Frequently asked questions

You must meet a number of conditions to collect your unpaid invoices via the Unpaid platform. This is because the Unpaid procedure is based on the IOS legislation, which lays down a number of legal conditions, as follows:
 

1. Both you and your debtor must have a valid company number, which means that only B2B invoices are eligible. Moreover, the debtor can only have a Belgian company number. The system will ask you to provide the company numbers. At that moment, we will check whether everything is in order.
    
2. The debtor has not disputed the invoice. As soon as the debtor disputes your invoice, the invoice is considered to be in dispute.
    
3. The debtor is not bankrupt or in a judicial organisation. In other words, the debtor does not enjoy any protection against creditors.
    
4. The invoice may not be time-barred. Are you aware of the limitation periods? No problem, the system automatically checks that, too. So, it is perfectly possible to submit older unpaid invoices for collection.
    

The size of the amount invoiced is irrelevant. We regularly receive files for which the amount claimed is less than €50. After all, you have earned it.

Unpaid can only be used to collect debts from Belgian companies. In other words, it can be used by Belgian companies that have unpaid invoices in Belgium, but also by foreign companies that want to have debts collected from Belgian companies. This is currently possible for companies from the Netherlands, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Austria.

Hier is de Engelse versie met undisputed:

ENGLISH

What are undisputed invoices?

An undisputed invoice is an invoice your client has not protested.

No protest means your client has not challenged the invoice on its merits. Not in writing, not verbally. They simply do not pay, without giving a valid reason.

What counts as a dispute?

A dispute is any reaction in which your client challenges the invoice on its merits. For example: they disagree with the amount, the work delivered, or the agreed terms.

Important: a dispute can be made in writing or verbally. It does not have to be justified, and it does not have to follow your general terms and conditions.

In other words: even if your terms state that a client may only protest within 8 days and only by registered letter, a protest outside those rules still counts as a dispute. A phone call or an email is enough.

And a partial dispute?

If your client disputes only part of the invoice, the rest remains undisputed. If that part has been corrected, for example through a credit note, the remaining amount can still be recovered through the IOS procedure.

Not sure whether your situation counts as a dispute? Get in touch with us and we can help you assess it, and where possible guide you through submitting a case.

If the invoice in its entirety has been contested, you cannot use this platform and you will need to consult a lawyer to seek recovery through the courts. A judge must then decide whether or not the protest is justified.

Click here to have a lawyer contact you to discuss this, at no obligation.

If your customer has protested against a part of the invoice and you have accepted and rectified this by means of a credit note, the non-protested part can be considered as an undisputed invoice. Suppose you have sent an invoice in the amount of 1,500 euros. Following the customer's objections, you agree to reduce the amount to € 1,000 and you send a credit note for € 500. If the customer still does not pay the outstanding balance of € 1,000, you can collect this through Unpaid.be

Yes, we will check fully automatically if you can still collect your payment. All you have to do is enter the data and our system will let you know immediately whether or not the statute of limitations has expired on the invoice.

No, you can only use this efficient procedure for invoices issued to companies, but not to consumers or the government. If you have unpaid invoices issued to consumers or the government, it is best to go through a lawyer.

Click here to have a lawyer contact you to discuss this, at no obligation.

We advise you to always include clear payment terms with your invoices. If your invoice does not contain payment terms, then you can invoke the Law on combating late payment in commercial transactions. If you have an unpaid and uncontested invoice, you are automatically entitled to fixed damages of €40.00 in addition to the principal.

Yes, you can use Unpaid to enforce overdue payments from a tenant. The conditions are the same as for any other unpaid invoice that you collect through the IOS procedure. It must concern a BTB debt (in other words: both you and your tenant have a company number), there must be no dispute about the debt and the tenant must have a Belgian company number.

Absolutely. It would be difficult to start legal proceedings for an invoice of under € 100.00. But thanks to this procedure, you can still quickly recover your outstanding invoice at your customer’s expense.

You can. There is room to add your own code of maximum 20 characters. This code will be included in all communication regarding that file. This will make it easy for you to determine internally which file it concerns. Moreover, on our customer platform you can also search by this code, allowing you to quickly find any claim you want.