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Payment terms, late fees, and what you can actually charge

What Net 30 means precisely, the statutory interest you may be entitled to in the UK and EU, and the wording that makes terms stick.

Most freelancers write “Net 30” and hope. Two things make a real difference: a due date printed as a date, and terms that were agreed before the work started rather than announced on the invoice.

Say the date, not the interval

“Net 30” means payment is due thirty days from the invoice date — but from issue or from receipt? Print Due: 27 September 2026 and the ambiguity disappears. Approval workflows run on dates, not intervals.

Shorter terms get paid faster, and the effect is larger than people expect. Net 14 is normal for small suppliers and rarely questioned.

Statutory late payment interest

In the UK, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives businesses a statutory right to interest on late commercial payments — the Bank of England base rate plus 8 percentage points — plus a fixed sum toward recovery costs, scaled by debt size.

In the EU, Directive 2011/7/EU sets a comparable floor: interest of at least the reference rate plus eight percentage points, and a minimum of €40 compensation for recovery costs. Member states implement it in their own law.

You do not have to mention these rights on the invoice for them to exist, but stating them changes behaviour. A line saying interest accrues after the due date moves your invoice up the queue at a company that pays late by policy.

Terms have to be agreed, not announced

A late fee that first appears on an invoice, in a relationship where the client never agreed to it, is a request. The same fee written into the engagement email you both replied to is a term. Put payment terms in whatever document starts the work, even if that document is three sentences long.

Wording you can copy

Payment terms: Net 14. Due 27 September 2026.
Late payments may accrue statutory interest and recovery costs
from the day after the due date.

Worth knowing

• Statutory entitlements described here apply to business-to-business debts and vary by jurisdiction and contract. Treat this as orientation, not legal advice.