Payment terms, default and what you may do when a client does not pay

Which payment term applies if you agree nothing?

Between businesses: 30 days after the day on which your client received the invoice. That is in Article 6:119a(2) of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW). That article covers commercial agreements, meaning agreements between businesses or between a business and a government body. If the day of receipt cannot be established, or your client received the invoice before you delivered, the term counts from the delivery.

For consumers there is no statutory standard term of 30 days. There, the term you agree applies, for example in your general terms and conditions or on the invoice, and without an agreement a reasonable term. So always put a payment term on your invoice, also for businesses; then there is no discussion about the day of receipt.

The term on your invoice is the due date. State it as a date and not only as a number of days, so that your client and you read the same thing. The term betalingstermijn (payment term) on this site gives the definition and the legal source.

• Businesses: 30 days after receipt of the invoice, if nothing was agreed (Article 6:119a BW).
• Consumers: the agreed term, otherwise a reasonable term.
• Put the due date on the invoice as a date.

How long can a term be at most?

Between businesses you may agree a term of up to 60 days. Longer is only allowed if both parties have expressly included it in the agreement and the term is not grossly unfair to the creditor. Since 1 July 2022, a large company that buys from a small or medium-sized business may also not impose a term longer than 30 days. That is the change that shortened the statutory payment term for that relationship.

For you as a sole proprietorship that means: a large client that puts 60 or 90 days in its purchasing terms may not apply that to you. Thirty days is the maximum, and a longer term in its terms is not valid. You may point that out, and it is good to know that the law is on your side before you accept such a term.

Conversely, you are free to agree a shorter term, for example fourteen days. Many small business owners do that, and it is sensible as long as it suits your clients. A term is an agreement, and an agreement that is on the invoice is an agreement you can hold to.

• At most 60 days; longer only if expressly agreed and not grossly unfair.
• Large company towards a small or medium-sized business: at most 30 days, since 1 July 2022.
• Shorter is always allowed; fourteen days is common among small business owners.

What is default, and when does it start?

Default is the legal state your client is in as soon as they are late with payment and are liable for that. From that moment you may charge interest and, after the right steps, collection costs. Between businesses, default starts automatically when the payment term expires, because the law treats that term as a strict deadline (fatale termijn): no separate letter is needed for default to begin.

With a consumer that is different. There, default in principle only occurs after a notice of default (ingebrekestelling): a written demand in which you give a reasonable term to pay after all. That is different if a strict deadline already applied, for example a clear due date on the invoice that your client accepted. Because that last point is often disputed in practice, it is sensible with consumers to always send a reminder with a new term first.

So default is not a term of abuse but a starting point. It determines from which day interest runs and from which moment you may take the next step. The term ingebrekestelling on this site explains what such a letter looks like.

• Default: late, and liable for it; from then on interest, and later costs.
• Businesses: automatically after the payment term.
• Consumers: usually only after a notice of default with a reasonable term.

Which interest may you charge?

Between businesses, the statutory commercial interest: 10.4% a year since 1 July 2026. It is set again twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July, and the current rate is on the website of the Rijksoverheid (the Dutch central government). The interest runs on the outstanding amount from the day after the due date. After a year, the accrued interest is added to the principal, so that interest then runs on interest.

Towards a consumer the ordinary statutory interest applies: 4% a year since 1 January 2026. That too is adjusted at fixed moments. You may not charge commercial interest to a consumer, and a higher contractual interest rate in your terms often does not hold against a consumer.

The interest is a right, not an obligation. Many small business owners do not charge it when a payment is a few days late, and keep it in reserve for those who really do not pay. That is a choice. What counts is that you may charge it from the moment of default, and that the rate is set by the law, not by you. The term wettelijke handelsrente on this site keeps track of the percentage.

• Businesses: statutory commercial interest, 10.4% since 1 July 2026.
• Consumers: statutory interest, 4% since 1 January 2026.
• From the day after the due date; after a year, interest on interest.

Which collection costs may you charge?

The extrajudicial collection costs according to the statutory scale from the Besluit vergoeding voor buitengerechtelijke incassokosten, the Dutch decree on compensation for extrajudicial collection costs. The scale decreases per band of the principal:

• 15% on the first €2,500;
• 10% on the next €2,500;
• 5% on the next €5,000;
• 1% on the next €190,000;
• 0.5% on the remainder, with a maximum of €6,775.

The compensation is at least €40. On an invoice of €1,000 the collection costs are therefore €150; on an invoice of €200, the minimum of €40.

You may only charge VAT (btw) on the collection costs if you cannot offset the VAT on the collection service yourself, and you must then expressly declare that. That does not apply to an ordinary VAT-registered business: it charges the costs without VAT.

Towards a business you may charge the costs as soon as default has occurred and you have demonstrably taken collection steps. Towards a consumer the extra requirement of the veertiendagenbrief applies: the costs are only owed once that letter has been sent, has arrived and the fourteen days have passed. The article about the veertiendagenbrief goes into that further.

• Scale: 15% on the first €2,500, decreasing; at most €6,775, at least €40.
• VAT on top only if you cannot offset it yourself.
• Consumer: only after the veertiendagenbrief.

In which order do you act?

First a friendly reminder, shortly after the due date, without interest or costs. Most late payments are forgotten payments, and a reminder without a threat gets paid fastest. If payment still does not come, a formal demand follows. With a business, you mention in it the interest that is now running and the costs that will follow. With a consumer, it is the veertiendagenbrief, with the exact amount of collection costs they will owe if they do not pay within fourteen days.

After that you have a choice: continue yourself with a final demand and a court step, or hand the claim over to a collection agency. Those costs are for your client up to the maximum of the scale; whatever a collection agency charges above that is for you. In a real dispute about the delivery itself, collection is not the way, and you go to a lawyer.

Record every step: when you sent what, and with a consumer, how you can show that the veertiendagenbrief arrived. Without that proof you are in a weak position in court, even if you were right.

• Reminder without a threat, then a formal demand with interest and costs, then collection or the court.
• With a consumer: the veertiendagenbrief as a mandatory step in between.
• Record everything, including the proof of receipt.

How do you prevent it from getting that far?

By making the invoice easy to pay and hard to forget. A clear due date as a date, a payment link or a QR code, a correct invoice number as payment reference, and an invoice that goes out right after the delivery. Late payments come from unclarity and forgetting more often than from unwillingness.

Agree the term in advance, in your quote or your terms, and for larger jobs a deposit or payment in instalments. If you ask for half up front, you have half the problem with a bad payer. And keep track of your receivables: a list of outstanding invoices that you look at weekly, so that a reminder goes out on day three after the due date and not on day thirty.

A bookkeeping platform can keep the rhythm of reminders and prepare the veertiendagenbrief in the right form. The term aanmaning on this site describes the difference between a reminder and a formal demand, and what the platform does and does not do there.

• Due date as a date, payment link, reference, send right after delivery.
• Agree the term in advance; a deposit for large jobs.
• Look at the outstanding invoices weekly and send a reminder on day three.

Sources

Checked on 5 September 2026. The percentages come from the Rijksoverheid and change on 1 January and 1 July; the scale comes from the Besluit vergoeding voor buitengerechtelijke incassokosten; the text of Article 6:119a BW via Wetboek+.

• Rijksoverheid, how high is the statutory interest
• Rijksoverheid, how much do I pay in collection costs
• wetten.overheid.nl, Article 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code (BW)
• Wetboek+, Article 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code (BW)

Further reading

Three places that connect to this.