Minnesota late fee calculator

No. Minn. Stat. section 334.022 says no limit on interest applies to an extension of credit to an organization. The statute's definition of organization includes a limited liability company, a corporation, a partnership, and an association. A written 1.5 percent a month on an invoice to that LLC is not cut down to 8 percent by section 334.01. Keep the rate in the contract. If you are not sure the client is actually an LLC and not a person using a trade name, check the filing before you rely on the exemption. A trade name is not an organization.

Six percent a year. Section 334.01 says interest for any legal indebtedness is 6 percent unless a different rate is contracted for in writing. The 8 percent sentence in that section is a ceiling on what you may take, not a rate you receive for free. A silent invoice does not become 8 percent, and it does not become 1.5 percent a month. Calculate 6 percent simple interest from the time the money is due. Then fix the next contract so you are not back here.

Often no. A sole proprietor is not an organization under section 334.022, so the 8 percent cap in section 334.01 can apply. 1.5 percent a month is 18 percent a year, which is over that cap. A business or agricultural loan under $100,000 may instead use the formula in section 334.011, which is 4.5 percent over the discount rate on 90 day commercial paper. That formula is not automatically 18 percent. If the written credit is $100,000 or more, subdivision 2 of section 334.01 can remove the cap. Below that, do not assume 1.5 percent survives.

Twenty thousand dollars. Minn. Stat. section 491A.01, subdivision 3a, gives conciliation court jurisdiction up to $20,000. The same subdivision caps a consumer credit transaction at $4,000. A business invoice is not that consumer credit transaction, which requires a natural person buying personal property for household use. Older pages still say $15,000 because that was the limit before August 1, 2024. The 2026 session notes on this chapter amended a different subdivision, not this dollar amount. If you are over $20,000, file in district court.

Six years. Section 541.05 covers actions on a contract and gives you six years after the cause of action accrues. On an unpaid invoice that is usually the breach, meaning the missed due date. Do not wait until year six to gather the emails. A written acknowledgment or a partial payment can matter, and it can also restart arguments you did not intend. Six years is the outside number, not a suggestion to go quiet. If the debt was an open account rather than a single invoice, ask someone to confirm when the clock started.

No, not on a contract that already carried interest. Section 334.01 says a provision that increases the rate after maturity works a forfeiture of the entire interest. The same section says that penalty does not apply to a note that bore no interest before maturity, and it does not apply to an extension agreement in the same way. Raising 0 percent to 1.5 percent after the due date is still a bad fact, because you did not contract for it in writing at the start. Forfeit language is not theoretical. Draft one rate and leave it alone.

Not as a general matter. Section 334.01 says interest shall not be compounded. A contract to pay interest, that is itself not usurious, upon interest that is overdue is not automatically usury. That is a narrow sentence, not permission to compound 1.5 percent every month on a freelance invoice. This calculator uses simple interest for that reason. If your terms say the fee compounds, have a Minnesota lawyer read section 334.01 against those terms before you send the number. A compounded 1.5 percent is an easy statute to trip.

Not one that sets your freelance late fee. Section 471.425 is about municipalities and other local governments. State agencies have their own payment timing rules. Those statutes can matter if your client is a city or a public body. They do not make a private company pay in 30 days or add a statutory percent on top of your invoice. For a private client, you are back to the contract, section 334.01, and section 334.022 if they are an organization. Do not cite the municipal statute in a demand to a design studio.

Answer with the entity and the statute, not with a speech about fairness. If they are an LLC or corporation, point at section 334.022 and at the sentence in your terms that stated the rate. If they are an individual, check whether you are inside 8 percent, inside the section 334.011 formula, or inside the $100,000 exemption. If you are over the line that applies to them, reduce the fee. A usury fight can cost the interest, and section 334.01's forfeiture language is worse than a discount. Being right about the entity is the whole case.