Finance · lawLate payment interest and penalties

A penalty is a measure set by law or by a contract for a specific situation: taxes, utility bills, shared construction, supply terms. Interest under Article 395 of the Russian Civil Code is the general rule for any monetary debt when no special penalty applies. It is charged at the Bank of Russia key rate for every day of delay, so the result depends on how the rate moved.

Not for the same breach. If the contract sets a penalty for late payment, the creditor recovers that penalty, and Article 395 interest is not charged on top: the Supreme Court plenum explained this in Resolution No. 7, paragraph 42. Article 395 interest is for the case where the contract has no penalty or the law expressly allows both claims.

The current rate and the date it took effect are shown in the Key rate block on this page, together with the date of the next Board of Directors meeting. The primary source is the Bank of Russia website, section Key rate. We check the data against it after every meeting, and if a check is late the page warns that the rate may have changed.

Interest is charged at the rate in force on each particular day of delay. If the Bank of Russia changed the key rate while the debt was outstanding, the period is split into parts and each part gets its own rate. What matters is the effective date, not the decision date: decisions are usually made on a Friday and the new rate applies from Monday.

A moratorium on creditor-initiated bankruptcy ran from 1 April to 1 October 2022 (Government Resolution No. 497). While it lasted, interest and penalties on debts that arose before it began were not recoverable from the debtor. If the debtor opted out by publishing a notice in the federal bankruptcy register, there is no exception, and the calculator box can be cleared.

No. It is a calculation by the statutory formula and the Supreme Court guidance: the rate, the days, payments and the moratorium are handled automatically, and every row shows its formula so the result can be checked. Disputed points — when exactly the debt arose, whether the moratorium covered the debtor, whether the contract has a penalty — are worth discussing with a lawyer before filing.