Claim your unpaid invoice with the letter and interest up to date

The full invoice, late-payment interest from the day after the due date and a fixed €40 for recovery costs. Interest runs automatically, without you having to give notice or demand payment first (art. 5 of Law 3/2004), and the €40 is always added, without asking (art. 8). If your recovery costs are higher and you can prove them, you can claim them too.

This applies to transactions between companies and freelancers, and between companies and the public administration. It doesn't apply when the client is a private individual (art. 3).

If the contract says nothing, 30 calendar days after delivery of the goods or provision of the service, even if the invoice arrived earlier (art. 4.1). The parties can agree longer, but never more than 60 calendar days (art. 4.3): a 90 or 120-day term isn't valid.

Days are calendar days and holidays can't be excluded from the count (art. 2.d). If there's an acceptance or verification procedure, it can't last more than 30 days.

Since 3 April 2025, Organic Law 1/2025 requires trying an appropriate dispute resolution method before suing, including for the monitorio procedure (art. 5). If you can't prove it, the court won't admit the claim.

Direct negotiation between the parties counts. To prove it, a document showing the client received your proposal, when, and could read it in full is enough (art. 10.2): that's why it's best sent by burofax with content certification. If they don't reply in writing within 30 calendar days of receiving it, the negotiation ends without agreement and you can claim (art. 10.4). Your request also interrupts the limitation period (art. 7).

Through the monitorio procedure, designed for documented money debts such as an invoice. You don't need a lawyer or court agent to file the claim (art. 814 of the Civil Procedure Act); attach the invoice and proof that you tried to negotiate.

The court requires the debtor to pay or object within 20 days (art. 815). If they do nothing, enforcement follows. If they object, the case goes to trial, and above €2,000 a lawyer and court agent are required.

Yes. If your turnover last year didn't exceed €6,010,121.04, you can do it once 6 months have passed since the VAT accrued; otherwise, after a year. You must have demanded payment in a verifiable way: a court claim, a notarial demand or any other means that proves it, such as a burofax (art. 80.Four of the VAT Act).

The corrective invoice is issued within the following 6 months and notified to the tax agency within one month of issuing it (art. 24 of the VAT Regulation). Many guides still say 3 months: that was the rule before 2023.

With the public administration there's no need to negotiate before claiming (art. 3.2 of Organic Law 1/2025); the payment term is set by the Public Sector Contracts Act and the claim starts through the administrative route. With a private individual the late-payment law doesn't apply, but you must still try to negotiate before suing.