Late payment interest

The late payment interest rate in Belgium

The statutory late payment interest rate between businesses in Belgium is 10.5 percent a year for both halves of 2026. It runs by law from the day after the due date, without a formal notice, and comes with a fixed 40 euros per invoice. An invoice of 2,420 euros due on 31 May and paid on 24 October is 146 days late: 2,420 x 10.5 percent x 146 / 365 = 101.64 euros of interest, 141.64 euros on top of the invoice with the fixed sum.

That applies to a Belgian client of a foreign supplier too. The rule comes from the EU Late Payment Directive, which every member state turned into its own law; Belgium did so in the law of 2 August 2002. Consumers are a different case with their own limits, set out below. The calculator does both: pick who your client is, enter the amount and the dates, and see the interest per day and per half-year.

How the interest is worked out

Simple interest: amount owed times the rate times the days late, divided by 365. You work on the amount including VAT, since that is what the client owes. The Federal Public Service Finance sets the rate for each half-year: the European Central Bank's reference rate plus 8 points, rounded up to the next half point. When a delay crosses 1 January or 1 July, each part is charged at its own half-year's rate, which the calculator does for you.

Between businesses: the Belgian rules

Without an agreement, the client pays within 30 days of receiving the invoice. You may agree a longer term, but between businesses at most 60 days; a longer term is treated as not written. Public bodies pay within 30 days, in exceptional cases 60. Once the due date passes, interest runs by law and you do not need to announce it.

On top of the interest you are entitled to 40 euros per invoice, even when you had no costs. Higher recovery costs, such as a collection agency, can be claimed as well if they are reasonable and you can show them. Interest and the fixed sum are compensation, so they carry no VAT.

For a foreign supplier, that means the same rights against a Belgian client as a Belgian supplier has. Put your payment term and your conditions in your quote; our quote template has a place for them. A Belgian client pays faster when the invoice carries a Belgian structured communication, so their bank matches the payment by itself, and when it arrives as a Peppol e-invoice their software reads it without typing. The VAT on that invoice is worked out with the Belgian VAT calculator.

Compared with the UK

A UK supplier knows the same idea from the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act: 8 points over the Bank of England base rate, and fixed compensation of 40, 70 or 100 pounds depending on the size of the debt. Against a Belgian client, Belgian law and the Belgian rate apply when your contract says so or when Belgian law governs it; put the governing law in your terms.

Consumers in Belgium: Book XIX of the Code of Economic Law

Since 2023, invoices to consumers follow stricter rules. The first reminder is free, and the consumer then has at least 14 calendar days to pay. On paper that term starts on the third working day after sending; by email the day after. Nothing may be charged during that time.

If the consumer still does not pay, you may charge interest and damages only if your contract or terms provide for them. Interest is capped at the reference rate plus 8 points, the same 10.5 percent. A small business may let it run from the day after the reminder.