How does a formal demand (aanmaning) work?
The distinction lies in whether there is a commercial agreement, meaning an agreement between businesses, or between a business and a public authority. If so, default occurs by operation of law from the day after the agreed due date, and no reminder is needed to make the interest and the fixed compensation run. If no payment term was agreed, a term of thirty days after receipt of the invoice applies.
With a private customer the threshold is higher, and that is deliberate. The law protects the consumer against collection costs they did not see coming, and attaches to that a letter with a term of fourteen days and an announcement of the costs. That letter has its own name and its own formal requirements; it is explained separately, because that is where most things go wrong in practice.
The level of the costs follows the same statutory scale in both cases. It starts with 15 percent of the first €2,500 of the principal, with a minimum of €40. Then 10 percent of the next €2,500, 5 percent of the next €5,000 and 1 percent of the next €190,000. Over the excess, half a percent applies, with a maximum of €6,775. Those amounts have been unchanged in the decree since 1 July 2012 and there is no indexation. With a business customer, the minimum of €40 is at the same time the fixed compensation you may charge without further substantiation.
About the VAT (btw) on those costs there is a widespread misunderstanding, and it pays to get it right. The increase for VAT is not a surcharge you may always charge but a compensation for VAT that someone else charges you. It only applies if you outsource the claim to a party that charges VAT, such as a collection agency, and you cannot offset that VAT yourself. If you send reminders yourself with your own letter, there is no VAT-taxed service and so no increase, even if you fall under the small businesses scheme (kleineondernemersregeling, KOR). And with a private customer: what was not in the veertiendagenbrief (the fourteen-day letter), you can no longer claim later.
Where is a formal demand (aanmaning) in the law?
These legal sources come from the specialist dossiers that were reviewed on 31 August 2026. Mind the difference that becomes large in a dispute: a statutory article next to a value is where that value is found, not a justification for how it applies to your situation.
- Article 6:96(4) of the Dutch Civil Code (BW)gives, with a commercial agreement, a right to a fixed compensation of €40 for collection costs, without a reminder being needed for it
- Article 6:96(6) of the Dutch Civil Code (BW)requires, with a consumer, first a letter with a term of fourteen days before collection costs may be charged
- Article 6:119a(2) of the Dutch Civil Code (BW)makes commercial interest run from the day after the due date, or thirty days after receipt of the invoice if no term was agreed
- Article 2 of the Dutch decree on extrajudicial collection costs (Besluit vergoeding voor buitengerechtelijke incassokosten)gives the scale with the percentages per bracket, the minimum of €40, the maximum of €6,775 and the conditions for the increase for VAT
The links go to the statutory text on wetten.overheid.nl, in the version that applied on 24 September 2026.
What does basestep do with a formal demand (aanmaning)?
The reminder procedure is in the platform, and the debtor type on the customer card determines which of the two tracks it follows. A KVK number (Dutch Chamber of Commerce) or VAT identification number makes a customer a business; if neither is there, the procedure follows the consumer track, because that is the strictest. A reminder never goes out by itself: the platform proposes the letter, calculates the amounts and records the action, and you send it.
All calculations, explanations and signals in basestep are calculation support and instruction, not tax or legal advice. Amounts are estimates based on your own input; the Dutch tax authority (Belastingdienst) sets the assessment.
Where does it go wrong with a formal demand (aanmaning)?
The two mistakes you run into most often in practice with this term, and what they cost you.
Sending a private customer a reminder without the right letter
An ordinary reminder to a consumer gives you no right to collection costs. For that you need the letter with the fourteen-day term, and it must meet formal requirements. If you get it wrong, you lose the right to the costs entirely.
Thinking interest only starts after your letter
With a business customer, commercial interest already runs from the day after the due date. Waiting to send a reminder therefore does not cost you interest, but it does cost you time and overview.
Doubting the type and then choosing the lenient track
A sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) without a KVK number on the invoice looks like a private customer in your bookkeeping. Then treat them that way too. Treating too strictly costs you at most the fixed compensation; treating too leniently costs you the whole right to costs.
Charging VAT on collection costs without a collection agency
The increase for VAT compensates VAT that someone else charges you. If you send a letter yourself, there is nothing to compensate and the increase may not be added, not even if you normally cannot offset VAT.
Further reading
Three places this term is tied to, inside this glossary and beyond.