Under Florida vendor payment laws, a state agency has 40 calendar days to pay a proper invoice for commodities, equipment, or services, and 35 days to pay a health care claim once eligibility is confirmed. Miss either deadline and interest begins accruing automatically. Section 215.422 of the Florida Statutes sets the state-level rules; local governments (counties, cities, special districts) follow a separate and slower schedule under Chapter 218.1Justia Law. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
One boundary to note up front: Section 215.422 does not cover grants, entitlements, or subsidies. Those follow different rules.
What Starts the Clock
The 40-day countdown does not begin the moment you send an invoice. It begins on whichever date comes later: the agency’s receipt of a proper invoice at the location it designated for invoice delivery, or the date the agency finishes inspecting and approving the goods or services.1Justia Law. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
Once an invoice arrives, the agency has up to five working days to inspect and approve, unless the contract specifies a different inspection period. If something is wrong with the invoice, the clock pauses. When you submit a corrected version, the 40-day period restarts from scratch.
The statute does not publish a universal checklist of what makes an invoice “proper.” That depends on your contract or purchase order. One trap is worth flagging: if you have not submitted your federal taxpayer identification documentation to the Department of Financial Services, the statute treats that as a vendor error, and the clock will not start until you fix it. If the agency never designated a specific delivery location when the order was placed, the invoice date itself becomes the receipt date.
How the 40 Days Break Down
The window has two internal stages plus warrant issuance:
- Agency filing: The agency has 20 days to approve the invoice and file it with the Chief Financial Officer. If the Department of Financial Services later returns the filing because of an error, it still counts as timely as long as it went out within the 20 days.1Justia Law. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
- DFS approval: The Department of Financial Services then has 10 days to approve the payment.2Florida Senate. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
- Warrant issuance: The remaining days cover cutting the actual payment warrant. If it is not issued by day 40, interest penalties kick in.
When an agency disputes part of an invoice, the disputed amount gets pulled out. The agency must document the dispute in the state’s financial system and authorize payment for the undisputed portion. The 40-day rule applies only to that undisputed amount.1Justia Law. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
Health Care Providers Have Different Rules
Providers of hospital, medical, or other health care services reimbursed by a state agency get paid on a 35-day clock. The trigger is also different from the standard rule: it starts on the date the agency determines the claim is eligible for payment, not on invoice receipt.3Florida Senate. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices – Section 13
The interest rate is different too. Late health care payments accrue interest at a flat 1 percent per month, calculated daily on the unpaid balance from the expiration of the 35-day period. That works out to roughly 12 percent annually, which is generally higher than the variable rate applied to other state vendor payments.
Interest When the State Pays Late
If a warrant is not issued within 40 days, you are entitled to interest on the outstanding balance. Interest begins accruing on day 41 and runs until the warrant actually issues. The agency is supposed to add the interest to the invoice when it submits payment to the Chief Financial Officer; if that is not workable, the agency has 15 days after issuing the warrant to send the interest penalty separately.4Florida Senate. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
The rate is not fixed. The Chief Financial Officer sets it quarterly by averaging the discount rate of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York over the preceding 12 months and adding 400 basis points.5Online Sunshine. Florida Code 55.03 – Rate of Interest For 2026, the rate is 8.44 percent per annum effective January 1 and 8.25 percent per annum effective April 1, with a corresponding daily rate applied to the unpaid balance.6MyFloridaCFO.com. Judgment Interest Rates
Two practical points. The Department of Financial Services does not require agencies to pay interest penalties under $1.00 unless you specifically request the payment, orally or in writing.7Florida Department of Financial Services. Chief Financial Officer Memorandum 18 – Prompt Payment Compliance and Interest Penalty Monitoring And an agency cannot escape interest by pointing to empty coffers. The statute expressly says temporary unavailability of funds does not relieve the agency from paying interest.8Online Sunshine. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
If You Sell to a County, City, or Special District
Section 215.422 does not reach local governments. Chapter 218 does, and its numbers are less generous.
For goods or non-construction services, local governments have 45 days to pay from the statutory receipt date. If they miss it, interest does not begin until 30 days after the due date. That means a local vendor can be waiting 75 days before any penalty applies. The interest rate is a flat 1 percent per month on the unpaid balance, compounded monthly. Unlike state-level payments, where interest is calculated and added automatically, local government vendors must invoice for the interest to receive it.9Florida Senate. Florida Code 218.74 – Procedures for Calculation of Payment Due Dates
Construction contracts with local governments follow Section 218.735. Payment is due within 20 business days if no agent approval is required, or 25 business days if an agent must approve first. To reject a construction payment request, the local government must do so in writing within 20 business days and specify what is deficient. Late construction payments carry interest at 1 percent per month, or the contract rate if higher.10Florida Senate. Florida Code 218.735 – Timely Payment for Purchases of Construction Services
When a Payment Dispute Won’t Resolve
For state agency contracts, disputes are resolved either through Department of Financial Services rules or through a formal administrative proceeding before an administrative law judge at the Division of Administrative Hearings. The judicial branch follows separate rules developed by the Chief Justice.1Justia Law. Florida Code 215.422 – Payments, Warrants, and Invoices
There is a dollar threshold worth knowing. If the contested interest penalty is less than $1,000, neither party has a “substantial interest” sufficient to trigger a full administrative hearing under Chapter 120. Those smaller disputes go through a streamlined DFS process instead.
Before it gets to a hearing, try the vendor ombudsman. The Department of Financial Services maintains this office specifically to help vendors navigate the prompt payment process, get information about payment policies, and push invoices toward resolution.
Electronic Payment Is Encouraged, Not Required
Florida encourages direct deposit for faster processing, but you are not obligated to enroll. The Department of Financial Services has stated that agencies may not withhold payment because a vendor has not signed up for electronic funds transfer.11Florida Department of Financial Services. Vendors Paper checks remain available; direct deposit mainly speeds up the last step after the warrant issues.