British Columbia Court Order Interest Calculator (2026)

Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest under the Court Order Interest Act, at the BC Supreme Court’s published rates. Rates from 1974 to today.

Pre-Judgment Interest Before the decision Post-Judgment Interest After the decision

Pre-Judgment Interest Calculator

Section 1, Court Order Interest Act, RSBC 1996, c. 79. Version 1.000 – Last updated on July 25, 2026.

1

What part of the award earns pre-judgment interest?

Section 2 of the Court Order Interest Act bars interest on several kinds of award. Start with the total, then take out anything that does not qualify. If none of the boxes apply, the full amount earns interest.
The amount the court ordered to be paid, before any interest is added. Leave out costs: s. 2(c) bars pre-judgment interest on costs.

Does any of this apply?

This calculator is not built for injury claims Excluding the non-pecuniary portion is only the first step. A personal injury or death claim also engages two rules this version does not handle:
  • s. 1(2), special damages. Past wage loss and out-of-pocket expenses are split into six month earning periods, and each period earns nothing until the following period begins. See Denoni v. Swallow, 1997 CanLII 4311 (BC SC) at paras 7 to 9.
  • s. 1(4), advance payments. Any advance paid against an income loss claim reduces the amount that earns interest, as of the date it was received.
Running a flat calculation on the remaining balance will give you a number, but it will not be the right one. Use this only for a rough sense of scale.
Stop. The Act does not apply here Section 2(b) bars interest under s. 1 outright where the parties have an agreement about interest. There is no partial figure to calculate. Use the rate in the agreement instead.

The agreement has to be real. In N.B.C. Mechanical Inc. v. A.H. Lundberg Equipment Ltd., 1999 BCCA 775 at para 35, the Court of Appeal held that a right to charge interest cannot rest on a unilateral assertion in an invoice. If there was no agreement, uncheck this box.
Stop. Interest has been waived Section 2(d) bars interest under s. 1 where the creditor waives the right to it in writing. The waiver has to be written. Something said in a phone call or a meeting does not engage this paragraph, so if the waiver was not in writing, uncheck this box.

Pre-judgment interest will be calculated on

$0.00

2

When did the cause of action arise?

This is the input people get wrong, so take a moment here. Interest runs from the date the legal claim came into existence, which is often not the date the money changed hands or the date of the event. The examples below show how BC courts and tribunals have set it.

If different parts of your award arose on different dates, run this calculator once for each part and add the results. Entering everything under one date gives the wrong figure. Courts routinely set separate dates for separate losses: in Mason v. TR3 Geothermal Services Inc., 2024 BCPC 171, the judge set six.
Date the cause of action arose

Tap the box to pick a date.

See what BC courts used as the start date (4 real examples)
Unpaid invoice or debt with a due date The day payment became overdue, not the day the invoice was sent.
Loan repayable on demand The date payment was demanded. In Krause v. Boyle, 2026 BCCRT 177, money was lent in April but interest ran from the July email demanding repayment.
Breach of contract The date of the breach, such as the day the work was abandoned. In Mason, that was the day the contractor walked off the job.
Money paid out because of the breach The date you paid it. In Mason, each replacement contractor's invoice ran from its own payment date.
3

When did the court make the order?

The date judgment was pronounced. Pre-judgment interest runs up to and including this day. If your judgment was granted for an unspecified amount that a registrar later quantified, this date is treated differently; that situation is covered in the post-judgment calculator's notes.
Date of the order

Tap the box to pick a date.

Post-Judgment Interest Calculator

Section 7, Court Order Interest Act, RSBC 1996, c. 79. Version 1.000 - Last updated on July 25, 2026.

1

How much did the court order the other side to pay?

Enter the three parts separately. Post-judgment interest does not run on all of them, so a single total will give you the wrong answer.
The award itself. Leave out costs and pre-judgment interest, they go below.
Leave blank if no costs were ordered. Interest on costs runs from the date of judgment even if the amount was assessed months later, and an appeal in the meantime does not stop the clock.
The interest already added to the judgment under s. 1 of the Court Order Interest Act. Leave blank if none was awarded.
This one is unsettled. In Paul v. CUMIS Life Insurance Company, 2011 BCSC 796 at para 29, the court held that post-judgment interest runs on the judgment and costs but not on pre-judgment interest. No later BC case has applied or questioned that ruling, and Ontario and Alberta go the other way. This calculator leaves pre-judgment interest out by default.

Interest will be calculated on

$0.00

2

When does the interest clock start?

Under s. 7(2), a judgment bears interest from the later of the date it was pronounced or the date money is payable under it. For most judgments those are the same day. They come apart when the court decided who wins but not yet how much.
Date of judgment

Tap the box to pick a date.

The clock starts later in this situation. Where a judgment is granted for an unspecified amount and the figure goes to a registrar, interest does not begin until the amount is crystallized: Boutsakis v. Alexis House Café Ltd., 2014 BCSC 221 at para 27. Which date that is depends on what the registrar produced: a certificate is binding once filed, so use the filing date; a report and recommendation only takes effect when the court confirms or varies it, so use the date of that court order. Determining mere deductions from an already-quantified award does not delay the clock.
Date the amount was confirmed

Tap the box to pick a date.

3

When does it stop?

Enter the date the judgment was paid, or today's date if it is still outstanding. Paid means the money actually reached you. In Chang v. GEA Refrigeration Canada Inc., 2023 BCCA 22, money held in a lawyer's trust account as security pending an appeal did not count as payment, and interest kept running, because security for a judgment is not payment of it. Use the date you had use of the funds.
Date paid, or today

Tap the box to pick a date.

4

Were any partial payments made?

Leave this empty if the judgment was unpaid until the end date, or paid in one go on the end date. Add a row for each payment made along the way.
How payments are applied: s. 9(2) of the Act requires a partial payment of a judgment to be applied first to outstanding interest, then to the amount owing. That order is set by statute, not by choice, and this calculator follows it.

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About this tool

British Columbia Court Order Interest Calculator

This free BC court order interest calculator works out pre-judgment interest (s. 1) and post-judgment interest (s. 7) under the Court Order Interest Act, RSBC 1996, c. 79, using every rate published by the BC Supreme Court from June 1974 to the current period. BC rates float every six months, so the calculator splits your period at each rate change and at every year end, applies each rate to its own segment, and adds the segments up, the same method the courts use. It handles partial payments under s. 9(2), the s. 2 exclusions, and the situations where the interest clock starts later than the judgment date. Check out our other free tools below.

Two limits to know. First, personal injury awards need special handling: the Act bars interest on damages for pain and suffering, and wage loss runs through six-month earning periods under s. 1(2) that this version does not yet model, so treat personal injury figures as approximate. Second, if different parts of your award arose on different dates, run the calculator once per part and add the results. The methodology has been checked against reported decisions, including Denoni v. Swallow, reproduced to the cent, and the full text of the Court Order Interest Act.

Disclaimer: This tool is provided for reference purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always verify against the current Court Order Interest Rate tables published by the BC Supreme Court before filing. For questions or to report an error, please email admin [at] courtready.ca.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions

How is court order interest calculated in BC?

Unlike Ontario, where one rate is fixed for the whole period, BC uses a floating rate that changes every six months. The calculation is split into rate periods, interest is worked out for each period at its own rate, and the results are added together. Interest under the Court Order Interest Act is simple interest: it never compounds, and the rate applies to the same base amount throughout. This calculator walks the full rate table from 1974 to the current period automatically.

What interest rate applies to a BC judgment?

Two different rates. Before judgment, courts use the rate published twice a year by the BC Supreme Court registrar. After judgment, s. 7 of the Act sets the rate at the prime lending rate of the banker to the government, which resets every January 1 and July 1. Both sets of rates are published in the court’s Court Order Interest Rate tables, and this calculator carries every published rate back to 1974.

How are the days counted?

Interest runs from the date the cause of action arose to the date of the order, counting both days, and post-judgment interest runs from the date of judgment, so the judgment date appears in both calculations. That is not interest on interest: the two calculations run on different amounts at different rates. Leap years divide the annual rate by 366, following Denoni v. Swallow. Some registrars and tribunals divide by 365 throughout, so their figure can differ from ours by a fraction of a percent.

Do costs earn interest in BC?

Yes after judgment, no before. Section 2(c) bars pre-judgment interest on costs, so leave costs out of the pre-judgment calculator. Post-judgment interest does run on costs, and it runs from the date of judgment, not from the later date the costs were assessed: LaPlante v. LaPlante. So if costs were assessed months after judgment, interest on them still reaches back to the judgment date.

Does post-judgment interest run on pre-judgment interest?

The only BC decision on the point says no: Paul v. CUMIS Life Insurance Company held that post-judgment interest runs on the judgment and costs but not on the pre-judgment interest. Ontario and Alberta take the opposite approach, and no later BC case has applied or questioned the ruling, so the calculator follows it by default and gives you a switch to include pre-judgment interest in the base if you disagree.

How are partial payments applied to a judgment?

The order is set by statute. Section 9(2) requires a partial payment of a judgment to be applied first to outstanding interest, then to the debt. Pre-judgment interest counts as outstanding interest owed on the judgment, so a payment clears it, along with any accrued post-judgment interest, before reducing the amount that keeps earning interest. The calculator shows this split for every payment you enter.

When does post-judgment interest start and stop?

It starts on the later of the date judgment is pronounced or the date money becomes payable under it. If the court decided liability but the amount was worked out later, interest waits until the amount is crystallized: Boutsakis v. Alexis House Café Ltd. It stops when the money actually reaches the creditor. In Chang v. GEA Refrigeration Canada Inc., funds held in trust as security pending an appeal did not count as payment, and interest kept running.

Does the Court Order Interest Act apply in small claims and at the CRT?

Yes. The Act applies in the BC Supreme Court, in Provincial Court small claims, where Mason v. TR3 Geothermal Services Inc. applied it across six separate heads of loss, and at the Civil Resolution Tribunal, which applied it in Krause v. Boyle. One limit to know: the Act does not apply to a cause of action that arose before June 1, 1974.

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