One in four Dutch invoices now paid late as payment discipline slips in 2025
Dutch companies paid their bills less punctually in 2025, marking the first deterioration in payment behavior since 2021, according to annual research by data firm Altares Dun & Bradstreet reported by Het Financieele Dagblad (FD).
One in four invoices is now not paid within the agreed timeframe. The share of late payments rose to 25.3 percent in 2025, up from 23.9 percent the previous year. The statutory payment term in the Netherlands is 30 days unless companies agree otherwise. While most payments are only slightly delayed, the proportion of invoices more than 90 days overdue remains low at 0.3 percent.
The sharpest decline was in hospitality, where 76 percent of invoices were paid on time, down from 85.7 percent in 2024. Barry de Goeij from Altares Dun & Bradstreet said there is no single clear explanation for the drop. He pointed to sustained inflation and rising costs as possible factors. Smaller companies faced increasing difficulty meeting payment deadlines. Although large corporations still tend to pay late more often in absolute terms, the gap between large and small firms narrowed.
Dutch firms still rank among Europe’s better payers overall, but their payment discipline declined relatively sharply in 2025. Only Ireland saw a steeper deterioration in payment behavior. At the severe end of late payments, Russia recorded the highest share of invoices more than 90 days overdue at 4.4 percent, followed by Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
