Term in working and calendar days: how to calculate under the contract
“Payment within 5 working days” and “within 5 days” are different terms. We understand from what day counts, what to do with weekends and holidays and what are bank days.
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The term of payment or delivery in the contract is set in one of three ways: a calendar date, a period of time or an event that inevitably occurs. Disputes arise with the second: “within 10 days”, “within 5 working days from the date of the account”. How to calculate depends on the date of delay and the amount of the penalty.
Three rules from the Civil Code
- Countdown begins the next day after the date or event by which the beginning of the term is determined (Article 191). The day of the invoice is not included in the deadline.
- The period in days without specification is calendar. Weekends and holidays are considered on a par with weekdays. Workdays become only when they are written.
- If the last day of the term is non-working, the term ends on the next working day. (article 193). The rule applies to both calendar and working days.
Examples
Calendar days. The invoice is issued on Thursday, October 1, 2026, the payment period is 10 days. The countdown begins on October 2, the tenth day is Sunday, October 11. The deadline is postponed to Monday, October 12. The delay begins on October 13.
Working days. Same bill, 10 working days. We count only weekdays from October 2: the tenth working day is Thursday, October 15. The delay begins on October 16.
The holiday deadline. Account dated April 28, 2026, term - 5 working days. May 1 is a holiday, May 2 and 3 are weekends. Working days: 29 and 30 April, 4, 5 and 6 May. The last day of the term is May 6.
The date of the end of the period, taking into account the holidays and transfers, will count Working days calculator; the holidays themselves and the postponed weekends will show Production calendar.
What is the difference between calendar, working and banking days
| Days. | What comes in | When convenient |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar | All right. | Long deadlines: 30, 45, 60 days delay |
| Workers | Weekdays on the production calendar | Short deadlines: invoice payment, shipment, response to claim |
| Banking | The law is not defined | Better not to use. |
“Banking Day” occurs in contracts out of habit. The law does not know this concept, and the courts interpret it in different ways: most often as a working day according to the production calendar. In order not to argue, write “working days”.
Whose calendar: five-day or six-day
Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, working days in a five-day week with weekends on Saturday and Sunday and with transfers approved by the Government shall be considered. The schedule of a particular company does not matter: a warehouse working on Saturdays does not make Saturday a working day for the payment deadline.
What hour can the obligation be fulfilled?
Twenty-four hours of the last day of the term. But if an action is to be performed in an organization, the time limit expires at the hour when the operations in the organization end according to the rules (Article 194). The payment sent to the bank after the end of the operating day will go the next day - and this is already late.
How to write a term in the contract
- Call the days “10 business days” or “10 calendar days,” not just “10 days.”
- Call the event from which to count: “from the date of invoicing”, “from the date of signing the UPD by the buyer”, “from the date of receipt of prepayment to the supplier’s account”.
- Determine what is considered the day of payment: debit from the buyer’s account or credit to the supplier’s account. As a general rule, crediting to the correspondent account of the recipient’s bank.
- For terms in weeks and months, remember: the term expires on the relevant day of the last week or the corresponding date of the last month (Article 192).
Frequent questions
Does the billing day enter the payment deadline?
Nope. The period begins to flow the day after the date of the account.
What if the contract simply says “within 5 days”?
Calendar days are counted. If the fifth day is a day off or a holiday, the period is postponed to the next working day.
Is it considered a working Saturday on which the working day was postponed?
Yeah. If the government postponed the day off and Saturday became working, it counts as working days.
From what day do you charge a penalty?
From the day following the last day of payment. How to calculate the amount - in the article Penalty or interest under article 395: what to claim from the debtor
