Reference · France · 1 July – 31 December 2026
France late payment interest rate
The statutory interest on an overdue B2B invoice in France is 12.40% a year for 1 July – 31 December 2026: the ECB main refinancing rate of 2.40% plus a margin of 10 points.
Higher national margin. Code de commerce L441-10: ECB rate on the first day of the half-year + 10pp. Distinct from the consumer taux d'intérêt légal.
- Rate
- 12.40%
- Reference + margin
- 2.40% + 10pp
- Applies
- 1 July – 31 December 2026. Next reset 1 January 2027. Invoices in euro.
- Source
- entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr · verified 9 July 2026
What 12.40% comes to on an unpaid invoice
Simple interest at 12.40% a year on a 365-day year, counted from the day after the payment date.
| Invoice | 30 days | 60 days | 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| €5,000 | €50.96 | €101.92 | €152.88 |
| €10,000 | €101.92 | €203.84 | €305.75 |
| €50,000 | €509.59 | €1,019.18 | €1,528.77 |
Work out the interest on your invoice
Prefilled with France's statutory rate for 1 July – 31 December 2026. If your contract sets a higher rate, use that instead.
Interest you can claim
€203.84
€10,203.84 with the invoice · €3.40 a day
Alongside the rate
When interest starts, and the recovery fee
Interest runs from the day after the payment date in your contract. If the contract sets none, it runs from 30 days after your customer receives the invoice. Agreed payment terms longer than 60 days are only valid if they were expressly agreed and aren't grossly unfair to you.
On top of the interest, you are owed a fixed sum of at least €40 per late invoice for recovery costs. It is due automatically, with no reminder needed, and you can claim reasonable recovery costs above it, such as a collection agency's fees.
These are the rules of Directive 2011/7/EU, which every member state applies. National law can be stricter, so check France's own rules before relying on them.
How France compares
Like most of the euro area, France builds its rate on the ECB's 2.40%. It adds 10 points, above the Directive's minimum of 8.
Of the other 26 EU countries, 3 set a higher statutory rate and 22 a lower one. The range runs from 10.00% (Denmark and Sweden) to 14.50% (Romania).
Same 12.40% rate: Bulgaria.
Charging interest is the easy part. Collecting is the work.
DueTrail turns overdue invoices into managed cases with reviewable reminders and promise-to-pay tracking, so your team follows up the same way in France as everywhere else you sell.