rate in force on 1 January applies for the first half of the year, and the rate on 1 July applies for the second half.
For 1 Jan – 30 Jun 2026, the ECB reference rate is 2.15%, so the EU statutory minimum for late B2B payments is 2.15% + 8 = 10.15% per year. That's the floor — several member states set a higher domestic rate, so check your country's figure (for example, Germany and France have historically applied higher statutory rates than the EU minimum).
The €40 you can always add
On top of interest, the Directive entitles you to a fixed recovery fee of at least €40 for each overdue invoice, as compensation for the cost of chasing it — again, automatically, with no need to prove the cost. If your actual recovery costs (for example, legal or debt-recovery fees) exceed €40, you can claim reasonable compensation for the excess too.
A worked example
Say a customer owes you €10,000 and pays 30 days late, at the 10.15% statutory rate for 1 Jan – 30 Jun 2026:
- Interest: €10,000 × 10.15% × (30 ÷ 365) ≈ €83.42
- Fixed recovery fee: €40.00
- Total you can claim on top of the invoice: ≈ €123.42
You don't have to do the arithmetic by hand. Our EU late-payment interest calculator takes the invoice amount, days overdue, and rate, and shows the interest, the €40 fee, and the total claim instantly — with the current statutory rate already filled in.
Should you actually charge it?
Having the right and exercising it are different decisions. For a long-standing client who's simply slow, formally invoicing interest can do more relationship damage than the interest is worth. But the right still matters for three reasons:
- It's leverage. Mentioning that statutory interest is accruing is often enough to move an invoice up someone's payment run — without you ever having to actually invoice it.
- It's a fair backstop for customers who are habitually, deliberately late — the ones the Directive was written for.
- It reframes the conversation: late payment has a real, quantified cost, not a vague one.
In practice, the most effective approach is rarely a one-off interest demand. It's consistent, on-schedule follow-up that keeps invoices from getting that late in the first place — with the statutory right held in reserve for the accounts that genuinely need it.
The bottom line
Under the EU Late Payment Directive, overdue B2B invoices accrue statutory interest at the reference rate plus at least 8 points (10.15% for 1 Jan – 30 Jun 2026), plus a €40 fixed recovery fee per invoice — automatically, whether or not it's in your contract. Know the number, use it as leverage, and reserve the formal claim for the customers who've earned it.
This is general information about the EU Directive, not legal advice — national rules and exact rates vary by country, so confirm your local figure before invoicing interest. You can work out the amount for any invoice with our late-payment calculator.