Dunning fees from when?
When can dunning fees be charged? You have probably asked yourself this question before when you held a forgotten invoice in your hands and stared at the additional costs. You may also want to send a reminder for an invoice and are unsure whether you can charge additional fees. The answer to this is clearly regulated by law.
Dunning costs are annoying and are also subject to a legal regulation. The legal basis is the German Civil Code, or BGB for short. From Section 271 of the German Civil Code (BGB) the part of the code of interest that is of interest to you begins.
When the default in payment occurs
- When it comes to the question of when you are allowed to show dunning fees, it must first be clarified whether your debtor is in arrears with the payment at all. According to Section 271 of the German Civil Code (BGB), funds for services rendered are due immediately after the service has been provided. You are probably familiar with this from repair workshops and from tradespeople's services.
- If you write invoices and note a payment term on them, this is the deadline for the payment. Without a specified payment term, the default occurs automatically thirty days after receipt of the invoice.
- From this point on, your debtor is in default of payment so that you can send a reminder. The first reminder is usually a friendly payment reminder that does not incur any fees.
- However, the payment reminder is voluntary. If your customer is in default, you can theoretically apply for a dunning notice directly.
- Take the friendly route and first remind your customers in a friendly manner, you usually calculate fees from the first reminder. The fee must be reasonable, with dunning costs of EUR 2.50 to EUR 10.00 being recognized by the courts.
Agreed but not performed services or unpaid invoices are a ...
Procedure for dunning fees
If you're waiting for your bill and you've already sent your customer a payment reminder, it's time you looked into calculating the additional fees.
- Always keep in mind that late payments will cost you money. Therefore, it is only correct if you charge interest on arrears and invoice the reminders at the same time.
- Clearly indicate the additional costs on the reminder. To do this, use your original invoice, add the point of the dunning costs under the total amount and create a new total amount that takes the fees into account.
- Always remind your customers in writing and state a clear payment term in each reminder.
- Don't just think about when you will start charging dunning fees, but also calculate default interest at the same time.
- The default interest is calculated from the current base rate, to which you add 5 percent for private individuals and 8 percent for business customers. The default interest starts from the first day of default.
- Always include interest on arrears when you start the dunning procedure. Interest is seldom a large sum, but you owe it.
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