Invoice to a private person in Lithuania: when and how

Yes, in Lithuania you may invoice a private person who carries out no activity.

Whether you must depends on the seller: a VAT payer normally has to issue a VAT invoice (PVM sąskaita faktūra) to such a buyer, a company that is not a VAT payer an ordinary invoice (sąskaita faktūra), and either may be dispensed with when the buyer is given a cash register receipt (kasos aparato kvitas).

On an ordinary invoice the buyer's first name, surname and personal code (asmens kodas) are written only if the buyer asks.

An example follows, then each case with its legal reference. "The Rules" means the rules approved by Government Resolution No. 780.

Example: a service for a private person

The parties are invented and serve only as an example. UAB „Pavyzdys“ is not a VAT payer. It washed the windows of a flat for Vardenis Pavardenis, who carries out no activity. The service was supplied and invoiced on 7 October 2026. Payment was by bank transfer and no cash register receipt was issued. The buyer asked for his name on the invoice, but not his personal code.

The document would contain these lines:

The date of the service is not written separately, because it is the same as the date of issue. If the buyer did not want his details written, there would be no "Buyer" line.

Check it against the requirements. Article 7(1) of the Law on Financial Accounting requires the title of the document, the seller's name and legal entity code, the date, the content of the transaction, and its result in money and in quantity with a unit of measure. Points 5.1 and 6 of the Rules add the name and price of the goods or service, and the series and number.

The example has them all.

If UAB „Pavyzdys“ were a VAT payer and the service were taxed at the standard 21% rate, the document would be a VAT invoice: taxable amount EUR 120.00, VAT at 21% EUR 25.20 (120.00 × 0.21), total EUR 145.20.

The full list in Article 80(1) of the Law on VAT, including the seller's VAT identification number and address, is in the guide to the information required on a VAT invoice.

You can put such a document together with the free invoice tool: it calculates the amounts and shows which required information is still missing. It always shows its reminder about the buyer's details. When the buyer is a private person who carries out no economic activity and does not want those details written, that reminder does not apply to you.

Can you issue an invoice to a private person?

You can. None of the legal acts cited here forbids it. In several cases it is mandatory, and when the sale was recorded with a cash register receipt the buyer has the right to demand an invoice.

Two kinds of buyer must be told apart. A natural person who carries out individual activity (individuali veikla) or holds a business certificate (verslo liudijimas) and buys for that activity is a buyer carrying out economic activity, and their details are written as for a business buyer. This guide is mainly about the other case: a buyer who buys for themselves.

When is an invoice to a private person mandatory?

It depends on who you are.

• A VAT payer. Article 79(3) of the Law on VAT provides that Lithuanian VAT payers must also document with a VAT invoice supplies of goods and services to natural persons who are not taxable persons, if the supply took place within the territory of the country, except in the cases set by the Government. Those cases are listed in point 19 of the Rules.
• A company that is not a VAT payer. Under point 3 of the Rules, economic entities that are not VAT payers, other than natural persons, must document supplies of goods and services with an invoice. It may be dispensed with when the sale is to a natural person who carries out no economic activity and that person is given a cash register receipt, or when the Description of the Procedure for Installing and Using Cash Registers does not require a cash register.
• An individual who is not a VAT payer. Point 8¹ says that residents carrying out economic activity, including individual activity, who are not VAT payers may document a sale with an invoice. One exception: a resident who was obliged to register as a VAT payer but did not must issue an invoice if, once registered, they would have had to issue a VAT invoice. Under point 27, the other requirements for accounting documents issued by residents carrying out individual activity are set in the legal acts governing their financial accounting, which this guide does not examine. See the guides to invoices under individual activity and the business certificate.

When is a cash register receipt enough?

Point 19 of the Rules lists the cases in which a VAT invoice is not used for a natural person who is not a taxable person. The first matters most to a small business: when a cash register receipt is issued, or when the Description of the Procedure for Installing and Using Cash Registers does not require a cash register.

The other cases are narrower, for example an insurance certificate or vending machines. For companies that are not VAT payers the same exception is in point 3.

Whether a cash register is mandatory for your activity is set by that Description. This guide does not examine it, so check the Description or ask your accountant.

What if the buyer asks for an invoice after a receipt?

Point 28 of the Rules: if the sale was recorded with a cash register receipt, a VAT invoice or an invoice is issued when the buyer demands it. Three details of the receipt are added to it:

1. the unique number of the cash register;
2. the sequence number of the receipt;
3. the date the receipt was issued.

So a private buyer who already has a receipt can still demand an invoice, and it must then be issued.

Which buyer details go on an ordinary invoice?

Article 7(1)(6) of the Law on Financial Accounting fits this: the name of the recipient of the document is mandatory, except where tax laws or legal acts adopted on their basis do not require it.

If the buyer is a natural person who does carry out an activity, their VAT identification number is written, and if they have none, then at their own choice the personal code, the number of the individual activity certificate or the number of the business certificate.

So this buyer need not give a personal code either, provided they give the number of their individual activity certificate or business certificate.

Everything else stays the same: the seller's details, the date, the series and number, the content of the transaction and the amount. The full list is in the guide to invoices without VAT.

How does a VAT invoice to a private person differ?

When a VAT invoice to a natural person is mandatory, point 20 of the Rules requires it to state all the mandatory information for an accounting document set in the Law on Financial Accounting. The other information listed in Article 80(1) of the Law on VAT (or Article 80(9), if the invoice is simplified) is stated at the buyer's request.

Under Article 79(13) of the Law on VAT, a simplified VAT invoice may be issued when the total including VAT does not exceed EUR 100. The information listed for it in Article 80(9) does not include the buyer's first name, surname or address.

Even so, point 20 applies the same requirement to a simplified VAT invoice issued to a natural person: it must state the information set in the Law on Financial Accounting. So the question about the buyer's name remains.

Under Article 79(11), an electronic VAT invoice may be used only with the buyer's prior consent. Point 6¹ of the Rules applies these provisions to an electronic ordinary invoice as well. Before emailing an invoice, ask the buyer whether that suits them.

How much personal data should you write?

As much as the legal acts require and the buyer asked for. Article 5(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation requires personal data to be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose. As we understand it, three practical points follow for an invoice:

• do not write the personal code of a buyer who carries out no economic activity unless they asked for it;
• do not ask for data that none of these legal acts mentions, for example the number of an identity document;
• write the details the buyer asked for exactly as given.

How long and where to keep issued invoices containing personal data is not covered here. Check that with your accountant.

In short: how to issue one

1. Establish whether the buyer is buying for themselves or for their activity.
2. Check whether the sale has already been recorded with a cash register receipt. If so, issue an invoice only when the buyer demands one, and write in the receipt details.
3. For an ordinary invoice (without VAT), ask the buyer whether they want their first name, surname and personal code on it. For a VAT invoice, ask which information they want stated.
4. Write the rest of the required information and check the amounts.

You can prepare the document with the invoice tool. It is free, needs no registration, keeps the draft in your browser, and prints or saves a PDF through the browser's print window. It is not accounting software: it keeps no register of invoices and sends nothing to the tax authority.