Invoice vs VAT invoice in Lithuania: which to issue

In short: which document do you have to issue?

If you are not registered for VAT in Lithuania, then a sale of goods or a service has to be documented with a faktūra faktūra, a plain invoice, and that requirement covers every non-VAT-registered business entity, natural persons excepted. If you are VAT-registered in Lithuania, you issue a PVM invoice, a VAT invoice, and you issue one even when the transaction is VAT-exempt or falls outside Lithuanian VAT altogether. So a VAT invoice is not simply "an invoice with a VAT line on it". A VAT payer applying the small business scheme (SVS, ščkoojo verslo schema) also issues a VAT invoice, but shows only its own VAT number, with no VAT rate and no VAT amount. In other words: the document type is decided by your registration status, not by whether there is a tax line on the page.

A plain invoice is not a half-finished invoice

It's simply a different document. The mandatory fields come from Article 7 of the Financial Accounting Act (Finansinės kapsatkos įstatymas), which VMI, Lithuania's tax authority, points to in its documentation requirements: the name of the document, the name and code of the party drawing it up, the date, and the content and result of the transaction expressed in money and/or quantity. The series and number have to run in ascending order. Your customer can book the cost on the strength of that invoice. What they can't do is deduct input VAT from it.

When is a VAT invoice mandatory?

A registered VAT payer documents both sales of goods and supplies of services with a VAT invoice. The usual recipient is another taxable person or a legal entity not carrying out economic activity, but a private individual counts too. For an advance payment, the invoice is issued for the amount of the advance received; the taxable value of the service is later declared reduced by that advance.

The invoice can also be drawn up on your behalf by the buyer or a third party, provided the parties agree on that beforehand. The deadline is stricter than many people assume: the general rule is "immediately after the supply", meaning as soon as it is objectively possible, not by the end of the month. For long-term services and continuous supplies of electricity, gas and heat, the invoice may be issued by the 10th day of the following month at the latest.

Receipt or invoice: what does a private customer get in retail?

In retail sales to a private individual, a cash register receipt can be enough. But if the buyer asks for a VAT invoice, you have to issue one. On that invoice, alongside the usual fields, you need the unique number of the cash register, the sequential number of the receipt and the date the receipt was issued. Selling to a company, a receipt won't do.

The required fields side by side

Data	Plain invoice	VAT invoice
Document name, date, series and number	yes	yes (the title “PVM aktafa faktūra” itself is not mandatory)
Seller's name and code	yes	yes, together with the VAT number
Buyer's details	yes	yes, together with the VAT number
Content and result of the transaction	yes	description of the goods or service, quantity
Date of supply or of the advance payment	not required separately	yes
Taxable value, VAT rate and VAT amount in euros	well	yes, except for a seller applying SVS
The note "Reverse charge"	well	yes, where the reverse charge applies

The list of fields comes from Article 80 of the Lithuanian VAT Act (PVMĮ). The heading on the page decides nothing. What decides is the content, and the fact that the document reflects a transaction that actually took place.

€45,000, €14,000 and services bought from abroad

Since 1 May 2025, SVS can be applied in Lithuania by a person whose remuneration for activity taxable in Lithuania has not exceeded €45,000 in either the previous or the current calendar year; on Lithuanian sales, that person charges no VAT. But the threshold is not the only trigger. A registration obligation can also arise when you buy services from foreign taxable persons — advertising or platform intermediation services, for instance. For acquisitions of goods from other EU member states the threshold is €14,000 excluding VAT in the current or the previous calendar year; once you cross it you have to register, yet with Lithuanian turnover below €45,000 you can still choose SVS.

Which is why the mere presence of a VAT number answers nothing. An invoice from a seller who has one can be entirely legal with no VAT line at all.

Paper, PDF or e-invoice: does it matter?

A paper and an electronic VAT invoice carry the same legal force, but the electronic form may only be used with the buyer's prior consent, which can be given in writing or by conduct. A VAT payer files invoice registers in i.SAF, VMI's invoice data reporting system: one calendar month's data by the 20th day of the following month. VAT payers applying SVS do not have to submit their invoice data to i.SAF.

At EU level, the cross-border digital reporting and e-invoicing requirements under Directive (EU) 2025/516 start to apply on 1 July 2030. A general date for mandatory B2B e-invoicing on domestic Lithuanian transactions is not fixed in VMI's current guidance, so don't assume one and don't build it into your bookkeeping plans yet.

Also available in: in Estonian · Lithuanian

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026

FAQ

When should a regular invoice and a VAT invoice be issued in Lithuania?

If a company is not registered for VAT in Lithuania, it issues a regular invoice (sąskaita faktūra). A Lithuanian VAT payer must issue a PVM skątā faktūra even if the transaction is exempt from VAT or falls under the Small Business Scheme (SVS). The type of document is determined by the seller's tax status, not whether VAT is added to the invoice.

How does the 45,000 euro turnover limit affect the preparation of Lithuanian invoices?

From 01.05.2025, entrepreneurs with an annual turnover of less than 45,000 euros can apply the Small Business Scheme (SVS) and do not have to calculate VAT on Lithuanian sales. Such an entrepreneur will still issue a VAT invoice with its VAT code, but will not indicate the VAT rate or amount on it. Also, the invoice data of a seller applying the SVS does not have to be submitted to the i.SAF register.

By what time must a Lithuanian VAT invoice be issued to the buyer?

As a general rule, a VAT invoice must be issued immediately after the goods or services are delivered, not at the end of the calendar month. An exception applies to long-term and continuous services, such as electricity or gas supplies, for which the invoice can be submitted no later than the 10th of the following month.