Late-payment interest and dunning fees
Calculate interest and fees on overdue invoices, record them deliberately, post them and offset them against payments.
Leadmode calculates late-payment interest, dunning fees and the flat late-payment fee, but never records them by itself. Only when you confirm in the invoice does a line item arise that increases the claim and is posted in the journal. Dunning and the automatic sending of reminders do not change this.
This is a calculation aid, not legal or tax advice. Whether payment is in default, whether and in what amount you may charge interest, fees and flat rates, and how they are treated for tax purposes is for you to check, with a tax advisor or lawyer if needed.
Switch on and set up
Settings → Organization → Billing data → Late-payment interest and dunning fees. The default is off; in that case nothing changes in invoices and reminders.
- Interest rate: statutory (base rate plus 5 percentage points towards consumers, plus 9 percentage points towards businesses, § 288 BGB; what counts is the ‘Private customer’ setting on the invoice recipient) or your own fixed annual rate.
- Start of default: after the due date (interest from the day after), after the 30-day rule (31 days after the later of due date and invoice date; the invoice date is deemed receipt) or after a dunning level of your choice has been sent (from the day after sending).
- Dunning fee per level: amount for level 1 to 5, default 0. A fee only applies to levels that were actually sent, once per level. Above €5 per level, the page points out that it should only cover actual costs.
- Flat late-payment fee of €40 (§ 288 (5) BGB): only towards businesses, only in euros, once per invoice and only once a level has been sent.
The settings are versioned like the rest of the billing data and apply to everyone immediately.
Maintain the base rate
The statutory interest rate needs the base rate of the Deutsche Bundesbank (§ 247 BGB). It changes on 1 January and 1 July. Under the settings there is a table:
- Opening balance 01.01.2016 to 01.07.2026 from the table of the Deutsche Bundesbank, retrieved on 13.10.2026 (most recently 1.52 % from 01.07.2026, Bundesbank announcement of 1 July 2026). All values in this period are documented; there are no missing values.
- Enter a new value: choose the half-year, enter the rate in percent (also negative, e.g. −0.88) and the source, then Add. Changes are appended as a new version, and the old one stays in the history. You need the permission for the billing data for this.
- If the value for today is missing, the page shows a warning, and no statutory interest is calculated. Recording interest fails with the same message. If values are missing in the past, the Missing values appear with their date in the table; interest over these periods can only be calculated once they have been filled in. Fees are not affected.
A fixed own interest rate does not need the table.
How it is calculated
- Interest basis is the invoice’s open principal claim (gross). Fees, flat rates and interest already charged are never charged interest.
- Days/365: Each day from the start of default up to the cut-off date counts as one day, the cut-off date itself does not. The annual basis is always 365 days, also in a leap year. A full leap year (366 days) therefore yields 366/365 of the annual interest; 29 February is an ordinary day.
- Rate change: If the base rate changes during the period, the calculation is done per section. Part payments reduce the interest basis from the day of payment; on full settlement the day of payment no longer bears interest. Credit notes and refunds work in the same way.
- Rounding to whole cents, commercially, per section (same principal claim and same rate). The sum of the sections is the amount.
- Interest is always due only from the last recorded interest period; the same day is never charged twice.
Record in the invoice
In the invoice, the Interest and fees card shows the state of the claim: principal claim, recorded open interest, recorded open fees, total claim. Below it is what has accrued up to today (‘Interest accrues on …, not yet recorded’).
- Calculate and record interest and fees … (‘Record payments’ permission) opens the preview with period, sections and rates. You choose what is recorded and can add a note.
- Record creates an unchangeable line item for each selection and posts it. If the calculation has changed since you viewed it (new payment, different day, changed rate), nothing is recorded and you check again.
- Void (with a reason) takes a line item out of the claim again. It remains visible, and a reversal entry is made in the journal. A line item against which a payment has already been offset can only be voided after that payment has been voided. After the void, the period’s interest can be recorded again.
Line items are only appended, never changed or deleted.
Posting and accounts
Recorded interest and fees are posted in the journal as soon as bookkeeping is running: Receivables to interest income or Receivables to fee income, on the day of recording and without VAT. Locked or closed months and missing accounts cause recording to be rejected entirely; the message gives the reason. The reversal entry on a void follows the same rules.
There are two mappings for this under Settings → Accounts and mapping: Interest income account (late-payment interest) and Income account for dunning fees and late-payment flat fees. The templates suggest:
| Template | Interest income | Fees and flat rates |
|---|---|---|
| SKR03 | 2650 Other interest and similar income | 2700 Other operating income |
| SKR04 | 7100 Other interest and similar income | 4830 Other operating income |
These are suggestions; your tax advisor confirms the accounts. For existing organisations, Apply template adds the missing accounts and mappings without overwriting anything.
By the usual classification, late-payment interest is not a fee subject to VAT (damages), and dunning fees and flat rates are often treated in the same way. This is only a note; you clarify the classification with your tax advisor.
Offset payments
Under § 367 BGB, a payment is offset first against recorded costs (fees, flat rate), then against interest, and the rest reduces the principal claim. This happens when the payment is recorded (by hand and via the bank) and only against items already recorded and open. Interest that you only record later does not change earlier payments. Reversing a payment undoes the offset.
In the journal the payment remains a single entry (bank to receivables); the split is shown in the invoice.
Effect on claim and dunning run
Recorded interest and fees are a separate claim item. They do not enter the invoice’s open-items total, the overview metrics or the due date of the dunning levels. The principal claim continues to be calculated as before; only the part of a payment that was offset against interest and costs does not count towards the principal claim. Invoices without interest and fees behave unchanged.
Consequences:
- A paid principal claim ends the reminders, even if interest is open. The invoice continues to show the open interest and fees; you record payments on them in the invoice as usual.
- Dunning continues to list invoices with an open principal claim and additionally shows the recorded interest and fees there in the ‘Open’ column.
In reminders and dunning notices
The placeholders {{zinsen}}, {{gebuehr}} and {{gesamtforderung}} show only amounts already recorded and still open (otherwise €0.00). The default texts do not mention interest and fees. Automatic sending never records anything itself: if you want to mention interest and fees in the text, record them in the invoice before sending. What is merely accruing appears only in the invoice preview, never in an email. For existing levels with their own text, everything stays as before as long as you do not use any of the placeholders.