Types of payments
Article 76
1. Payment of expenditure shall be made by the accounting officer within the limits of the funds available. 2. Payment shall be made on production of proof that the relevant action is in accordance with the contract, the agreement or the basic act and shall cover one or more of the following operations: (a) payment of the entire amount due; (b) payment of the amount due in any of the following ways: (i) pre-financing providing a float, which may be divided into a number of payments in accordance with the principle of sound financial management; such pre-financing shall be paid either on the basis of the contract, the grant agreement or the basic act, or on the basis of supporting documents which make it possible to check that the terms of the contract or agreement in question are complied with; (ii) one or more interim payments as a counterpart of a partial execution of the action or performance of the contract. It may clear pre-financing in whole or in part, without prejudice to the provisions of the basic act; (iii) payment of the balance of the amounts due where the action or contract is completely executed. The payment of the balance shall clear all preceding expenditure. A recovery order shall be issued to recover unused amounts. 3. A distinction shall be made in budgetary accounting between the different types of payment referred to in paragraph 2 at the time each payment is made. 4. The accounting rules referred to in Article 51 shall include the rules for clearing the pre-financing in the accounts and for the acknowledgment of the eligibility of costs. 5. Pre-financing payments shall be cleared regularly by the authorising officer responsible, according to the economic nature of the project and, at the latest, at the end of the project. The clearing shall be performed on the basis of information on costs incurred or confirmation of the conditions for payment being fulfilled in accordance with Article 125 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 as validated by the authorising officer in accordance with Article 73(3) of this Regulation. For grant agreements or contracts above EUR 5 000 000, the authorising officer shall obtain at each year-end at least the information needed to calculate a reasonable estimate of the costs. That information shall not be used for clearing the pre-financing, but may be used by the authorising officer and the accounting officer to comply with Article 82(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046. For the purposes of the second subparagraph, appropriate provisions shall be included in the legal commitments entered into.