Unpaid invoice? How to get your money after all

Sooner or later it happens to every freelancer: the payment term passes and the money is not there. Usually it is sloppiness, sometimes unwillingness. The same approach works for both: start friendly, get more formal step by step, and know your rights.

Step 0: prevent the problem

Put a clear payment term on your invoice (14 or 30 days is common), invoice right after the work instead of weeks later, and agree on a deposit or instalments for larger jobs. Also good to know: large companies are legally required to pay SMEs and freelancers within 30 days; a longer term in their purchasing conditions is not valid in the Netherlands.

Step 1: the friendly reminder

A few days after the term expires, send a short, neutral reminder with the invoice attached. Nine times out of ten this is enough, so do not make it an accusation. With a regular client, calling often works faster than email.

Step 2: the formal demand

If payment still does not arrive, send a formal demand letter: name the invoice, give a final term of 14 days and announce that collection costs and statutory interest will follow. For consumer clients this "fourteen-day letter" is legally required before you may charge collection costs.

Step 3: interest and collection costs

After the due date you may charge business clients statutory commercial interest, and after a proper demand letter also extrajudicial collection costs. These follow a statutory scale: 15% over the first 2,500 euros of the principal, with a minimum of 40 euros. For business clients you may even charge that 40 euros right after the due date, without a demand letter.

Step 4: collection agency or court

If that fails too, you can engage a collection agency or bailiff, or go to the subdistrict court yourself: for claims up to 25,000 euros you do not need a lawyer. Weigh the costs against the invoice amount; for small sums a payment plan is often faster and cheaper than proceedings. If the invoice remains definitively unpaid, you can at least reclaim the VAT you remitted from the Tax Administration.

Keep your paperwork in order

In a dispute your paper trail counts: the quote or order confirmation, an invoice that meets the legal requirements, and the dated reminders. Keep them in one place.

Finq puts the payment term on your invoices automatically and shows on the dashboard which invoices are open or overdue, so you can follow up in time.