Late-payment interest between businesses in Spain

When a business or self-employed professional in Spain pays another business late, Ley 3/2004 gives the creditor two amounts on top of the invoice:

• Late-payment interest. It accrues automatically once the payment term expires, with no notice or demand needed (art. 5). A rate agreed in the contract applies; otherwise the legal rate does (art. 7.1).
• 40€ recovery-cost compensation. A fixed amount added to the debt in every case, without having to ask for it (art. 8.1). Documented recovery costs above that can also be claimed.

The legal rate is the ECB's most recent main refinancing operation rate before the first day of each calendar semester, plus eight percentage points, applied for the following six months (art. 7.2). Spain's Treasury publishes it every semester in the BOE (art. 7.3). These are the published rates:

When a delay spans several semesters, the usual practice is to charge each day at its own semester's rate, since art. 7.2 sets the rate per calendar semester. The table is updated as each resolution is published; the first-semester-2027 one is due around the end of December 2026.

• Simple interest on the outstanding amount, by calendar day.
• We count days late from the day after the due date to the payment date, both included.
• The law does not set a day-count base; we use a 365-day year.
• Interest is rounded to the cent for each semester segment, then the segments are summed.
• The 40€ is added once per overdue, unpaid invoice.

• Consumer debtors. Ley 3/2004 covers transactions between businesses — including self-employed professionals — and between businesses and public bodies; payments involving consumers are excluded (arts. 2 and 3).
• A different agreed rate. The contract prevails (art. 7.1), unless the clause is grossly unfair to the creditor (art. 9).
• Debtor proves it is not responsible for the delay. No interest (art. 6.b) and no compensation (art. 8.2). To claim interest you must also have met your own contractual and legal obligations (art. 6.a).
• No agreed due date. The legal term is 30 calendar days from delivery of the goods or services (art. 4.1). The parties can extend it, but never beyond 60 calendar days (art. 4.3).

The example illustrates the law's general rule; it does not assess any specific case.

In InvoiceUp, the Late fees section of your dashboard shows, for each overdue invoice you track, the days late, interest on the amount still outstanding at the current semester's legal rate applied to the whole delay (not split by semester as in this guide), and the 40€ — and lets you email the debtor the formal demand. See how InvoiceUp works.

Still unpaid? Read how to claim an unpaid invoice in Spain: reminder, formal demand and the monitorio procedure.