A service company invoices another company, and the client pays "whenever it's convenient" — two weeks after the due date, then a month. The owner doesn't know whether there's any right to demand anything beyond a polite reminder. Nobody in the company tracks invoice delivery dates, so even figuring out how many days late a payment already is means digging through an email inbox.
This article explains what payment term between companies is actually allowed under Polish law, when statutory interest applies without a formal demand, who is entitled to compensation for debt recovery costs and how much, and how to build a reminder ladder before a case ever reaches a formal payment demand.
The problem: the client pays whenever it suits them
A small service company — repairs, marketing, IT, accounting — usually doesn't have anyone whose sole job is tracking receivables. An invoice goes out by email, and then the owner or bookkeeper checks the account balance every so often and only then notices a client didn't pay on time. Until that moment, nobody knows whether 20 days late is already grounds for interest, or whether it's even worth bothering about with a client the company has worked with for years.
That question has a specific answer written into Polish law — it doesn't need to be guessed at or renegotiated with the client on every single invoice.
No due date in the contract: interest kicks in after 30 days
If the parties to a commercial transaction haven't set a payment date in their contract, the creditor is entitled, without any formal demand, to statutory interest for late payment in commercial transactions once 30 days have passed from the day the creditor performed its service, until the day of payment — that's exactly what Article 6(1) of Poland's Act on Counteracting Excessive Delays in Commercial Transactions states (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2023 item 1790). "Without a formal demand" means the creditor doesn't have to formally chase anyone for interest to start accruing — it's owed by operation of the law itself, counted from the day the service was completed.
A due date set in the contract: no more than 60 days
Many service companies have a specific payment term written into their contracts — 14, 21, 30 days. The law puts a ceiling on this that's worth knowing before agreeing to a longer term proposed by a bigger client.
Article 7(2): 60 days, unless the parties clearly agree otherwise
A payment term set in a contract can't exceed 60 days from the delivery of the invoice or bill, unless the parties clearly agree otherwise and doing so isn't grossly unfair to the creditor (Article 7(2)). That leaves room for a longer term, but only if both sides consciously agreed to it — not just because that's how the bigger counterparty's standard contract happens to be worded.
Article 7(2a): a large debtor and a small creditor — no exception
When the debtor obligated to pay is a large business, and the creditor is a micro, small or medium-sized business, the payment term can't exceed 60 days — with no possibility of extending it by contract (Article 7(2a)). For a small service company working for a bigger corporation, that's a hard limit regardless of what a framework agreement happens to say.
Article 8a: the invoice delivery date isn't up for negotiation
The parties can't set in the contract which date counts as the invoice's delivery date (Article 8a) — what matters is the actual delivery date, not whichever date is convenient for one of the sides. When the payment term doesn't comply with paragraph 2 or 2a, interest is owed once 60 days have passed from the invoice's delivery (Article 7(3)), so trying to work around the limit in the contract still ends up with the same interest-accrual date.
Compensation under Article 10: EUR 40, 70 or 100
From the day the right to interest arises, the creditor is entitled, without a formal demand, to compensation from the debtor for debt recovery costs — the amount depends on the value of the debt: EUR 40 when the debt doesn't exceed PLN 5000; EUR 70 when it's higher than PLN 5000 but lower than PLN 50000; EUR 100 when it's equal to or higher than PLN 50000 (Article 10(1) of the same Act). The amount is converted using the average euro exchange rate published by Poland's central bank (NBP) for the last business day of the month preceding the month in which the debt became due (Article 10(1a)) — the exact rate depends on the month, so what matters is the conversion method, not one fixed figure.
Importantly, the compensation is owed regardless of whether the creditor actually incurred any debt recovery costs — nothing needs to be proven to anyone. If the actual recovery costs were higher than this amount, the Act also allows recovering the reasonable costs that exceed the compensation (Article 10(2)).
Work it out on your own invoice
The threshold rule is simple, but it's easiest to understand through an example — a hypothetical example, substitute your own figures: an invoice for PLN 4800 doesn't exceed PLN 5000, so the threshold is EUR 40. An invoice for PLN 12000 is higher than PLN 5000 and lower than PLN 50000, so the threshold is EUR 70. An invoice for PLN 50000 matches the PLN 50000 boundary exactly, so the threshold is already EUR 100. Three different invoice amounts, three different thresholds — and none of these compensation amounts depends on how much it actually cost to call or write to the client.
Why the invoice delivery date matters
Since the 60-day cap, the moment interest starts accruing, and the compensation threshold are all counted from the invoice's delivery date, that date needs to be more than a guess of "sometime last week." An email read receipt, a timestamp from the invoicing system, or — increasingly — a timestamp from Poland's KSeF system all give a solid reference point from which every subsequent deadline is counted. What an invoicing system needs to be able to record in a KSeF context is covered separately in invoicing automation and KSeF — we won't repeat that thread here.
A reminder ladder: before it reaches a formal demand
A reminder sent too late changes nothing, and one sent too aggressively damages a relationship the company might still need for years. A tested rhythm looks like this: a reminder 3 days before the due date (polite, informational — it shouldn't read like a complaint), a message on the due date itself (confirming the term has just passed), another one 7 days late (now with a specific date and amount), and a final one at 14 days, before the matter goes to someone who calls in person.
None of these messages should contain threats or a promise of "guaranteed payment" — they should stick to facts (invoice number, amount, days overdue) and a clear next step, not intimidation.
When to send a formal payment demand, and when to call a lawyer
A formal payment demand makes sense once the reminder ladder hasn't produced a response for a few weeks and the amount is significant enough to be worth documenting in writing. Whether a specific case already needs a lawyer — say, in a dispute over whether the service was even completed properly, or with a large, recurring amount — is a judgment call for a lawyer to make, not something that follows automatically from a calendar of missed dates.
Check it yourself: a receivables table
Before automating anything, put together a simple spreadsheet: client, invoice number, delivery date, payment due date, days past due, the Article 10 compensation threshold, next step, and the person responsible. Filling this table in for the last three months shows something that isn't visible from a single invoice — whether late payments are the exception or a pattern with specific clients, and whether a reminder ladder actually exists anywhere other than in the owner's head.
How it looks when a system tracks receivables
Instead of manually checking an inbox and remembering due dates, reminders before and after the due date can go out as Automatic messages, while Finance shows revenue, costs and margin as they happen — so a late payment doesn't surface only at the month-end close.
- 01Invoice issued
- →02delivery date recorded
- →03reminders sent on schedule
- →04task: call the client
- →05weekly receivables report
The system doesn't calculate interest and doesn't judge a dispute with a client — that stays with the owner and, if needed, a lawyer. What the system does is track dates and send reminders on a set rhythm so no invoice gets lost in an inbox for three months. When a reminder goes unanswered, the next one goes out at a scheduled time, and the "call the client" task lands on the list in the Tasks module with a specific deadline and a responsible person, instead of sitting in the memory of whoever happens to have a free moment.
The full contact history with a client — invoices, reminders, calls — lives in one place through CRM and automations, and if invoice data lives in a separate accounting system, Integrations connect it to the rest of the process so the same numbers don't need to be retyped by hand.
The same topic from the other side — as a company paying its own suppliers, rather than a creditor waiting to be paid — is covered in supplier payment terms and the cash plan. The reminder mechanism this whole ladder relies on is described in more depth in follow-up automation, and how to turn a receivables table into numbers the owner actually looks at every week is explained in reporting automation. What setting up a process like this actually costs a small business in practice is broken down in how much does process automation cost.
Frequently asked questions
What's the maximum payment term for an invoice between companies in Poland?
As a rule, 60 days from invoice delivery, unless the parties clearly agree otherwise and doing so isn't grossly unfair to the creditor; when the debtor is a large business and the creditor is micro, small or medium-sized, 60 days applies with no contractual exception.
Does interest apply automatically, without a formal demand to the client?
Yes — if the contract doesn't set a payment date, statutory interest for late payment in commercial transactions is owed without a formal demand once 30 days have passed from the day the service was performed.
How much is the compensation for debt recovery costs?
EUR 40 when the debt's value doesn't exceed PLN 5000; EUR 70 when it's higher than PLN 5000 but lower than PLN 50000; EUR 100 when it's equal to or higher than PLN 50000 — converted using the average NBP euro rate from the last business day of the month before the month the debt became due.
Do you need to prove costs were actually incurred to get the compensation?
No — the compensation is owed without a formal demand and regardless of whether the creditor actually incurred debt recovery costs; if the real costs were higher, the excess can also be claimed on top of that amount.
Can the parties set the invoice delivery date themselves in the contract?
No — the law explicitly forbids this; what counts is the actual delivery date, which is what both the payment term and the moment interest starts accruing are counted from.
When is it worth sending a formal payment demand?
Once the reminders in the established ladder haven't produced a response for a few weeks and the amount is significant enough to document in writing — and in a dispute over the service itself, or with a large amount, it's better to consult a lawyer about next steps.