Charging interest on late payment of invoices

A few months ago, I wrote out an invoice to a company. After two reminders, the bill was finally paid, but only 75%. Nonetheless, I would like to charge interest on the late payment, as was stated on my reminders. Does anyone know how much to charge? Also, I am filling out a Mahnbescheid for the unpaid portion and taking it to the Landesarbeitsgericht. It also asks for interest. Would the rate be more? If anyone has any experiences with these disputes and small claims, I would appreciate advice. Thanks in advance.

Whoa there! The Amtsgericht should be issuing your Mahnbescheid, the Landesarbeitsgericht is for appeals only, and the Arbeitsgericht only issues them in specific labor related cases. Is this a Mahnbescheid directed to a company, and is your company registered in Bavaria? Then you have to send the application to Amtsgericht Coburg - Mahnabteilung.

Here is the site for Bavarian applications: http://www.mahngericht-bayern.de/

You can ask for 5 % interest over the base interest rate (3.19% since 1 July 2007) or - if you can prove it - a higher interest rate, e.g. for an overdraft or a credit.
In your specific case you can claim the interest for the late payment as a Nebenforderung, just make sure that you can prove your damages should your case come to court.

Thank gourd for Sara!

You had my head spinning, alicetours.

Not sure how big the bill is or whether your client has a reputation for taking their own 'discount' this way ... hope it works out.

Thanks for the info, Sara. After seeking advice from the Landesarbeitsgericht, I was sent to the Amtsgericht in Munich. They were really helpful in filling out the Mahnbescheid. I sent it off to Coburg shortly afterwards. Any idea how long it will take to hear from them? Or what to expect to happen?

They have two weeks to object to the Mahnbescheid ... if they don´t the Amtsgericht will on your application issue an executable Vollstreckungsbescheid

and if they do object you will have to take a lawyer and sue them. At this point you should then weigh your options: additional costs for lawyer and court with an uncertain outcome or forgetting about that part of the bill for good. The judge at the local court will most likely try to get you and the other side into a "Vergleich", i.e. amicable settlement during the first hearing which usually means both sides pay their costs for the dispute and meet somewhere in the middle of the disputed amount. Unless it is a clear cut case for the judge in your favour (pls do not mistake that with your opinion of the case, which is certainly clear cut, but not necessarrily so for the judge since the other side will certainly explain that someof your work was not as contracted and thus need not to be paid etc. ) the courts are nowadays quite pissed of if you insist on a verdict after they propose an amicable settlement since this means a lot of work for them.

Therefore your basic decision if the debitor does object to the Mahnbescheid should be based on this:
- if you have a legal liability insurance covering you for disputes like this, get in contact with them and see if they will cover/finance this disput (which they will only do if there is legally at least a theoritcal chance of winning the disput at court). When they agree, go ahead and sue... good luck
- if you do not have a legal liability insurance you need to check, if the costs for lawyer and court will be worth close to or even more than half of the bill. Should that be the case, forget about it and don't throw good money after lost money. Only if the missing amount far exceed potential costs from legal representation and courts should you go ahead...

Cheerio