Invoice payment term: what is reasonable and what if a customer pays late?

A late payment is one of the most common frustrations for freelancers and small business owners. Here you can read what counts as a reasonable payment term and what steps you can take if a customer does not pay.

What is a reasonable payment term?

In the Netherlands, a statutory default term of 30 days applies if you have not agreed otherwise. You may agree a shorter or longer term, but for agreements between businesses the term may in principle not exceed 60 days, unless this has been explicitly agreed and is not unreasonably onerous for the creditor.

For consumers (B2C), 30 days is the norm and you cannot simply impose a longer term.

Step 1: A friendly reminder

Has the due date passed? First send a friendly payment reminder. A missed payment is often simply a matter of forgetfulness or an administrative error.

Step 2: The official notice of default (ingebrekestelling)

If the customer does not respond to the reminder, send a formal notice of default in which you set a final, reasonable payment term (for example 14 days). Explicitly state that you will charge collection costs and statutory interest if payment is not made.

Statutory interest and collection costs

After the payment term has expired, you are legally entitled to:

• Statutory (commercial) interest on the outstanding amount
• Collection costs — a percentage of the principal sum, with a statutory minimum amount

You may only charge these costs after a proper notice of default with a reasonable additional payment term.

Step 3: Debt collection agency or legal proceedings

If payment still does not follow, you can engage a debt collection agency or — for larger amounts — start legal proceedings. Make sure your records are in order: the invoice, the contract/agreement, and proof of the reminders and notices sent.

How do you prevent late payments?

• Make paying as easy as possible — an iDEAL payment link or QR code on the invoice significantly lowers the barrier
• Send invoices immediately after delivery, not weeks later
• Use automatic payment reminders
• Ask doubtful customers for (partial) advance payment

FactuurMakenOnline.nl can automatically send reminders at the moment you set, and every invoice includes an iDEAL payment link and QR payment code by default — that significantly reduces the number of late payments.