Charging Interest on Outstanding Debts

All businesses have a legal right to claim interest from late-paying customers. The statutory right to interest applies to all contracts agreed after 7 August 2002 and gives you the right to charge interest at the Bank of England base rate plus eight per cent. For example, the base rate is for the current period to 4 December 2008 is 3%, so you could charge interest at 11% per cent.

The statutory right to charge late-paying business customers interest applies to contracts which do not already include their own arrangements for 'substantial' interest. If there is no agreed credit period, the law sets a default period of 30 days. You can charge interest 30 days after you delivered the goods or provided the service, or 30 days after you notified the purchaser of the amount of the debt - whichever is the later. Ideally, to notify the purchaser of the amount of the debt, you should send an invoice, but any other form of notification would do, including a phone call - though that might be difficult to prove if there is a dispute.

All organisations also have a right to claim reasonable debt-recovery costs. Creditors can claim an extra £40 for debts of up to £1,000, £70 for debts from £1,000 up to £10,000 and £100 for debts of £10,000 or more.

Date published 5 Dec 2012

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.