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Final letter before legal action for an unpaid invoice (Ireland)
Ireland · in English · for creditors
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For a business in Ireland owed money by another business or a public body on an unpaid invoice. The letter sets out the debt, claims late payment interest at the ECB rate plus eight points and the fixed compensation of €40, €70 or €100 under S.I. No. 580 of 2012, gives 14 days to pay or dispute, and says that otherwise you will issue court proceedings without further notice. The Small Claims procedure does not take unpaid invoices. Send it by registered post (An Post) and by email.
- Made for use in Ireland
- Last updated November 3, 2026
- Document in English
Published byDocMuse
When to use this document
- A business customer in Ireland has ignored your invoice for weeks.
- A company you supplied keeps promising to pay and never does.
- Your reminders about an overdue invoice got no answer and you want late payment interest too.
- You want a final demand to a customer before taking them to court in Ireland.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Sender
- Your business's name
- Sender's address
- Town and county (e.g. Ennis, Co. Clare; or Dublin 8)
- Sender's Eircode
- Date
- Customer
- Customer's address
- Invoice number
- Goods or services supplied
- Amount due
- Due date
- Late-payment interest to date
- Compensation for recovery costs (blank if you do not claim it)
- Total amount
- IBAN
- Attachments
Common questions
- How is late payment interest on a business invoice worked out in Ireland?
- Take the European Central Bank's main refinancing rate on 1 January (for debts due in January to June) or on 1 July (July to December) and add eight points: 10.15% a year for the first half of 2026, 10.4% from 1 July 2026. Divide by 365 for the daily rate and multiply by the amount and the days late. The Department of Enterprise publishes each rate on enterprise.gov.ie. A contract may set its own rate instead.
- When can a business claim the €40, €70 or €100 compensation?
- Once late payment interest is due under the Regulations, it may also claim a fixed sum for its recovery costs: €40 where the late amount is €1,000 or less, €70 where it is over €1,000 and up to €10,000, and €100 above that (regulation 9 of S.I. No. 580 of 2012). It applies between businesses and to public bodies paying businesses, never to consumers. It is due on top of the interest, and you need not show what your recovery actually cost. Leave the line blank if you do not claim it.
- Can I use the Small Claims procedure for an unpaid invoice?
- No. The Small Claims procedure does not take debts such as unpaid invoices. An unpaid invoice is claimed by ordinary court proceedings, in the District Court for up to €15,000 and in a higher court above that. You generally have six years from when payment fell due (section 11 of the Statute of Limitations 1957). Keep proof that this letter was sent and received, and any reply.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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