As of 21 July 2026, Latvia’s structured e-invoice, locally called the e-rēķins, is not yet mandatory for B2B transactions (business-to-business). Under VID’s guidance updated on 21 May 2026, VID (Valsts ieņēmumu dienests, Latvia’s State Revenue Service) will only require B2B e-invoices and their data to be submitted starting 1 January 2028, not in 2026. What’s already compulsory this year is the public-sector circle: B2G (business-to-government), G2G (government-to-government) and G2B (government-to-business) e-invoices, whose data has had to be reported to VID since 1 January 2026.

If you sell only to other Latvian businesses right now, you’re in a preparation year, not an enforcement year. If you invoice budget institutions, you’re already live.

The 2026 answer in one table

Situation Mandatory in 2026?
B2G, G2G, G2B with Latvian budget institutions Yes. E-invoices since 1 January 2025, VID data since 1 January 2026.
B2B between Latvian companies No, for 2026–2027. The obligation starts 1 January 2028.
B2C — sales to private consumers Not under this B2B rule; VID frames the obligation around business and public-sector segments.
Foreign business clients Not automatically. A structured e-rēķins can be used if both parties agree to it.

Who do Latvia’s rules actually apply to?

The rule hinges on two things: are you a subject of the Grāmatvedības likums (Latvia’s Accounting Law), and who is the invoice going to? That covers Latvian companies as well as natural persons operating as businesses. VID states directly that a Latvian company or self-employed operator invoicing a budget institution must use an e-rēķins. Your VAT status or annual turnover isn’t the filter here, the recipient is.

What actually counts as an e-rēķins?

A structured e-rēķins isn’t a PDF invoice. It’s an XML file, a machine-readable data file whose fields software can read and process automatically, without a person retyping anything. Latvia’s Accounting Law ties the format to the LVS EN 16931-1:2017 and LVS CEN/TS 16931-2:2017 standards, while Cabinet Regulation No. 749 (MK noteikumi Nr. 749) specifies that the XML used inside VID’s system must match the UBL 2.1 and Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 CIUS specification. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, the European e-invoice profile that acts as a shared technical checklist for cross-border e-invoicing, is described officially in Peppol’s documentation. A PDF, a Word document or a scanned image, on its own, doesn’t meet the bar.

Email isn’t banned as a delivery method. If you send a compliant XML file by email and both sides have agreed to that channel, it counts as one valid “other delivery channel.” But that doesn’t remove the separate duty to submit the invoice’s data to VID whenever that particular invoice is subject to reporting.

How do you send and report to VID in 2026?

You can send an e-rēķins through e-adrese (Latvia’s official electronic address system), through an e-invoice operator’s channel (a service provider that handles the technical exchange for you), or through any other channel both parties agree on. Reporting the data to VID can happen via e-adrese, via an operator’s API (a machine-to-machine interface that lets two systems exchange data directly, without manual upload), via VID’s EDS API, or by uploading a file in EDS. The e-rēķins has to be submitted once, no later than five working days after it’s sent. EDS, the Electronic Declaration System, only accepts XML e-rēķins files, and nothing else qualifies.

Pitfalls that trip up small businesses

An old B2G contract won’t save you from the switch. For any B2G transaction agreed before 31 December 2024, the migration to e-invoicing had to be finished by 1 January 2026 regardless of what the contract said. It’s also worth double-checking that your client actually is a budget institution; VID recommends verifying this by registration code rather than assuming.

A correcting invoice, essentially a credit note, has to be a structured e-rēķins too, if the invoice it corrects was structured, and it must reference the original invoice number. An advance invoice, essentially a prepayment request, is treated as a payment demand; its specific rules were added through Cabinet Regulation No. 877. And if you’re dealing with cash-register sales or a document from a state special system, check first whether the Accounting Law even considers it an invoice that has to be issued for payment; sometimes it doesn’t.

What should you do before the 1 January 2028 B2B deadline?

Treat 2026 and 2027 as the runway, not the deadline. Activate your e-adrese, clean up your clients’ registration codes, test that your XML output actually validates against the required specification, pick software or an operator that can send and receive structured e-invoices, and write down internally who at your company creates, sends and submits invoices to VID. If you sell to other Latvian businesses, it’s worth starting voluntary VID submissions now rather than waiting, since B2B data reporting is voluntary from 1 January 2026 through 31 December 2027, and mandatory from 1 January 2028. Getting the process working while it’s optional means you’re not troubleshooting it under a legal deadline.

FAQ

Kas on e-rēķins Lätis 2026. aastal?

E-rēķins ehk struktureeritud e-arve on XML-fail, mis vastab standarditele LVS EN 16931-1:2017 ja Peppol BIS Billing 3.0. PDF, DOCX või skann ei ole piisav.

Millal muutub B2B e-arve Lätis kohustuslikuks?

VID ehk Läti maksuameti 21.05.2026 uuendatud juhise järgi muutub B2B e-arve ja selle andmete VID-ile esitamine kohustuslikuks 01.01.2028, mitte 2026. aastal.

Kuidas saata e-arve ja esitada andmed VID-ile?

E-rēķini saab saata e-adrese, operaatori API või EDS-i kaudu. VID-ile tuleb andmed esitada üks kord ja hiljemalt viie tööpäeva jooksul pärast saatmist.

Mida teha enne 01.01.2028 B2B tähtaega?

Aktiveeri e-adrese, puhasta klientide registrikoodid, testi XML-i vastavust ja vali tarkvara või operaator. B2B andmete esitamine on vabatahtlik kuni 31.12.2027.