Lithuania (2020 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 for 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”, which is a PEPPOL access point aligned with European Standard., since 2019.

To implement the EU Directive 2014/55/EU, the Law on Public Procurement was validated by the Government on the 10 June 2019. According to the law economic operators must 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”.

Before 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 necessary 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.

Approach for receiving and processing

Since April 2019, Lithuania is part of the PEPPOL network and supports the standard adopted by the PEPPOL network: PEPPOL UBL (Universal Business Language), a variant of XML that has become a common and interoperable standard, the key to the development of cross-border digital Procurement.

Lithuania made B2G eInvoicing mandatory in July 2017. PEPPOL standard is adopted although the previously used national XML format is also still accepted.

The Lithuanian public platform eSaskaita. which works as a central hub for eInvoice sending and reception is connected to the PEPPOL network.

Lithuania has also developed electronic tax compliance.

This project is framed within the smart tax administration system called i.MAS and consists of 3 subsystems:

• VAZ: Monthly report of consignment notes and other goods transport documents issued.
• SAF: Monthly report of information on invoices issued and received
• SAFT: Electronic tax audit file that must be presented during the audit upon demand from the tax authority. (1)

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. 

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

No difference is made between central and sub-central contracting authorities. From the 18 April 2019, all suppliers to contracting authorities are obliged to issue only EN-compatible eInvoices. (2) 

• Manually, by keying in the invoice information in an online portal,
• By uploading files in XML format, which requires that the economic operator’s accounting system is suitable for storing e-invoices in this standard, and
• By submitting eInvoices via a PEPPOL-certified Access Point utilising AS4 communication protocol.

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

The project eInvoicing cross-border Lithuania, partially financed by INEA, enabled Lithuania establish a national four-corner model infrastructure and to fully comply with the eInvoicing Directive. 

The eInvoicing implementation and conformity to the European Standard in the public sector is mandatory since 2017. This obligation applies to public entities at all levels, below and above the threshold stated in the Directive. The Lithuanian eInvoicing portal incorporates changes to allow the processing of EN eInvoices. 

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation 

eInvoicing is mandatory by law, but there is no information about a potential systematic monitoring approach. (3)

Use of Core Invoicing Usage Specifications (CIUS) at national level 

Lithuania is not going to develop or use CIUS.

(1) "Latest news on eInvoicing in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia", Edicom, 27 June 2019, https://www.edicomgroup.com/en_ES/news/12539-latest-news-on-e-invoicing-in-estonia-lithuania-and-latvia.html

(2) "Lithuania will enable PEPPOL in 2019", Pagero, 14 February 2019, https://www.pagero.com/news/lithuania-enable-peppol-2019/

(3) "Law on Public Procurement", 18 October 2017, https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalAct/lt/TAD/TAIS.309940?jfwid=q8i88mb5i

VERIFIED BY EMSFEI MEMBER

Last updated:  Aug 14, 2025 17:57