A freelance developer working with business clients will, sooner or later, end up with an invoice that drags on. The most common reflex is to wait, out of fear of straining a working relationship or simply for lack of time to deal with what feels like a side task. That very delay is what lowers the odds of getting paid: the longer an invoice goes unchased, the further it slides down a client’s list of payment priorities. A structured approach, applied as soon as the due date passes, changes the outcome noticeably.
Why late payments hit independent web developers especially hard
A freelance developer typically invoices at the end of a project or by milestone, with no dedicated accounting team tracking collections. Business clients, meanwhile, juggle dozens of suppliers and naturally prioritize based on the pressure applied. A loosely worded contract on payment terms, or an invoice sent late, only makes the risk worse. A late payment is not always a sign of bad faith: it often simply reflects poor tracking on both sides.
The legal framework: deadlines, interest and the flat recovery fee
Under French commercial law, when no deadline is specified in the contract, payment is due 30 days after the service is delivered. A longer contractual deadline is allowed, but it can never exceed 60 days from the invoice date, or 45 days from the end of the month. Once the due date passes, the amount owed is automatically increased by late-payment interest, with no formal notice required to trigger it: absent a rate specified in the terms of sale, that rate equals three times the statutory interest rate, a floor of roughly 8% since summer 2026.
On top of that interest, a flat recovery indemnity of 40 euros per invoice is owed automatically between businesses as soon as the payment date is missed, with no need to justify the amount. Repeated breaches of these rules expose the debtor company to an administrative fine of up to 75,000 euros for an individual and 2 million euros for a legal entity.
The 40-euro flat fee and late-payment interest are due automatically, even without a formal notice. Mentioning them in a reminder tells the client there is already a legal cost attached to the delay, independent of any procedure.
A four-stage chasing method
An effective chase progresses in stages, with a tone that firms up as the delay grows. Opening with a threatening tone right away burns through negotiating room; waiting too long before the first reminder sends the opposite signal, that the invoice carries no urgency.
| Stage | Delay after due date | Channel | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Friendly reminder | Day 3 to 7 | Email, copying the operational contact | Neutral, assumes an oversight |
| 2. Firm follow-up | Day 15 | Email with read receipt, then a call | Direct, cites the contractual due date |
| 3. Final warning before formal notice | Day 25 to 30 | Formal email, mentions interest and the 40€ fee | Factual, announces the formal notice ahead |
| 4. Formal notice (mise en demeure) | Day 30 to 45 | Registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt | Legal, sets a remediation deadline (often 8 days) |
Writing a reminder that gets a response
An effective reminder fits in a few lines: the invoice number, the amount, the due date that has passed, and a direct question about what’s holding payment up. Overly cautious wording, which buries the payment request under apologies, delays a reply rather than speeding it up. A reminder can still stay courteous while being explicit that the contractual deadline has passed.
Attaching the invoice every time removes the classic excuse of a misplaced bill. For recurring work, an invoicing tool that automates this first stage takes a real chunk of the mental load of tracking off the table.
A business that waits more than thirty days before its first reminder has already lost most of the deterrent effect: past that point, the invoice becomes a cash-flow adjustment variable for the client, not an urgent matter.
When and how to send a formal notice
A formal notice (mise en demeure) is a mandatory step before any legal action. It takes the form of a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, restating the facts, the amount owed including interest and the flat fee, and setting a reasonable remediation deadline, usually eight days. This letter carries evidentiary weight: it marks the certain date from which the debtor can no longer claim ignorance of the debt, and it unlocks the judicial procedures that follow.
Remedies if the formal notice goes unanswered
Once the deadline set in the formal notice passes, several paths open up. The payment order (injonction de payer) is the most commonly used procedure by independents: fast, inexpensive, it requires neither a lawyer nor a contradictory hearing, and it concludes within a few weeks when the debt is undisputed and backed by a contract or invoices. For debts under 5,000 euros, a simplified recovery procedure run by a court bailiff (commissaire de justice) can produce an enforceable title without going before a judge, provided the debtor does not contest it. Between businesses, the statute of limitations to act is five years, which leaves real room to maneuver but is no reason to delay action.
Preventing unpaid invoices upstream
The best reminder is the one never written. A deposit of 30 to 50% at signing, terms of sale that explicitly state the payment deadline and the applicable penalty rate, milestone invoicing rather than one lump sum at the end, and an automatic reminder a few days before each due date mechanically cut the number of files that drift into non-payment. The shift toward mandatory e-invoicing also helps this tracking, since invoices now travel through a traceable channel rather than an inbox where they easily get lost.
The takeaway
Handling an unpaid invoice works best on a calendar set in advance rather than a case-by-case decision made in frustration. A first reminder within the week after the due date, a tone that firms up in stages, a formal notice around day 30 to 45, then a payment order or simplified procedure if dialogue fails: this framework protects both cash flow and the business relationship, avoiding the two symmetrical pitfalls of chasing too late and breaking off too soon.
For an independent, the hard part is almost never knowing the procedure: it’s the discomfort of asking someone you still work with for money. That discomfort is costly. Setting the rules in advance, in the contract and in the terms of sale, removes much of the emotional weight at reminder time: you’re applying a written rule, not negotiating a favor. And in cases where a client stalls without good reason after several reminders, the payment order is strongly underused by freelance developers, even though it costs little and works well for simple, well-documented debts. — Simon Janvier
Further reading: payment deadlines between businesses on economie.gouv.fr (French official source).
