Israeli Client Payment Chaser

Instructions

Step 1: Establish the Statutory Payment Deadline

Before chasing anything, fix the date the payment became legally late. This is governed by the Payment Ethics to Suppliers Law, 5777-2017 (חוק מוסר תשלומים לספקים, תשע"ז-2017).

• Default term when no payment term was agreed: 45 days. For a private business the clock runs from the end of the month in which the invoice was submitted; for state bodies the term is within 45 days and not later than shotef+30 (current month plus 30 days); local authorities pay within 45 days from the end of the month the invoice was issued. Engineering and construction contracts have longer caps (up to 85 days from submission, or 70 days from month-end). A 2024 amendment gives small contractors on sub-75,000 NIS public-sector contracts a 30-day term.
• An agreed contractual term overrides the default, but the law caps how far it can be pushed out.
• Once the statutory (or agreed) due date passes, the debt is legally late: linkage and interest attach automatically, with no need for the creditor to "declare" lateness.
• Late-payment interest (dmei pigurim / ribit pigurim) under this law accrues from the due date at the Accountant General's rate. Do NOT quote a self-invented percentage in a reminder or demand letter. State that statutory late-payment interest applies from the due date and that the exact rate is the current Accountant General rate, or have the user confirm the rate with their accountant. See references/legal-escalation.md.

This statutory deadline, not a generic net-30/60/90 assumption, is what the aging buckets in Step 2 should be measured against.

Step 2: Import/Track Invoice Aging

Import outstanding invoices (from israeli-e-invoice output, if available, or manual entry) and categorize by aging buckets: