Micro-entreprise
The €40 Recovery Fee and the Late-Payment Line Every French Invoice Needs
Due date, penalty rate and the fixed €40 indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement: compulsory on every business invoice since 2013, missing from most freelance templates, and four lines of text once written.
28 Oct 2026 · 4 min read · By Sophie Kazandjian
Every invoice to a business client has to carry three payment mentions: the date payment is due, the late-payment penalty rate, and the fixed €40 indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement. The €40 line has been compulsory since 2013. It is the mention most often missing from the invoices English-speaking freelancers in France send, and it is four lines of text in a template, written once.
The three lines
The due date is simple: thirty days from issue is the norm, and the date goes on the invoice as a date rather than as "net 30".
The late-payment penalty rate cannot be lower than three times the French legal interest rate. If you state nothing, the law applies the European Central Bank's refinancing rate plus ten points. Penalties are due without a reminder being sent, and the invoice says so. The standard French form is "Pénalités de retard : trois fois le taux d'intérêt légal, exigibles sans rappel (art. L441-10 C. com.)".
The €40 is a fixed sum, due from a business client that pays late, on top of the penalties. It must be mentioned; you do not have to claim it. The form is "Indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement : 40 € (art. D441-5 C. com.)". If the actual cost of recovering the debt is higher, you can claim the real figure on evidence.
A fourth line sits with them: the terms of any discount for early payment, or the words "Escompte pour paiement anticipé : néant". It is one of the nineteen mandatory mentions in its own right.
In English as well
The French wording is the legal one and stays. Under it, the model invoice in the guide adds the same in English: late-payment penalties at three times the French legal interest rate, due without reminder; fixed recovery fee €40; no discount for early payment. A client in Bristol who has never seen a French invoice then knows what the lines are and does not phone to ask.
Does it apply when the client is abroad?
Yes. French invoicing rules follow a French-established business wherever its client is; the tax administration's own commentary says they apply to supplies deemed to take place outside the EU when the supplier is based in France. So an invoice to a UK, Irish or American company carries the same three lines as one to a company in Nîmes. Currency and language are free; the mentions are not.
Who checks
Two regimes. The tax-code fine for a missing mention is €15 per omission after a control, capped at a quarter of the invoice. The payment-terms mentions also have their own administrative fines under the commercial code, enforced by the DGCCRF, whose investigations are aimed at large late payers rather than sole traders. Neither is likely to reach a freelancer with a complete template. The practical value of the lines is different: on the rare occasion a client pays four months late, they are what let you charge for it.
Questions
- Do I have to charge the €40 when a client pays late?
No. The invoice must mention it; whether you claim it is your choice. Many freelancers mention it and never claim it. The mention is what the law requires.
- Do the payment mentions apply to invoices to private individuals?
The penalty rate and the €40 fee are rules for business-to-business invoices. An invoice to a private individual still needs the due date and the other mandatory mentions.
- What is the French legal interest rate?
It is set every six months and published by decree. The invoice does not have to state a figure, only the rule, which is why "three times the legal interest rate" is the usual wording.
The full guide · €19
Invoicing a UK client from France
Thirteen pages, with a bilingual model invoice in sterling to copy. Every figure sourced and dated.
Get the guide →Or all three guides with the URSSAF tracker and the deadlines calendar: Micro Admin 2026/27, €49.
Other questions
- Can a Micro-Entrepreneur in France Invoice a UK Client in Pounds and in English?
- Do I Have to Put EI After My Name as a Micro-Entrepreneur?
- Do I Have to Declare My Wise Account in France? Form 3916 for Micro-Entrepreneurs
- Paid in Pounds: Which Exchange Rate Goes on the URSSAF Declaration?
- Does UK Client Income Count Towards the French VAT Franchise Threshold?
- Invoicing a UK Client from France: Which VAT Line, and Why Autoliquidation Is Now Wrong
Everything answered so far, in one place. If your question is not there, email it to [email protected]; the ones that come up more than once get a page.