What Is Net 60? Payment Terms Explained

Net 60 means the full invoice amount is due within 60 days. Sixty is the number European and UK late-payment law treat as a boundary: between businesses, an agreed term of up to 60 days stands as written, and a longer one has to pass a fairness test. Net 60 sits exactly on that line, which is why the start date and the counting method matter more here than on a shorter term.

This guide sets out the 60-day rules in EU, UK, German and Spanish law, the limit on acceptance procedures that can push the start date back, what a business-day reading does to the term, and what two months of credit cost the seller.

How Net 60 is dated

On Net 60 the buyer pays the whole invoice, with no discount taken, by day 60. An invoice dated Wednesday, April 1, 2026 reaches that day on Sunday, May 31, 2026, so in the US, UK, German and Spanish calendars the first business day after it is Monday, June 1.

Sixty calendar days are 8 weeks and 4 days. They are not two months: two calendar months run from 59 to 62 days depending on which months they cover, so "60 days" and "two months" give different dates on most invoices. The Net 60 calculator dates the term from any invoice date.

A business-day reading crosses the line

Article 3(5) of Directive 2011/7/EU speaks of "60 calendar days", and the UK Late Payment Act of a "60-day period", so the line itself is drawn in calendar days. A contract that writes "60 business days" instead buys, on a Monday-to-Friday week, twelve working weeks: 84 days on the calendar counted from a working day, and never fewer than 82, before any public holiday is counted. Counted from April 1, 2026, the 60th business day is June 26 in the US calendar and in Spain's national calendar (86 calendar days), June 30 in the England and Wales calendar (90) and July 1 in Germany's nationwide calendar (91). Every one of those dates is past day 60, so a business-day Net 60 is a term over the limit, with the consequences below.

Net 60 and the 60-day rules

EU. Article 3(5) of Directive 2011/7/EU requires member states to ensure that a contractual payment period between businesses does not exceed 60 calendar days, unless otherwise expressly agreed in the contract and not grossly unfair to the creditor. Net 60 in calendar days is within that period. Article 12(3) lets member states keep or adopt rules more favourable to the creditor, so national law can be stricter than the Directive.

UK. Section 4(2E) of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998: where the purchaser is not a public authority and the last day of the relevant 60-day period falls earlier than the agreed payment day, statutory interest runs from the end of that 60-day period, unless the agreed day is not grossly unfair to the supplier (section 4(2F)). The 60-day period begins with the later of performance and notice of the amount, so an agreed day counted from a later date can fall after it.

Germany and Spain. § 271a of the German Civil Code (BGB) makes an agreement under which payment can be demanded only more than 60 days after receipt of the goods or services, or of the invoice, effective only if it is expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to the creditor. Spain's Ley 3/2004 is stricter: its article 4.3 allows the payment periods to be extended by agreement, but in no case beyond 60 calendar days, expressly agreed or not.

Public-sector buyers. For a public authority the Directive's starting point is 30 days, not 60 (Article 4), and the UK Act has its own public-authority rule in section 4(2D); the Net 45 guide walks through both. US federal contracts date payment from the 30th day after a proper invoice is received (FAR 52.232-25), and FAR 32.908(c)(2) allows agency policy to set a shorter period of at least 7 days.

When the 60 days start

The term on an invoice usually counts from the invoice date, but the contract can name another start: delivery, receipt of the goods, or acceptance after an inspection. On a two-month term, an acceptance procedure can move the real due date well beyond the invoice date, and the Directive limits that too. Article 3(4) requires that an acceptance or verification procedure not exceed 30 calendar days from receipt of the goods or services, unless otherwise expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to the creditor. With no agreed date at all, the statutes do not reach for 60 days: they fall back to 30, counted from receipt, as the Net 30 guide explains (FAR 32.904 does the same for US federal contracts).

A due date on May 31

Day 60 of the April 1 invoice is a Sunday, and Net 60 itself says nothing about moving it to Monday, June 1. That move comes from the contract, or for US federal contracts from the next-working-day rule of the Prompt Payment clause, FAR 52.232-25, which the Net 30 guide quotes. The invoice due date calculator flags a Sunday due date like this one and names the Monday.

What two months of float cost the seller

Two months of credit are twice the financing of Net 30. Priced at a 10 percent annual cost of capital, a 10,000 invoice left unpaid for 60 days carries 10,000 x 0.10 x 60 / 365, about 164 of financing, and a seller whose customers all pay on day 60 has roughly two months of sales tied up in receivables. Whether that is affordable is a matter of your own funding cost and margin.

A discount can bring part of that cash in early. "2/10 Net 60" offers 2 percent off for payment within 10 days; skipping it keeps 98 percent of the invoice for 50 more days, an implied annual rate of (2 / 98) x (365 / 50), about 14.9 percent. That is well under the 37.2 percent of 2/10 Net 30, because the same discount buys a longer delay. The early payment discount calculator runs any pair of numbers, and the late payment interest calculator takes over once day 60 has passed. The Net 90 guide covers what happens to a term agreed beyond the line.

FAQ

Is Net 60 calendar days or business days?

Calendar days, unless the contract says otherwise, and the 60-day rules are written in calendar days too. Business days leave the weekend out, so sixty of them always take more than 60 calendar days: on a Monday-to-Friday week, 84 counted from a working day and never fewer than 82. A contract that counts business days on Net 60 has agreed a term beyond the statutory line.

When does the 60-day period start?

From the date the contract names, which may be the invoice date, delivery, receipt of the goods or acceptance. An acceptance or verification procedure may not take more than 30 calendar days from receipt under Article 3(4) of Directive 2011/7/EU, unless expressly agreed and not grossly unfair. A contract with no payment date at all gets 30 days from receipt, not 60.

What happens if a Net 60 due date falls on a weekend or holiday?

The date stays where it falls unless the contract moves it. In 2026 an invoice dated April 1 reaches day 60 on Sunday, May 31; US federal contracts allow payment on the next working day under FAR 52.232-25, and a private contract needs its own clause to do the same.

Is Net 60 allowed under late-payment law?

Between businesses, in calendar days, it sits on the line rather than over it: Article 3(5) of the Directive and section 4(2E) of the UK Act test agreed terms only beyond 60 days, and § 271a BGB only beyond 60 days after receipt. Spain's Ley 3/2004 sets 60 calendar days as an absolute maximum, so Net 60 is the longest agreed term it allows. With a public-sector buyer the starting point is 30 days.

What is 2/10 Net 60?

It offers a 2 percent discount for payment within 10 days, with the full amount otherwise due in 60. Skipping the discount keeps the money for 50 more days, an implied annual rate of about 14.9 percent, so taking it pays when the buyer's own cost of funds is lower than that.