![\"Palace](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/BE-PalaceJustice_crop_dan-asaki-tYs_F1Vqh90-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe state doesn\u2019t always lead by example<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A contract signed with apublic body<\/strong>can have nasty surprises in store, as the government doesn\u2019t always set a good example when it comes topayment deadlines<\/strong>. Indeed, many are the freelancers, SMEs and larger firms who could testify bitterly tolate payment<\/strong>problems which they\u2019ve suffered at the state\u2019s hands. In 2017, one in three invoices (33%) was settled late by Belgium\u2019s federal public services (FPS), and the FPS Justice is the worst offender in this regard, failing to pay two out of three invoices on time. So this is far from being an exceptional or isolated phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thesepayment delays<\/strong>often cause cash flow problems for the individuals or businesses concerned, which are sometimes unable to settle their owndebts<\/strong>or obligations (VAT, corporation tax, etc.). They are also forced to spend time and money trying to recover what\u2019s owed to them. What\u2019s more, these late payments also have consequences for the budgets of thegovernment bodies<\/strong>themselves. In 2017, for instance, Belgium\u2019s public bodies paid out a total of 6 million euros inpenalty interest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Generally speaking, winningcommercial contracts with government bodies<\/strong>offers you a certainguarantee<\/strong>of being paid, but unfortunately the payment periods are often much longer than in the private sector. Basically though, acontract signed with a government body<\/strong>is still justa standard commercial contract<\/strong>, subject to the samelaw on combating late payment in business transactions<\/a>(imposed by the EU despite reservations expressed by both Belgium and Portugal, applicable since August 2002 and including exceptions for public bodies). This law stipulates damages and interest in the event of late payment, but there\u2019s nothing to prevent you strengthening your own protection againstnon-payment risks<\/strong>andpayment delays<\/strong>. As with any other client, you can draw up a solid contract and includecontractual clauses<\/a>that guarantee you a degree of protection as acreditor<\/strong>. Given that one of the key rules forreducing non-payment<\/a>risks is to firstresearch your debtor<\/strong>, and since it\u2019s public knowledge that official institutions tend to pay their invoices late, it\u2019s crucial that you anticipate and make provision for this eventuality. The advantage of having a contract with a Belgian public body is that in most cases, the risk of insolvency is virtually non-existent. You will be paid late, but you will be paid in the end, normally with damages and interest on top. Would you like to know whatTCM<\/strong>could do for you regarding apublic debt<\/strong>? We are here to help, so don\u2019t hesitate tocontact<\/a>us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might be surprised by this, butlate payment<\/strong>of debts bypublic bodies<\/strong>is actually fairly common. The government all too often slips into the role ofbad payer<\/strong>andrecovering a debt<\/a>from the state can be complicated for acreditor<\/strong>due to the reams of red tape typically intertwined with these institutional bodies.TCM<\/a>offers you a short guide to one of the more unexpected aspects of debt recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n A contract signed with apublic body<\/strong>can have nasty surprises in store, as the government doesn\u2019t always set a good example when it comes topayment deadlines<\/strong>. Indeed, many are the freelancers, SMEs and larger firms who could testify bitterly tolate payment<\/strong>problems which they\u2019ve suffered at the state\u2019s hands. In 2017, one in three invoices (33%) was settled late by Belgium\u2019s federal public services (FPS), and the FPS Justice is the worst offender in this regard, failing to pay two out of three invoices on time. So this is far from being an exceptional or isolated phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thesepayment delays<\/strong>often cause cash flow problems for the individuals or businesses concerned, which are sometimes unable to settle their owndebts<\/strong>or obligations (VAT, corporation tax, etc.). They are also forced to spend time and money trying to recover what\u2019s owed to them. What\u2019s more, these late payments also have consequences for the budgets of thegovernment bodies<\/strong>themselves. In 2017, for instance, Belgium\u2019s public bodies paid out a total of 6 million euros inpenalty interest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Generally speaking, winningcommercial contracts with government bodies<\/strong>offers you a certainguarantee<\/strong>of being paid, but unfortunately the payment periods are often much longer than in the private sector. Basically though, acontract signed with a government body<\/strong>is still justa standard commercial contract<\/strong>, subject to the samelaw on combating late payment in business transactions<\/a>(imposed by the EU despite reservations expressed by both Belgium and Portugal, applicable since August 2002 and including exceptions for public bodies). This law stipulates damages and interest in the event of late payment, but there\u2019s nothing to prevent you strengthening your own protection againstnon-payment risks<\/strong>andpayment delays<\/strong>. As with any other client, you can draw up a solid contract and includecontractual clauses<\/a>that guarantee you a degree of protection as acreditor<\/strong>. Given that one of the key rules forreducing non-payment<\/a>risks is to firstresearch your debtor<\/strong>, and since it\u2019s public knowledge that official institutions tend to pay their invoices late, it\u2019s crucial that you anticipate and make provision for this eventuality. The advantage of having a contract with a Belgian public body is that in most cases, the risk of insolvency is virtually non-existent. You will be paid late, but you will be paid in the end, normally with damages and interest on top. Would you like to know whatTCM<\/strong>could do for you regarding apublic debt<\/strong>? We are here to help, so don\u2019t hesitate tocontact<\/a>us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Public debt: what to do when the government owes you money You might be surprised by this, butlate paymentof debts bypublic bodiesis actually fairly common. The government all too often slips into the role ofbad payerandrecovering a debtfrom the state can be complicated for acreditordue to the reams of red tape typically intertwined with these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72188,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71107\/revisions\/72188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The consequences of these late payments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Just like any other contract<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPublic debt: what to do when the government owes you money<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe state doesn\u2019t always lead by example<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The consequences of these late payments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Just like any other contract<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"