How do I automate dunning for subscription invoices with a payment term?

The dunning run works on open items, not on payment attempts. It applies to invoices with a payment term, such as annual subscriptions billed on invoice. The help pages we checked describe no retry mechanism for failed card payments. weclapp only dunns when an invoice is open beyond the payment term (plus grace days).

Prerequisites according to the help: initialized accounting including dunning texts and an overdue invoice in the open items list, which shows invoices with the status “Completed”. Our inference: if you create subscription invoices via the REST API, you complete them before they can be dunned. The REST API is available from ERP Services upwards; for pure API operation, one ERP Services license is enough, and there is no minimum number. You only need the Contract Management add-on (€55 per person and month, weclapp list price, as of October 2026) if weclapp generates recurring invoices itself. Overview: Accounting for SaaS, apps and subscription businesses.

According to the weclapp help (page dates: 2021 to 2026), you can configure:

• Levels and texts: under Global settings > Finance > Dunning levels, with a dunning text and template per level. You create the levels yourself; the help names no upper limit. Checked in a test tenant on 12.10.2026: next to three existing levels, a fourth could be created.
• Deadlines: grace days between due date and level 1 (global) and tolerance days between the levels. The API keeps the days per dunning level (details below).
• Fees and interest: You store the dunning fee per level; default interest calculation is a separate setting.
• Blocks and filters: dunning block per customer or invoice, minimum amount, filters on customer, sales channel and level. weclapp does not dun credit notes, and prepayment invoices only with the option “Include prepayment invoices”. For direct debit, you switch off “Ignore direct debits”; weclapp recognizes direct debit returns with a payment provider and automatic processing enabled.
• Sending and recipients: Email sending requires a connected email account. Per customer, you can store a “Primary dunning email address”.
• Process: You start the run by hand. Or you set a start date and user, and weclapp then generates the dunning notices every night. Automatic sending is a separate checkbox.

A fictional example: a SaaS provider issues an annual invoice on 02.11.2026 to a business customer, payment term 14 days, due on 16.11.2026. Example values: three grace days, seven tolerance days per level, default interest active.

• After the grace days (earliest 19.11.2026): Level 1. The nightly run generates the dunning notice (Finance > Dunning notices). With the checkbox “Send dunning notices automatically”, weclapp sends it automatically, otherwise you send it by hand.
• After the tolerance days have passed: Level 2. The document now shows default interest, according to the help from the date of the first to the second dunning notice. Whether the tolerance period runs from the due date or from the first dunning notice is not described in the help.
• The customer pays after the second dunning notice has gone out. Our inference: as soon as the payment is matched, the item is no longer overdue; level 3 does not arise, because the dunning run only picks up overdue items.

• Matching: Which payment providers support the automation is described on the page Matching subscription payments to open invoices. Zahlungsabgleich 4 weclapp from wals.pro matches payments from Stripe and Mollie, further providers on request.
• With a dunning fee: If the customer pays the invoice amount including the fee, you enter the payment amount and the fee separately when clearing, for manual payment and for matching from the bank statement. A note on the dunning level and fee is described for manual payment entry.
• Not yet matched: Until it is matched, the item stays overdue. With a partial payment, the remainder stays as an open item, and the invoice still counts as open (checked in a test tenant on 12.10.2026: €100 invoice, €60 payment, €40 open). If the dunning run runs at night with automatic sending, the next level can also go to a customer who has already paid. Match payments before the next run or set a dunning block when there are queries.
• Posting interest and fees: For dunning fees received, weclapp creates a default account, which according to the help you can change if needed in agreement with your tax advisor. The help does not describe default interest or the VAT treatment of both items; clarify this beforehand with your tax advisor. On handover: DATEV handover from weclapp.

This does not replace tax advice.

If you bill subscription invoices via the REST API, these findings from a test tenant, checked on 12.10.2026, help:

• Dunning run and dunning level: The API does not start a dunning run and does not create a dunning notice. Invoice and open item show neither dunning level nor dunning date, fee or interest. Dunning remains a matter for the interface and the nightly run; your system cannot query the level.
• Dunning block: It cannot be set on the customer via API. You can read an invoice's block but cannot set it either; you set blocks in the interface. weclapp plans to make the dunning run, dunning level and dunning block accessible via API; there is no date (as of 13.10.2026).
• Levels and days: You also maintain dunning levels with fee, text and days (dunningLevel) via API. Grace and tolerance days are attached there to the dunning level per level.

You only see the effect in the interface. Test these cases with a test customer whose dunning address is with you, before the nightly run and sending go live:

• Grace and tolerance days: from the due date or from the previous dunning notice?
• Partial payment: The remainder stays open (see above). At which level and for which amount does weclapp dun?
• Payment including fee: Does the automation match it?
• Dunning block: Does the block on the customer or on the invoice take it out of the run?
• After the last level: What does the next run do?

When default occurs is governed by § 286 BGB (gesetze-im-internet.de). With a payment period that is determined by the calendar or can be calculated (§ 286 (2) nos. 1 and 2 BGB), no dunning notice is needed; otherwise default occurs through a dunning notice, for monetary claims at the latest after a statutory period from the due date and receipt of the invoice, and toward consumers only with a special notice. That statutory default interest exists is stated in § 288 BGB. That weclapp calculates interest from the date of the first dunning notice is tool logic, not a statement on from when you may demand it.

According to the help, you enter the base interest rate yourself (Valid from/to). This also works via API (defaultInterestConfig: start date, optional end date, base interest rate and one percentage each for business and private customers; checked in a test tenant on 12.10.2026); the API does not return calculated interest. The Bundesbank announces the base interest rate (§ 247 (2) BGB). According to § 247 BGB, it changes on 1 January and 1 July; then create a new validity period. weclapp chooses the surcharge according to the sales channel of the invoice (net: business customers, gross: private customers). The law, by contrast, asks whether a consumer is involved (§ 288 (1) and (2) BGB). Check this for business customers with gross prices.

This does not replace legal or tax advice.

We do not name rates and amounts; they depend on the contract, customer type and individual case. Dunning fees are not interest: according to the help, they should be reasonable and correspond to the effort; whether your amount holds up is a legal question. For monetary claims against non-consumers, § 288 (5) BGB also provides a flat fee that is to be credited against damages for legal enforcement costs. Have it checked whether both fit together. A dunning notice alone does not suspend the limitation period; suspension through legal enforcement is governed by § 204 BGB, the regular period by § 195 BGB.

This section describes German law (BGB). Austria has its own rules, for example § 456 UGB (ris.bka.gv.at). For consumer contracts, the legal position differs, in Germany for example under § 286 (3) and § 288 (1) BGB. You clarify legal questions with your legal advisor.

This does not replace legal or tax advice.

1. Choose grace days to match the retry window of your payment provider. Your contract sets the payment term; it also determines due date and default (§ 286 BGB).
2. Define dunning levels, texts and fees with your legal advisor.
3. Connect the email account, store the dunning address for B2B customers.
4. Only enable default interest if you demand it; maintain the base interest rate.
5. Define dunning blocks for complaints, and agree the account for dunning fees with your tax advisor if needed.
6. Check the test cases, and only then switch on the nightly run and sending.

A lock on your product access or a handover to debt collection is not described in the help pages we checked. You implement that in your product or billing system. The REST API does not provide a dunning level that your system could evaluate (checked in a test tenant on 12.10.2026; weclapp plans it without a date); how you can still couple the lock to the dunning status, we clarify in the call. The reverse direction is on the page How do I post and pay incoming invoices automatically?.

This does not replace tax advice.