Debt Recovery 2026: Interest, Compensation, and the Procedure

An overdue invoice is more than a nuisance for a small business or a self-employed person. When a customer owes you tens of thousands, it can threaten your own payments to suppliers, insurance advances, and wages. The good news: the law is on your side. You have an automatic entitlement to default interest, in B2B deals additionally to a flat cost compensation of 1,200 Kč, and with the right procedure also to reimbursement of court costs. In this article, we'll go through the entire recovery procedure step by step, with the current figures for 2026.

When the Debtor Is in Default

The debtor falls into default on the day following the invoice's due date. If you did not expressly agree a due date, then under § 1963 of the Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012 Coll.) a statutory period of 30 days from delivery of the invoice or receipt of the performance applies. We covered the due date rules in detail in the article Invoice Due Dates: What the Law Says.

From the first day of default, you are automatically entitled to default interest. You don't need it in the contract or on the invoice – it flows directly from the law.

Statutory Default Interest in 2026

The amount of statutory default interest is set by Government Regulation No. 351/2013 Coll.: annually, it equals the ČNB repo rate valid on the first day of the calendar half-year in which the default occurred, increased by 8 percentage points.

The ČNB repo rate stood at 3.50 % as of 1 January 2026. On 19 June 2026, the bank board raised it to 3.75 %, so that value applies as of 1 July 2026.

Flat Compensation of 1,200 Kč for Every Receivable

A less-known tool: for obligations between businesses (and for supplies to a public contracting authority), under § 3 of Government Regulation No. 351/2013 Coll. you're entitled to a minimum compensation of costs connected with asserting the receivable of 1,200 Kč – and that's for each receivable separately.

In practice this means:

• The entitlement arises simply because the debtor is in default. You don't have to prove any actual costs.
• If a customer owes you three invoices, you can claim 3 × 1,200 Kč.
• The compensation applies only to B2B relationships; it cannot be claimed against consumers.

If you incurred higher actual costs (for example for a lawyer), the flat amount is offset against them.

The Recovery Procedure Step by Step

The Pre-Action Notice: Without It, You Lose Cost Reimbursement

The pre-action notice is not just a formality. Under § 142a of the Civil Procedure Code, a claimant who succeeded in proceedings on the fulfilment of an obligation is entitled to reimbursement of the costs of proceedings only if, at least 7 days before filing the lawsuit, they sent the defendant a demand for performance to the address for service, or to the last known address.

If you don't send the notice, the court may award you the principal and interest, but you'll get reimbursement of the costs of proceedings (court fee, lawyer's fee) only exceptionally, for reasons deserving special consideration. For a claim worth tens of thousands of korunas, a single unsent letter can thus mean losing thousands.

How to Prevent Non-Payers

The cheapest recovery is the one that never happens. Proven principles:

• Vet your customers in advance. Look them up in public registers; with new clients, agree an advance payment for larger jobs.
• Invoice immediately upon delivery. Every day of invoicing delay shifts the due date and worsens your cash flow.
• Keep due dates under control. An overview of issued invoices and their statuses lets you react on the first day after the due date, not a month later.
• Send reminders systematically. A fixed rhythm (reminder, demand, pre-action notice) comes across as professional, and debtors respect it more than random phone calls.
• Shorten payment terms for problem clients or switch to payment in advance. In B2B, the law gives you contractual freedom.

Is It Worth Recovering a Small Receivable?

A common dilemma: is it worth going to court over 8,000 Kč? Thanks to the payment order and the reimbursement of costs, often yes – provided the debtor has assets and you followed the procedure (a verifiable pre-action notice, provable delivery). For an unrecoverable claim against a debtor in insolvency, on the other hand, it's better to invest the time in prevention and handle the receivable for tax purposes as a bad debt.

In any case: the sooner you start, the higher the chance of payment. Statistically, the recoverability of a claim drops noticeably with every month of default, because a non-paying customer usually owes several creditors at once.

Conclusion

After the June increase in the ČNB repo rate, 2026 also brought higher statutory default interest: 11.75 % per year for defaults arising from 1 July. Together with the flat compensation of 1,200 Kč for every B2B receivable, you have tools in hand that make late payment an expensive affair for the debtor. The key, though, is order in your records: knowing on day one which invoice has fallen overdue, and acting.