Self-employed invoice in Lithuania: example and requirements

If you are self-employed in Lithuania under an individual activity certificate (individualios veiklos vykdymo pažyma), are not registered for VAT and do not use a cash register, you issue the buyer an invoice (sąskaita faktūra). The same document serves a company and a private person.

It states its title, your name, your certificate number or personal code (asmens kodas), the buyer, the service or goods, the quantity, price and amount, the date of issue, and a series and number.

If you are registered for VAT, you issue a VAT invoice (PVM sąskaita faktūra). If you use a cash register, you give a cash register receipt (kasos aparato kvitas), and an invoice when the buyer asks.

The basis is the accounting rules for self-employed residents approved by the Minister of Finance's order No. 1K-040 (below, the accounting rules), Government Resolution No. 780 and the Law on Financial Accounting, all listed at the end. Taxes and social insurance contributions are outside this guide.

Example of an invoice for individual activity

The example is invented: the persons, numbers and amounts are not real. The seller is a copy editor with a certificate, not registered for VAT. The buyer is a company.

A bank account number and a payment term are optional: the legal texts we read do not list them as required, but they help the buyer. See invoice payment terms in Lithuania.

You can fill in such a document in our free invoice tool: choose the non-VAT payer option and enter your certificate number as the seller's code.

Which document to issue: invoice, VAT invoice or receipt

Point 8 of the accounting rules lists the documents a self-employed resident uses: the invoice, the VAT invoice, the cash register receipt, and other accounting documents such as payment orders. Under point 9 you must issue the buyer one of the first three, unless the rules on cash registers provide otherwise. Which one:

• You are not a VAT payer and do not use a cash register. The sale is documented with an invoice (point 13).
• You are a VAT payer. You must issue a VAT invoice, except in the cases listed in point 19 of the Rules approved by Resolution No. 780 (point 14 of the accounting rules). Its required information is in Article 80(1) of the Law on VAT; see the required information of a VAT invoice.
• You use a cash register. You give a cash register receipt and, at the buyer's request, an invoice or a VAT invoice (point 15).

Notaries, bailiffs and advocates have different documents under the rules and are not covered here.

How to issue an invoice to a company

For the content of an invoice, the accounting rules refer to the Rules approved by Government Resolution No. 780, whose point 5 requires the information set by the Law on Financial Accounting plus a few items. Taken together, an invoice to a company must contain:

1. the title of the document, a series and a number;
2. the date of issue;
3. your first name and surname, and your code, without which the buyer cannot treat the cost as a deductible expense (see below);
4. the buyer's name and legal entity code (juridinio asmens kodas);
5. the name of the goods or service and the price;
6. the amount and, if you state a quantity, the unit of measure;
7. the date or period of the service or sale, if it differs from the date of issue.

If the buyer also works under an individual activity certificate or a business certificate (verslo liudijimas), the buyer's VAT identification number replaces the legal entity code, or, if there is none, the buyer's choice of personal code, individual activity certificate number or business certificate number.

Under Article 6 of the Law on Financial Accounting, an accounting document is drawn up during the transaction or once it is complete and given to the recipient without delay, no later than the 10th day of the month after the transaction.

That law applies to self-employed residents too (Article 1(3)(7)), but their accounting procedure is set by the Government or an institution it authorises (Article 11(3)), so confirm with an accountant how the deadline applies to you.

More: invoice without VAT in Lithuania.

How to issue an invoice to a private person

The document is the same. Only the buyer's details differ: if the buyer is a natural person who carries out no individual activity, that person's first name, surname and personal code are stated only if the buyer wishes (point 11.2 of the accounting rules). So these rules do not oblige you to ask a client for a personal code. Everything else stays.

See also invoice to a private person in Lithuania.

Which number to show for yourself: certificate number or personal code

So under this point the certificate number is enough, and the personal code need not appear. If you are a VAT payer, you state your VAT identification number.

How to number invoices

Point 6 of the Rules approved by Resolution No. 780 requires a series and a number. The number is formed in an ascending sequence. You choose the series, which may consist of letters or digits. Two invoices may not carry the same number with the same series. Details: invoice numbering in Lithuania.

What to keep in your own records

A paper invoice is made in at least two copies, one for the buyer and one for you. An invoice may also be electronic. The accounting rules then say:

• The income and expense journal (pajamų ir išlaidų apskaitos žurnalas). You must keep it, unless you use a cash register and keep the cash register operations journal. With double-entry accounts you may leave it out if the data can be seen from your other registers.
• What is entered for income. The sequence number of the entry, the date the income was received (or earned, under the accrual principle), the date, title and number of the document you issued, what the income was for, and the amount in euros.
• When. Under the cash principle, when the income is actually received; under the accrual principle, when it is earned. The data are entered no later than the last day of the following month.
• Medium. Paper or electronic: i.APS, the State Tax Inspectorate's subsystem, or another electronic tool.
• Retention. Documents that support income and expenses, and the journals, are kept for at least 10 years. If you calculate allowable deductions under Article 18(12) of the Law on Personal Income Tax, you need not keep the documents that support expenses.

Our tool does not fill in the journal and keeps no register of invoices. Save the PDF and make the journal entry yourself.

Common mistakes when issuing the invoice

They follow from the lists above: your number or the company's code is missing, a number repeats, the service is not named clearly, a quantity has no unit, the period of the service is left out, or the document is titled "PVM sąskaita faktūra" by someone who is not a VAT payer.

Do not correct an invoice that has been issued. Article 7(5) of the Law on Financial Accounting prohibits correcting accounting documents that support transactions carried out in money: a new document is drawn up, and the incorrect one is treated as void and kept.

When to ask an accountant

This guide restates the legal texts and is not tax advice. Ask an accountant if:

• you do not know whether you must register as a VAT payer;
• the invoice is paid in cash: Article 7(3) of the Law on Financial Accounting requires additional information for such a document (names and signatures);
• you need to reduce an invoice already issued, or the buyer returns goods, which is what credit and debit notes are for;
• you use a cash register, or are unsure whether you must;
• you work with partners without having set up a legal entity: point 16 of the accounting rules sets separate requirements for such an invoice.

The main guide: invoices in Lithuania: requirements and how to issue one.

When you know what to write, open the invoice tool: it shows which required information is still missing, adds up the amounts and lets you save a PDF through the browser's print window. It is free, needs no registration, and the draft stays in your browser.

It is not accounting software: it sends nothing to the State Tax Inspectorate and does not cover credit and debit notes.