Get paid on time in Belgium: terms, reminders and late interest

Most late payments can be prevented before the invoice is sent. Agree a payment term the law allows, print an actual due date, and give the customer payment details that a banking app or accounting system can use without retyping. After the due date, a short dated routine of reminders, and knowing what Belgian law lets you claim, does the rest.

This guide is for Belgian freelancers and small businesses that invoice from OrdoGrid, and for whoever follows up their customer payments. It keeps apart what the law requires, what we recommend and what OrdoGrid does. Recording money that has arrived, including a partial payment, is covered in Follow up an invoice and record a partial payment. The Belgian payment reference itself is explained in Belgian structured communication (OGM): format, check digits, use.

Payment terms: what Belgian law allows

Between businesses, payment terms are set by the Law of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions, tightened by the Law of 14 August 2021 with effect from 1 February 2022.

Commercial transaction

A transaction between businesses, or between businesses and public authorities, for goods, services or works against payment. A business is any organisation other than a public authority acting in an independent economic or professional activity, including a sole trader. Sales to consumers are not covered.

What we recommend: agree the term in writing before you start, in the quote the customer accepts or in general terms accepted with the order, and print a date on the invoice rather than only "30 days". Terms that first appear on the invoice are easier to contest.

OrdoGrid proposes an Échéance (due date) of the issue date plus 30 days. That matches the legal default only when the customer receives the invoice the day you issue it, as with a same-day Peppol or email send.

Make every invoice easy to pay

None of these details is a VAT mention under Royal Decree no. 1, but they decide how fast the money arrives. Check the VAT mentions first in Mandatory mentions on Belgian invoices: the 2026 checklist: a correction costs more time than a reminder.

Set it up in OrdoGrid

Once per company

1. Open Profil entreprise (Company profile, in the profile menu). Under Informations bancaires (Bank details), enter your IBAN and choose your bank for the BIC. Only owners and administrators can edit this page.
2. In the CGV tab, use Configurateur de CGV par défaut (default terms builder) to write your invoice terms: payment term, late-payment interest, compensation, how to contest an invoice.
3. For card payments, on the Business plan: open Payments → Payment links. If no Stripe account is connected, OrdoGrid shows Connecter Stripe; paste the keys of your own Stripe account.

On every invoice

1. Create it with Nouvelle facture (New invoice) and select the client.
2. Fill in Date first, then set Échéance to the agreed date: changing the date resets the Échéance to date + 30 days. There is no per-client default.
3. Click the payment box in the preview. In Informations de paiement (Payment details), check IBAN and Communication, choose QR Code SEPA (bank transfer) or Lien de paiement (online payment), then Enregistrer (Save).
4. Replace the default Notes text with your real terms.
5. If the customer requires a purchase order, tick Exiger un bon de commande pour les factures (Require a purchase order for invoices) once on the client record, so that N° bon de commande appears under Documents et Références (Documents and references), and fill it in. Tick Inclure dans le PDF under Conditions de vente (Terms of sale).
6. Click Envoyer, then Sauvegarder & Envoyer (Save & Send): by Peppol for a business customer on the network, by email otherwise. See Send your first Peppol invoice in OrdoGrid.

What the reference and the QR code contain

• On a new invoice, OrdoGrid fills Communication with a structured communication built from the last ten digits of the proposed invoice number plus the modulo-97 check digits. For F-2026-0042 that is +++002/0260/04240+++.
• You can type your own text instead. An empty field is regenerated from the invoice number when you save, so empty it if you changed the number in N°. Dupliquer (Duplicate) gives the copy a fresh reference.
• QR Code SEPA follows the European Payments Council format (EPC069-12): your name, IBAN, BIC, the Montant à payer (amount to pay) and the communication. OrdoGrid currently puts the Belgian reference in the QR code's free-text remittance field; only a reference starting with RF goes into the structured field. Febelfin's guidelines for QR codes on invoices, applicable in Belgium from 1 February 2026, put it in the structured field instead (see Belgian structured communication (OGM): format, check digits, use). Ask payers to check the reference in their banking app before confirming.
• The QR code needs an IBAN and is left out of credit notes and of invoices with nothing to pay.

Card payments with a Stripe payment link

• Requirements: the Business plan (see the pricing page) and your own Stripe account. Stripe charges its own fees under your Stripe contract.
• Create the link: choose Lien de paiement, then Générer le lien de paiement in Informations de paiement, where the link appears with Copier le lien (Copy link); or Générer un lien de paiement under Envoi et Paiement (Sending and payment) in the editor sidebar, then Copier (Copy) or Ouvrir (Open). The PDF's QR code then opens the payment page.
• Amount: the outstanding amount when you created the link. The link does not update for later bank transfers, so check it with Ouvrir before resending it.
• Settlement: once Stripe confirms the checkout, OrdoGrid records a card payment in Settlement for the amount paid and marks the invoice Payée (Paid) when nothing is outstanding. Give your Stripe fee statements to your accountant.

On Peppol, the payment details travel inside the invoice

When you send by Peppol, OrdoGrid writes the payment data into the structured invoice (UBL), so the customer's software can schedule the transfer with the right reference.

Without an IBAN on the invoice, OrdoGrid sends no payment instructions (BT-81, BT-83, BT-84), only the due date (BT-9) and the payment terms (BT-20). Credit notes and invoices with nothing to pay carry no payment block. A purchase order number goes in the buyer reference.

Delivery, acceptance and payment are three different things. Traité in Peppol → Outbox means the network delivered the invoice, nothing more. A customer may answer with an Invoice Response, shown on the invoice in OrdoGrid: UQ (Sous question, under query) or RE (Rejetée, rejected) means stop reminding and resolve the issue, and PD (Payée, paid) is the customer's statement, not your bank evidence. See Peppol invoice responses: what AP, RE, UQ and PD mean and what to do.

After the due date: OrdoGrid flags, you act

A background check moves an invoice from Envoyée (Sent) to En retard (Overdue) as soon as its Échéance day begins. It sends nothing to the customer and calculates no interest. The reminder stages are labels you set with the Statut (Status) action on the invoice row or in its side panel.

Payée and Partiellement payée (Partially paid) cannot simply be chosen: they follow from Record payment in Settlement. Payée shows once nothing is outstanding, at any stage from Envoyée to Recouvrement. Partiellement payée shows only until the invoice turns En retard: after that, a partly paid invoice keeps showing En retard, your reminder stage or Recouvrement, and the balance stays in Settlement. An invoice you send outside OrdoGrid stays Brouillon (Draft) and never turns En retard, so set it to Envoyée with Statut.

A reminder routine (our recommendation)

Between businesses the law sets no reminder schedule: interest and the €40 apply without any reminder. A fixed routine still settles most invoices without a dispute.

Send reminders from your own mailbox with the PDF from the PDF action; after a partial payment, add the Current statement from Settlement. Keep the same structured communication in every reminder, and ask whether a purchase order, an approval or a dispute is holding payment up. For consumers, the first reminder must be free and be followed by at least 14 days before any charge.

Late-payment interest and the €40 for business customers

What the Law of 2 August 2002 provides (art. 2, 5, 6 and 7):

• When: if you met your own obligations and are not paid on the due date, the unpaid amount bears interest from the next day, by law and without formal notice, unless the customer proves the delay is not its fault.
• On what: the unpaid amount, including the VAT shown on the invoice.
• Rate: unless agreed otherwise, the ECB main refinancing rate plus 8 points, rounded up to the next half point; the ECB rate on 1 January counts for the first half-year, the rate on 1 July for the second. The Minister of Finance publishes the rate in the Belgian Official Journal.
• 2026: the ECB rate was 2.15% on 1 January and 2.40% on 1 July 2026 (ECB key rates), which gives 10.15% and 10.40%, both rounded up to 10.5%. The official figure is the FPS Finance notice for each half-year; check the new one for 2027.
• €40: when interest is due, the unpaid amount is increased by a €40 lump sum for recovery costs, by law. Reasonable further recovery costs, including the court's procedural indemnity, can be added.
• Contract: your terms may set another rate. Excluding interest is deemed grossly unfair; excluding the €40 is presumed so. With a public authority debtor, the legal rate applies whatever the contract says.

What we recommend: claim interest and the €40 in writing, in the second reminder or formal notice, with the calculation. Waiving them for a good customer is your choice. Never add them to the original invoice: an issued invoice is not rewritten, and OrdoGrid locks its amounts once it has a payment or was sent on Peppol. Ask your accountant how to document and book the claim.

Worked example: 60 days late on F-2026-0042

Atelier Lemaire SRL in Namur invoices Verhaegen Logistics BV in Ghent for consultancy. The accepted quote says: payment within 30 days of the invoice date.

1. From 30 October, the due date itself, OrdoGrid shows En retard; interest runs only from 31 October.
2. On 2 November, Atelier Lemaire emails a friendly reminder and sets 1er rappel.
3. On 16 November, the second reminder mentions the 10.5% interest and the €40: 2e rappel.
4. On 1 December, a registered letter sets a final date of 11 December: Dernier rappel.
5. On 29 December, €2,420.00 arrives with the right communication. Record payment turns the invoice to Payée.

Atelier Lemaire claims €81.77 by letter and leaves F-2026-0042 unchanged. After a partial payment, interest runs only on what is still unpaid. If a delay runs into 2027, check the rate published for 2027.

Consumers: free first reminder and capped charges

When the customer is a consumer, meaning a natural person buying outside any trade or profession, Book XIX of the Code of Economic Law applies: since 1 September 2023 for new contracts and, according to the FPS Economy, since 1 December 2023 for older ones. In OrdoGrid such customers usually have client type Particulier, but the client type does not decide this: an organisation without a VAT number is not a consumer.

• Free first reminder. No costs for the first reminder after a missed due date. For regular deliveries such as subscriptions, reminders for three unpaid instalments per calendar year are free; further ones cost at most €7.50 plus postage.
• On a durable medium, such as a letter or email. You must be able to prove that you followed these rules.
• Content of the first reminder: the amount still due and the penalty amount you will claim if it is not paid within 14 days; your name and enterprise number; the product or service and its due date; the 14-day deadline.
• Waiting period: at least 14 calendar days, starting on the third working day after a paper reminder is sent, or the day after an email.
• Afterwards: interest of at most the B2B legal rate (10.5% in 2026) on the remaining amount, and/or, only if your terms expressly provide it, a lump sum within the caps below. A small or medium-sized enterprise may then run the interest from the day after the reminder was sent.
• Nothing else. A penalty clause with other amounts is prohibited and deemed unwritten. A collection agency for consumer debts must be registered with the FPS Economy.

Example: Ms Claes owes €400.00 including VAT on invoice F-2026-0057, due 30 October 2026. A free reminder goes by email on 3 November, so the 14 days run from 4 to 17 November. From 18 November, if the conditions of sale provide for it, the business may claim at most €30 + 10% × (€400.00 − €150.00) = €55.00, plus interest of at most 10.5% a year.

When the customer still does not pay

Abandonnée is a status, not an accounting entry: it changes no amount, creates no credit note and does not change your VAT, and the balance stays in Settlement. It does remove the invoice from the receivables and the cash forecast in Accounting. VAT relief on a debt that proves irrecoverable follows specific rules, so agree the approach and evidence with your accountant. We recommend against a credit note just to clear a bad debt: it tells the customer the amount is no longer owed.

Common mistakes

Evidence to keep

The invoice and your bank and accounting records must in any case be kept for 7 years (see Archiving invoices in Belgium: 7-year rule, Peppol XML and evidence). Keep all of the following at least until the claim is paid or closed:

• The accepted quote, contract or general terms with the payment term. If the client accepted your quote by uploading the signed copy, the quote shows Accepté; keep that file.
• The invoice as issued (Original document in Settlement) and, for Peppol, its status in Peppol → Outbox.
• Proof of sending and receipt, such as the Peppol delivery date or the sent email: the legal default term runs from receipt.
• Every reminder with its date and channel; for consumers, proof of when the first reminder was sent.
• Proof of posting for registered letters (and any signed acknowledgements of receipt), the customer's replies and any Invoice Responses.
• Bank statements, the Movement history in Settlement, your Stripe reports, your interest calculation and the rate notice used.

FAQ

Can I charge late-payment interest if my invoice does not mention it?

For a business customer, yes: the Law of 2 August 2002 grants interest at the legal rate and the €40 lump sum by law. For a consumer, a lump sum is possible only if your conditions expressly provide it, and any interest is capped at the B2B legal rate; neither may be charged before the free reminder and the 14 days. Without a clause, ask a lawyer before claiming interest.

What is the Belgian late-payment interest rate in 2026?

The legal formula applied to the ECB rates gives 10.5% for both halves of 2026. The binding figure is the FPS Finance notice in the Belgian Official Journal for each half-year.

Does OrdoGrid send payment reminders automatically?

No. It switches a sent invoice to En retard from its due date. You set the reminder labels and send the reminders yourself.

Is the €40 compensation automatic?

Between businesses it is due by law as soon as late-payment interest is due, but you still have to claim it. It does not apply to consumers, for whom only the Book XIX lump sums exist.

Does Traité in the Peppol outbox mean the customer accepted the invoice?

No. It means the Peppol network delivered it. Acceptance, a query or a rejection comes as an Invoice Response, and payment shows only on your bank account.

Must my customer use the structured communication?

No law obliges the payer to use it: it is a Belgian banking standard. Repeat it in every reminder, and match a payment without it by hand before recording it.