Due date - everything you need to know

Every single day, Danish businesses send thousands of invoices, and fortunately, the vast majority are paid on time, and thus before or on the due date. At Collectia, we have created our own financial blog about debt collection, finance and accounting, and this time we will take a closer look at the due date of an invoice and why it is important to know as an important cut-off date for debt collection.

Why is the due date important to know everything about?

When you send an invoice as a self-employed person or accountant, you often fill it in with all the relevant information that the Accounting Act requires you to: your contact details, your customer's contact details, payment details and when the invoice is due. This date is referred to as the due date and is essential to know when dealing with finance, debt collection and accounting.

Not all invoices state a specific date, but may for example state "current month + 30 days" and the like. Therefore, some accounting programs also call the due date the due date.

In other words, the due date is the date on which an invoice is due for payment, hence the name. In other words, the date on which the creditor wants a claim, such as an invoice, paid at the latest. If this does not happen, the creditor has the option of, for example, debt collection, and the associated sending of reminders, debt collection notices and similar measures against debt collection.

Due date and payment date

Many people mistakenly believe that due date and payment date are the same. However, the theoretical definition of the two are different. Where the due date is the day a claim is due and thus, from the creditor's point of view, expected to be paid, the payment date is the day the payment is actually made by the customer.

However, many accounting programs, and thus invoices, use the words due date and payment date to refer to one and the same thing: the date of a payment. However, this is not entirely correct, although in principle the due date and the payment date can be the same if the customer chooses to actually pay on the due date.

Due date and collection

If you experience that a customer does not pay a claim, for example an invoice claim, you always have the option of debt collection, for example through a debt collection company or a lawyer specializing in debt collection.

To start a debt collection process, the due date must have passed, in other words, you must have experienced that payment is not made and that the amount does not appear in your account within one day after the due date. As a creditor, you may NEVER initiate debt collection before the due date has passed, and in other words, under no circumstances may you send reminders, debt collection notices and similar debt collection measures before the due date has passed.