{"id":29227,"date":"2026-08-25T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bilnex.io\/en\/invoice-vat-invoice-lithuania\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:00:31","slug":"faktura-vat-faktura-litwa","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bilnex.io\/pl\/faktura-vat-faktura-litwa\/","title":{"rendered":"Faktura a faktura VAT na Litwie: co si\u0119 zmieni\u0142o w 2026 r."},"content":{"rendered":"
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The short answer: an invoice and a VAT invoice are not the same document<\/h2>\n

An invoice (s\u0105skaita fakt\u016bra) is an accounting document that a seller who is not<\/strong> 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>. A VAT invoice (PVM s\u0105skaita fakt\u016bra) 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<\/a>. 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 \u20ac45,000 threshold calculated from 1 May 2025<\/a> based on the current or preceding calendar year, you have to switch to VAT invoices.<\/p>\n

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 \u012fstatymas). The State Tax Inspectorate (VMI, Lithuania’s tax authority) explains through worked examples<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

When are you required to issue an invoice?<\/h2>\n

Whether you have to issue a document at all, and which one, depends on your business form and who you’re selling to.<\/p>\n

If you run a sole proprietorship (individuali veikla), VMI’s guidance<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, noting that payment will follow later, and you issue the cash receipt separately once the money actually arrives.<\/p>\n

When exactly is a VAT invoice issued?<\/h2>\n

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