The short answer: an invoice and a VAT invoice are not the same document

An invoice (sąskaita faktūra) is an accounting document that a seller who is not registered for VAT issues to a buyer for goods or services. How this document works is set out in Government Resolution No. 780 of 29 May 2002. A VAT invoice (PVM sąskaita faktūra) is a different document. A VAT-registered seller has to issue it instead, because it additionally shows the VAT rate and the calculated VAT amount. The decision rule is simple: if your sole proprietorship (individuali veikla), small partnership (MB) or private limited company (UAB) isn’t registered for VAT, you write your client a plain invoice. Once you register for VAT, for instance after crossing the €45,000 threshold calculated from 1 May 2025 based on the current or preceding calendar year, you have to switch to VAT invoices.

The two documents get mixed up constantly, mostly because everyone just calls both of them “the invoice.” Their legal basis is different, though: the plain invoice is governed by the resolution mentioned above, while a VAT invoice’s required fields and the moment it must be issued are set out in the Value Added Tax Law (PVM įstatymas). The State Tax Inspectorate (VMI, Lithuania’s tax authority) explains through worked examples how these rules apply in practice. Below you’ll find when to use which document, what deadlines apply, and how the 2025 changes reshaped the VAT registration threshold.

When are you required to issue an invoice?

Whether you have to issue a document at all, and which one, depends on your business form and who you’re selling to.

If you run a sole proprietorship (individuali veikla), VMI’s guidance says you must use a plain invoice, a VAT invoice if you’re VAT-registered, a cash register receipt if you record income through a till, or another accounting document such as a cash receipt.

MB and UAB companies follow the same rules. They apply to every Lithuanian entity carrying out activity as defined under the Corporate Income Tax Law, and to every taxable person conducting economic activity. In practice, a small partnership or a private limited company follows the exact same invoice-or-VAT-invoice logic as a sole proprietor.

What matters more is who you’re selling to. When you supply goods or services to another taxable person, or to a legal entity that isn’t itself a taxable person, a VAT-registered seller must issue a VAT invoice. Selling to a private individual who isn’t running a business sometimes only requires a cash register receipt, but if that buyer asks for a VAT invoice, you have to give them one, no matter how small the sale.

One timing detail catches people out: if payment in cash arrives after the goods or service were already delivered, you issue the invoice, or the VAT invoice, at the moment the service was performed or the goods handed over, noting that payment will follow later, and you issue the cash receipt separately once the money actually arrives.

When exactly is a VAT invoice issued?

A VAT invoice is always tied to a specific moment in the transaction. Five situations come up most often for small businesses:

  • Delivery of goods or completion of a service. When payment happens at the same moment, you issue the VAT invoice right then.
  • Advance payments. An advance payment is normally documented with a VAT invoice if it triggers an obligation to calculate VAT; the taxable value of the service delivered later is then reduced by that advance. Advances for goods shipped to another EU member state aren’t always handled this way.
  • Continuous services. Rent, telecoms, or ongoing energy supply are billed periodically rather than event by event. The exact deadline for these is in the next section.
  • Supplies to another EU member state. Even when goods carry a 0% VAT rate, or the buyer accounts for VAT themselves in their own country, a VAT invoice is still required.
  • Self-billing. In some arrangements, the buyer or their authorised representative can draw up the document on your behalf, but you need to agree to this in advance and put it in your contract.

Deadlines: “without delay” doesn’t mean same-day, always

The law doesn’t set one universal number of days for every case. The general rule is to issue a VAT invoice “without delay” after delivering goods or completing a service, meaning within the shortest period that’s realistically possible. In practice, that’s the same or the next working day, not whenever you get around to closing the books at the end of the week or month.

Two situations do get a specific number, though:

The five-day gap between these two deadlines trips people up more than you’d expect: a company shipping goods to Germany has five extra days that a company renting out office space in Vilnius doesn’t get.

What has to be on the invoice?

Here’s a checklist of required fields, split by document type.

The plain invoice

Resolution No. 780 only lets the document count as a basis for recognising costs if it includes:

  • the supplier’s name and code, meaning a VAT payer code for a natural person, or, failing that, their personal code or the number on their individual-activity certificate;
  • the buyer’s (client’s) name and code, following the same logic;
  • the issue date, the document number, a description of the goods or services, and the price.

The standard VAT invoice

According to VMI’s explanation from 27 April 2026, it must contain at least:

  • the issue date, series and number;
  • supplier and buyer details;
  • a description and quantity of the goods or services;
  • the date of delivery or supply;
  • the price excluding VAT and the taxable value;
  • the VAT rate and the VAT amount, calculated separately.

The simplified VAT invoice

You’re allowed to issue one when the total invoice value, including VAT, doesn’t exceed €100. If you’re on the small-business scheme, that cap doesn’t apply, so you can use the simplified form regardless of the amount.

An example: say you completed an IT consulting job for a UAB client, billed at €1,200 excluding VAT. Since that’s well above the €100 cutoff, the simplified form is off the table. The invoice needs the full €1,200 price excluding VAT, a matching taxable value, the applicable VAT rate, and the VAT amount shown separately, on top of the supplier, buyer, date and description fields already mentioned.

Receipts, PDFs and e-invoices: what actually holds up in practice

When you sell to a private individual who isn’t running a business, a VAT invoice can sometimes be skipped entirely; a cash register receipt is enough. But if that buyer asks for one, you have to issue it even for a retail sale.

A PDF invoice or an electronic VAT invoice carries exactly the same legal weight in Lithuania as a paper one. In practice that comes with three obligations: you need the buyer’s advance agreement to use the electronic form, and the document itself has to guarantee authenticity of origin, integrity of content, and legibility. In plain terms: it has to be clear who issued the document, the data can’t have been altered after issuing, and it has to be readable without special software. A regular PDF sent by email meets all three conditions, as long as your client has agreed to that form and you store the file in a way that prevents editing after it’s sent.

When does VAT actually need to appear on your invoices?

Since 1 May 2025, the way the VAT registration threshold gets calculated has changed: you now look at the current or the preceding calendar year, rather than the rolling 12-month window used before. In practice, that means tracking income from 1 January through 31 December, not counting back from whatever date you’re checking.

The main threshold is €45,000 in total consideration from VAT-taxable activity carried out in Lithuania. Cross it in the current or the preceding calendar year, and you must register for VAT, and from that point on, every invoice you issue needs to show VAT.

When the VAT obligation kicks in even below the threshold

The obligation can arise even without crossing €45,000:

One detail business owners often miss: according to VMI’s explanation covering VAT invoice requirements, every taxable person, whether an individual or a legal entity, must show the VAT amount separately on accounting documents from 1 January 2026. Before that date, this obligation, in force since 1 May 2022, only applied to natural persons carrying out economic activity.

It’s also worth knowing what’s coming further down the road: Directive (EU) 2025/516 has been adopted, introducing new digital reporting requirements based on e-invoicing for cross-border B2B transactions from 1 July 2030. That doesn’t change anything about how you invoice in 2026, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you’re planning your accounting systems for the longer term.

FAQ

Kuo skiriasi sąskaita faktūra nuo PVM sąskaitos faktūros Lietuvoje?

Sąskaitą faktūrą rašo pardavėjas, kuris nėra PVM mokėtojas. PVM sąskaitą faktūrą privalo išrašyti PVM mokėtojas ir joje turi būti nurodyti PVM tarifas bei apskaičiuota PVM suma. Dokumentų teisinį pagrindą nustato skirtingi teisės aktai.

Kada išrašyti PVM sąskaitą faktūrą „nedelsiant“?

Bendroji taisyklė – PVM sąskaitą faktūrą išrašyti nedelsiant po prekių tiekimo ar paslaugų suteikimo, t. y. per trumpiausią objektyviai įmanomą terminą. Praktikoje tai dažniausiai reiškia tą pačią arba kitą darbo dieną.

Kokie konkretūs terminai taikomi tęstinėms paslaugoms ir ES tiekimams?

Tęstinėms paslaugoms (nuoma, telekomunikacijos, tęstinis energijos tiekimas) PVM sąskaita faktūra turi būti išrašyta ne vėliau kaip iki kito mėnesio 10 dienos. Tiekimams į kitą ES valstybę narę su 0 proc. tarifu arba kai PVM apskaičiuoja pirkėjas – ne vėliau kaip iki kito mėnesio 15 dienos.

Kada vietoj PVM sąskaitos faktūros rašoma paprasta sąskaita faktūra?

Jei jūsų individuali veikla, MB ar UAB nėra registruota PVM mokėtoju, klientui rašote sąskaitą faktūrą. Tapus PVM mokėtoju, pavyzdžiui, peržengus 45 000 EUR ribą, įprastai reikia pereiti prie PVM sąskaitos faktūros.