Lithuania - 2018 eInvoicing Country Sheet

Legislation

According to the Law on Public Procurement of the Republic of Lithuania, (Lietuvos Respublikos Viešųjų pirkimų įstatymas) which was revised on 2 May, 2017 and entered into force on 1 July, 2017, electronic submitting, receiving and processing of B2G invoices is mandatory in public procurement of central, regional and local contracting authorities and entities. The law does not fix the use of any specific eInvoicing standard in public procurement but requires using national eInvoicing portal “eSaskaita”.

Seeking to implement the EU Directive 2014/55/EU, the draft Law on Public Procurement has been prepared and submitted to Government for consideration on 25 June, 2018. According to the draft law economic operators could use any service provider for submitting electronic invoices which comply with the European standard. Electronic invoices which do not comply with the European standard should be submitted via national portal “eSaskaita”. Contracting authorities and contracting entities will receive and process electronic invoices through national eInvoicing portal “eSaskaita”.

Prior to making the submission and processing of B2G eInvoices mandatory, the 2015 Resolution No. 654 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania “On VAT invoices, invoices, credit and debit document using the information system eSaskaita” recommended submitting B2B invoices electronically.

eInvoicing platform and management solutions

According to the Law on Public Procurement (Lietuvos Respublikos Viešųjų Pirkimų Įstatymas), it is mandatory for economic operators and contracting authorities to carry out the B2G invoicing in public procurement electronically.

Lithuania has a centralised approach to the submission and processing of eInvoices whereby all invoices are submitted and processed through the eSaskaita eInvoicing portal, following a UBL v2.1 standard. The Lithuanian Ministry of Finance is responsible for the eInvoicing platform. The Lithuanian Centre of Registers operates the platform as a third party service provider.

The eSaskaita portal, operational since 2015, enables the preparation and submission of eInvoices to the contracting authorities and to promptly receive information on the payment of a submitted eInvoice. There are two ways to submit eInvoices via the portal:

• Economic operators can submit eInvoices by via eSaskaita following a registration to the website;
• If an economic operator issues or receives a large number of invoices, it is recommended to establish an interface between the eSaskaita portal and the economic operator’s financial management and accounting information system.

Before 1 July, 2017 economic operators could also submit their electronic invoices to the Electronic Invoice Subsystem of the State Tax Inspectorate. Since 1 July 2017, eSaskaita is the only eInvoicing portal used. 

Approach for receiving and processing

From 1 July 2017, all economic operators participating in B2G public procurement projects in Lithuania are mandated to submit their invoices electronically. The entire invoicing process is now done through a centralised platform eSaskaita.

Once the contracting authority has received the eInvoices, they are processed through automated and integrated systems. Once the eInvoices are processed, economic operators can see when the contracting authority has reviewed the invoice and whether it has been accepted, rejected or needs adjustment by using the eSaskaita portal.

Furthermore, the State Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania can electronically receive all relevant information on the eInvoices submitted to the contracting authorities through the eSaskaita platform. Additionally, the Public Procurement Office and the Central Purchasing Organisation receive information electronically about the execution of procurement contracts and the submission and payment of the eInvoice. 

Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)

The project eInvoicing cross-border LT, partially financed by INEA, is ongoing since September 2017 to establish a national four-corner model infrastructure. Furthermore, the eSaskaita eInvoicing portal will be upgraded to comply with the eInvoicing Standard. Lithuania is avoiding the creation of a national CIUS. An eDelivery project partially financed by INEA with a consortium of private companies is establishing an independent PEPPOL eDelivery Access Point for open access.

Additional information

No additional information available. 

Last updated:  Dec 20, 2019 17:08