The €40 / €70 / €100 late-payment compensation in Poland

Many foreign creditors do not realise that under Polish law an unpaid B2B invoice is automatically worth more than its face value. Poland implements the EU Late Payment Directive (2011/7/EU) with a fixed recovery-cost compensation and elevated statutory interest.

The fixed compensation

For each commercial invoice paid late, the creditor is entitled — without proving any actual loss — to a lump-sum compensation for recovery costs:

• €40 — for claims up to 5,000 PLN;
• €70 — for claims from 5,000 to 50,000 PLN;
• €100 — for claims above 50,000 PLN.

The amount is converted to PLN at the National Bank of Poland rate and accrues per invoice (per transaction), so a debtor with ten overdue invoices owes the compensation ten times.

Statutory interest for commercial transactions

On top of the compensation, overdue commercial invoices in Poland accrue statutory interest for commercial transactions — set at the National Bank of Poland reference rate plus a statutory margin, which makes it materially higher than ordinary interest. Interest runs from the day after the payment deadline, with no reminder required.

What this means in practice

The compensation and interest strengthen the creditor's position twice over. First, they raise the real value of the claim. Second, they are leverage: a debtor who delays learns that the amount owed grows by statute, not by negotiation.

How we handle it

In our service, the demand letters claim the principal, the statutory interest and the fixed compensation from the debtor. Our success fee applies to the recovered principal — the statutory compensation recovered from the debtor is retained by us as additional remuneration, and the interest belongs to you. The result: pressure is maximised, and your payout is clean and predictable.