An e-invoice (e-rēķins) is an XML file in a set standard that accounting software can read without anyone retyping it, not a PDF sent by email. In Latvia, e-invoices have been mandatory in transactions with state and municipal institutions since 1 January 2025. From 1 January 2028, they will be mandatory for all companies in business-to-business (B2B) transactions, and the invoice data will also have to be passed to the State Revenue Service (VID). For invoices to private individuals and to foreign companies, nothing changes for now.
What is an e-invoice, and what is not
In everyday speech, people often call any invoice sent by email an e-invoice. In the legal sense, a PDF file is not an e-invoice, even if your accounting software created it.
A structured electronic invoice is an XML file that follows the Latvian national standard LVS EN 16931-1:2017 and the European PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 specification. Every field in it (supplier, buyer, registration number, amounts, VAT (PVN) rates, bank account) is tagged separately, so the recipient's system can book the invoice on its own.
The standard LVS EN 16931-1:2017 itself is available free of charge from the Latvian standards body LVS at lvs.lv.
Timeline: what changes and when
| Date | What changes | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| 01.01.2025 | E-invoices mandatory in transactions with budget institutions | State and municipal institutions and their suppliers (G2G, B2G, G2B) |
| 01.01.2026 | E-invoice data must be passed to VID within 5 working days of sending the invoice | The same transactions with budget institutions |
| 2026–2027 | B2B e-invoices and passing the data to VID are voluntary | Transactions between businesses |
| 01.01.2028 | E-invoices mandatory in B2B, data must be passed to VID | All companies and self-employed persons |
| Possibly from 2030 | Transactions with foreign companies planned to be included | Cross-border transactions (not yet decided) |
The five-working-day deadline is set in point 14 of Cabinet of Ministers Regulation (MK noteikumi) No. 749 of 9 December 2025. The same regulation explains what to do if the deadline cannot be met.
Who it applies to
State and municipal institutions
If you invoice a ministry, a municipality, a school or another budget institution, the invoice already has to be an e-invoice. You can check whether a client is a budget institution in the Central Statistical Bureau's ISK search (tools.csb.gov.lv/isk).
Transactions between businesses
From 1 January 2028, invoices to other companies registered in Latvia must be e-invoices. The obligation covers:
- companies, whether or not they are registered for VAT;
- natural persons registered as self-employed (saimnieciskās darbības veicēji).
Until then, you can start sending B2B e-invoices voluntarily, and in 2026–2027 passing this data to VID is voluntary too.
Private individuals
You can keep issuing invoices to consumers (B2C) as before, for example as a PDF. If you do send a private individual an e-invoice, they must also receive a human-readable copy, such as a PDF.
Foreign companies
For invoices to foreign companies, no e-invoice requirement has been set yet. The plan is to include these transactions, possibly from 2030.
How to send an e-invoice: four channels
| Channel | How it works | Pros | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official e-address (e-adrese) on Latvija.gov.lv | You fill in a form or upload an XML. When you save, the system creates the XML and a PDF | Free; the data reaches VID automatically | If your partner has no e-adrese, you download the invoice, email it and upload the XML to the VID Electronic Declaration System (EDS) yourself. You cannot attach other files to an e-invoice message |
| E-invoice service provider (operator) | The operator delivers invoices between systems. VID publishes a list of providers prepared together with LIKTA | Less manual work, more features | Paid service. The data reaches VID automatically if the operator has an integration with VID |
| Accounting software or ERP (PEPPOL, EDS API) | You issue the invoice in your software, and it sends it | Everything happens in the tools you already use | Check that your software has this feature |
| XML upload to VID EDS | You upload a prepared XML file to EDS | Free | Manual work for every invoice |
VID recommends checking the XML file in the European Commission's e-invoice validator before sending. For technical questions about e-adrese, call +371 67502757 or write to [email protected].
How to prepare: five steps
- List where your invoices come from. Accounting software, online store, CRM, warehouse software, Excel. Often invoices turn out to be created in two or three places.
- Check your clients. If any of them are budget institutions, e-invoices and passing data to VID are already mandatory for you.
- Choose a channel. If you issue few invoices, e-adrese may be enough. If your online store or CRM issues invoices, it usually makes more sense to pass the invoice data automatically to your accounting software or an operator.
- Ask your accounting software provider whether and how the software sends e-invoices and data to VID. Many programs can already do it.
- Test before 2028. The voluntary period is when mistakes are cheap. Send a few e-invoices to regular partners and check the files in the validator.
What this means for an online store or service company
If invoices are generated by an online store (WooCommerce, Shopify, PrestaShop and others) or a CRM, what matters is who the buyer is:
- Private individual. The usual PDF invoice by email can stay.
- Company. From 2028, this invoice must be an e-invoice that reaches the buyer and also goes to VID as data.
- Budget institution. An e-invoice is needed already.
In practice, this means your online store must be able to tell a company order from a private one (for example, by a registration number field) and pass the company invoice on in the right format. The simplest route is usually not to build your own XML generator into the store, but to send the order data automatically to your accounting software, which creates and sends the e-invoice. If you are still setting up your store, see how to open an online store in Latvia.
Special cases
If you are not a VAT payer. When filling in an invoice in e-adrese, choose "Service not subject to tax" (Pakalpojums, uz kuru neattiecas nodoklis) in the "VAT rate type" field and give "not a subject of the VAT law" (nav PVN likuma subjekts) as the exemption reason.
Reverse charge. Use a 0% rate and "VAT reverse charge" (PVN reversā maksāšana).
Advance invoices. An informative advance invoice does not have to be sent as an e-invoice; the taxpayer decides.
Summary invoices. These are allowed. The requirement applies to goods and services and to all invoice types.
Rounding. VID advises using no more than two decimal places in unit prices.
Delivery note. An e-invoice does not replace a delivery note (pavadzīme).
Storage and VAT. Document retention rules do not change. Neither do the VAT requirements for invoices or the way the VAT return is filed. VID pre-fills parts I and III of the VAT return (PVN 1) from the submitted e-invoice data.
Common mistakes during the transition
- A PDF attachment called "e-invoice". If the system does not create an XML file, it is not an e-invoice, whatever it is called.
- Invoices from several places. The accounting software already sends e-invoices, but the online store or CRM keeps emailing PDFs to companies. Every source must be sorted out before 2028.
- Missing buyer details. If a company can order from your store without a registration number and legal address, you will not be able to create a correct e-invoice.
- Prices with many decimal places. These can cause rounding differences, which is why VID recommends no more than two.
- Leaving it to the last month. Adapting software, testing and checking partners take time, and at the end of 2027 everyone will be doing it at once.
Invoice data from your online store to your accounting software
If your online store or CRM issues invoices, we can connect it to your accounting software so that company invoices arrive there automatically and go out as e-invoices. Read more in our accounting integration section, and for automating other routine work, see automation.