Late payment interest calculator (EU): the rate, the €40 and payment terms

Between businesses in the EU, an invoice paid late earns interest from the day after the due date, with no reminder needed. Unless the contract sets another rate, the statutory rate is the ECB reference rate plus at least 8 percentage points, as simple interest; in Spain it is exactly 8 points, and for the second half of 2026 the BOE publishes 10.40%. On top of that, the creditor is entitled to a fixed €40 for recovery costs.

Calculate the interest on an invoice

With the example figures, a €12,000 invoice due on 31 March 2026 and paid on 15 September 2026 is 168 days late: 91 days in the first half of 2026 at 10.15% and 77 in the second at 10.40%. That is 12,000 × 10.15% × 91 / 365 = €303.67 plus 12,000 × 10.40% × 77 / 365 = €263.28, a total of €566.94 in interest (summed before rounding), plus the €40.

The EU rule: ECB rate plus 8 points

Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions covers payments between businesses and between businesses and public authorities. Transactions with consumers are outside it. For a distributor selling to installers, workshops or other distributors, it sets the floor for almost every invoice.

• No reminder needed. The creditor is entitled to interest from the day after the due date, provided it has fulfilled its own obligations and the debtor is responsible for the delay (Articles 3(1) and 3(3)(a)).
• Simple interest, reference rate plus at least 8 points (Article 2(6)). For euro countries the reference rate is the ECB rate on its most recent main refinancing operations (Article 2(7)).
• One rate per half-year. The first half uses the rate in force on 1 January; the second, the rate in force on 1 July (Article 3(2)).
• VAT counts. The amount due includes the taxes shown on the invoice (Article 2(8)), which is why the calculator asks for the amount with VAT.
• A contract can set another rate, but a term that excludes interest is grossly unfair (Article 7(2)).

Each Member State writes the Directive into its own law and may be more favourable to the creditor (Article 12(3)). The calculator uses Spain’s published rates, because Spain fixes the margin at exactly 8 points and prints the result in its Official Gazette every half-year. For another euro country, change the “points over the ECB rate” field to that country’s margin.

The rate in Spain, half-year by half-year

Spain’s Ley 3/2004 takes the ECB rate on its most recent main refinancing operation before the first day of the half-year, plus 8 points (Article 7.2). The Secretaría General del Tesoro y Financiación Internacional publishes it in the BOE every half-year. These are the last six, each read in the BOE:

The first-half resolutions came out in the last days of December (28 Dec 2023, 30 Dec 2024, 23 Dec 2025) and the second-half ones at the end of June. The calculator does not guess a rate it has not verified: days in such a half-year are counted separately and flagged.

Spanish law also caps a contractual rate from below: an agreed rate 70% lower than the statutory one is presumed abusive unless proven otherwise (Article 9.1).

Payment terms: 30 days and 60 days

• No date in the contract: interest is due 30 calendar days after the debtor receives the invoice, or after it receives the goods if the invoice date is uncertain or the invoice arrived first (Article 3(3)(b)).
• Contractual terms: they should not exceed 60 calendar days, unless expressly agreed otherwise and not grossly unfair to the creditor (Article 3(5)).
• Acceptance or verification of the goods should not take more than 30 calendar days, with the same exception (Article 3(4)).

Spain is stricter. Without a date in the contract, the term is 30 calendar days from receipt of the goods or services, even if the invoice came earlier, and an agreement can extend it but never beyond 60 calendar days (Ley 3/2004, Articles 4.1 and 4.3). In the consolidated text on the BOE, Article 4 was last amended by Ley 11/2013, in force since 28 July 2013.

The €40 and other recovery costs

When late payment interest becomes payable, the creditor is entitled to a fixed sum of at least €40, without a reminder, as compensation for its own recovery costs (Article 6(1) and (2)). It can also claim reasonable compensation for recovery costs above €40, such as instructing a lawyer or a debt collection agency (Article 6(3)). A term that excludes this compensation is presumed grossly unfair (Article 7(3)).

In Spain the €40 is added to the principal “in any case and without an express request”, further costs must be duly proven, and nothing is owed if the debtor is not responsible for the delay (Ley 3/2004, Article 8). With payment by instalments, interest and compensation are calculated only on the overdue amounts (Directive, Article 5). More guides on orders, pricing and imports are in HeavyDeals guides.

How HeavyDeals handles overdue invoices

In HeavyDeals the invoice comes from the order with its due date and status (issued, overdue, paid). Overdue invoices sit in a table and, with one click to validate, a reminder email goes out with your company’s branding and a button to the customer portal. Every send, successful or failed, is logged. There is no automatic dunning: a person always decides. See how it works.

Every figure and rule was checked against the sources above, on the date shown next to each; last review of this guide: 11 October 2026. The examples use illustrative figures, not today’s quotes. This is not legal or tax advice. Written with the help of AI and reviewed by the HeavyDeals team.