Supreme Court: compensation for debt recovery costs increases the value of the subject matter of the dispute in B2B cases 

On 10 June 2026, the Supreme Court adopted Resolution III CZP 6/26, under which entrepreneurs seeking to pursue compensation for debt recovery costs from their contractors in court will be required to incur higher court costs.

By way of reminder – under the provisions of the Act on Counteracting Excessive Delays in Commercial Transactions, an entrepreneur, in addition to the debt amount itself, may also claim compensation for debt recovery costs, calculated separately for each invoice (commercial transaction) not paid on time.

The amount of compensation depends on the value of the claim itself and amounts to:

• EUR 40 – where the monetary performance does not exceed PLN 5,000,
• EUR 70 – where the monetary performance is higher than PLN 5,000 but lower than PLN 50,000,
• EUR 100 – where the monetary performance is equal to or higher than PLN 50,000.

Until now, case law has been divided as to how a claim for payment of such compensation should be treated. Some courts regarded it as an ancillary claim (similar to a claim for default interest or litigation costs), which did not affect the value of the subject matter of the dispute (WPS).

Debt recovery costs affect WPS

According to the Supreme Court resolution discussed, a claim for payment of compensation is an independent claim, which means that it should affect the amount of WPS. This may involve the following consequences:

• higher court fees on the statement of claim – for example, if the claimant pursues receivables arising from 30 unpaid invoices (each worth approximately PLN 10,000), they may additionally claim EUR 2,100 as compensation. This means that WPS will be higher by approximately PLN 9,000. The amount of the court fee depends on WPS (usually 5% thereof). This means that, when seeking compensation, the creditor will be required to pay a higher court fee than before,

• change of court jurisdiction – cases in which WPS exceeds PLN 100,000 are heard by regional courts. As a consequence, an increased WPS may move the case from a district court to a regional court, which is often associated with a longer waiting time for the case to be resolved,

• higher legal representation costs – the amount that the losing party must pay to the winning party as reimbursement of legal representation costs also depends on WPS. On the one hand, a higher WPS therefore entitles the party to claim a higher amount in the event of success; on the other hand, it increases the financial risk in the event of losing the case.

Pursuing B2B claims after the Supreme Court resolution requires strategic calculation

Preparing a statement of claim in commercial cases should not be limited solely to determining the amount of the principal receivable. Following the Supreme Court resolution, an additional analysis may be necessary of the impact of compensation on WPS, litigation costs, court jurisdiction and procedural risk.

Contact us if you need support in analysing claims, preparing a statement of claim or choosing the safest litigation strategy in B2B relations. In practice, before bringing a case to court, it is worth assessing not only the merits of the claim, but also the cost-effectiveness of the chosen course of action. 

In some cases, it may prove more advantageous to split claims into several proceedings, limit the amounts claimed or defer pursuing compensation.