As of July 1, 2022, a new Dutch law has come into effect that shortens the legal payment terms of large companies to SMEs from 60 days to 30 days. This is in response to an earlier survey conducted by SME companies. This survey revealed that large companies are increasingly late in paying SMEs.
Late payments
SMEs have a large interest in this law, because late payments can be catastrophic for them. Liquidity of SMEs is very fragile and easily put under pressure when large companies pay late. The aim of the new law is to support SMEs and to remedy these problems. The current law allows large companies and SMEs to use a standard payment term of 30 days, but they may also agree contractually on an extension of up to 60 days. In practice, large companies even extend the deadline to 90 or even 120 days if there are signs of economically challenging times.
The new bill uses 30 days as a maximum. Even if contractually agreed otherwise. These contractual agreements are then automatically null and void and the amount can be claimed by the SME within 30 days. Lawyer Vivy Kamsteeg, of Bierens Lawyers, says "Large companies often use long payment terms to put pressure on small businesses. With this change in the law, SMEs are protected from this pressure". The Government believes that large companies have an exemplary role in the payment system and that putting pressure on them is a form of abuse of power.
SME-indicator & Paydex
It can be somewhat complicated to find out which companies fall under the SME legislation. You do not always have the data needed for this at hand. The SME indicator can be the solution. You can request this indicator from us. contact you can contact us and we'll identify all SME's in your database. This keeps your Paydex in order and keeps you from paying late.
The Paydex shows the payment habits of companies. This way, you can easily assess whether a company regularly pays on time. Now is the time to start monitoring the Paydex ® score van klanten. Hoe veranderd deze na het ingaan van de nieuwe wet? Een sterk veranderende score kan er op wijzen dat een bedrijf nog niet intern ingesteld is op de gewijzigde betaaltermijn. Laat- en wanbetalers wil je natuurlijk voorkomen. In onderstaande whitepaper lees je meer hierover en geven we tips.
White paper: Prevent late payers and defaulters: Protect your organization and get paid faster
