How to calculate the penalty

Quite often, in modern conditions, when concluding an agreement, the parties prescribe responsibility for non-fulfillment of the agreement within a certain period in the form of a forfeit. This is quite convenient, as it encourages the debtor to quickly repay the debt, as the amount increases every day.

Instruction manual

1

So, the penalty is one of the ways to ensure the fulfillment of the obligations prescribed in the contract. The penalty is of two types: in a fixed amount and in the form of a penalty. The first type of penalty is usually defined in the contract as follows: "in the event that one of the parties does not fulfill its obligations stipulated in a certain clause of the contract, the guilty party must pay the other party a penalty in the amount of … (and a certain amount of money is prescribed)." There are no problems with the calculation. The main thing is to remember that the right to recover a penalty exists only until the repayment of the main debt. Simply put, as soon as the debtor returned the debt to you, you lose the right to demand payment of the penalty from him if you did not declare your desire to receive the penalty before paying the principal amount of the debt.

2

The second type of forfeit is interest. As a rule, it is made out as a percentage of the amount of an unfulfilled obligation for each day (week or month) of delay in performance. Therefore, in order to calculate its size, you must first determine the amount of debt. It is not difficult in such a relationship, when the contract is one deal. If the agreement is long-term (say, for a year), and independent transactions are periodically carried out under this agreement (for example, delivery of goods), then the amount of debt will be the sum of all unpaid transactions.

3

At the next stage, we determine the period of delay in the fulfillment of the obligation. The deadline is determined on the date of the claim. If we are talking about several transactions under one contract, then we consider the delay for each transaction. Consider the example of a supply contract. We take unpaid invoices. We look at the clause of the payment agreement. For example, it is 7 days. We count seven days on each invoice. The eighth day will be the first day of delay in fulfilling the obligation to pay for delivery.

4

Having determined the duration of the delay on each invoice, we take the amount of the unpaid invoice and multiply it by the percentage of the penalty stipulated in the contract and the number of days of delay. The sum of all the data received will be the sum of the penalty.

5

Please note that the penalty is calculated on the date of payment of the debt. Therefore, if you went to court, indicating in the lawsuit the calculation of penalties on the date the lawsuit was filed, then recount the amount. For example, if you went to court on March 3, and the defendant made the payment only on August 8, then for this entire period you have the right to demand payment of a penalty.

note

The penalty clause must be specified in the contract. If there is no clause on the forfeit in the contract, and you agreed on it verbally, you will not be able to get the forfeit through the court unless you submit a recording of your conversation to the recorder. The fact is that if you do not fulfill the requirement of the law on the mandatory written form of the agreement on the penalty, you lose the opportunity to use written evidence in court later.