Are E-Invoices Mandatory for All Companies in Lithuania?

No. As of August 2026, Lithuania does not require every company to use e-invoices. In ordinary business-to-business (B2B) invoicing, a VAT invoice can still be issued on paper or electronically, and according to the State Tax Inspectorate’s guidance, both formats carry the same legal weight and are treated equally for tax purposes. Sending an electronic invoice to another business still requires the buyer’s prior consent. The obligation only kicks in for two narrower situations: invoices sent to public-sector buyers (B2G, or business-to-government, documents) must be electronic since 1 January 2025, and VAT payers must report their invoice register data to the tax authority through a system called i.SAF. These are two separate obligations. Neither one turns every invoice you issue into a mandatory structured e-invoice.

What Are the Three Things People Keep Mixing Up?

Most of the confusion comes from three distinct obligations that sound almost interchangeable. Worth untangling them properly.

The first is issuing an e-invoice: creating the invoice in a structured, machine-readable format instead of paper or PDF. In an ordinary B2B relationship, this is optional in Lithuania and requires the buyer’s consent.

The second is submitting invoices to public-sector buyers through SABIS. SABIS is Lithuania’s national information system that routes invoices for public-sector bodies and other contracting authorities (perkančiosios organizacijos, in Lithuanian). This applies only if you sell to government entities or contracting authorities, not to regular business-to-business sales.

The third is transmitting data to the tax authority through i.SAF. i.SAF is a subsystem of i.MAS, the tax authority’s smart tax administration system, where VAT payers submit register data on the VAT invoices they’ve received and issued. This is a tax-reporting obligation, not an invoice-delivery channel. i.SAF doesn’t require the invoices themselves to be electronic; you’re only submitting the register data behind them.

When Must an Invoice to a Public-Sector Buyer Go Through SABIS?

If you sell to a Lithuanian public-sector body or another contracting authority, the e-document obligation applies to you. Under the government regulation, accounting documents sent to public-sector entities and other contracting authorities have been electronic since 1 January 2025, except where the law sets out exceptions. The e-invoice generally has to meet the European e-invoicing standard, and B2G documents that meet this standard must be transmitted through PEPPOL, the pan-European network that carries e-invoices between businesses and public buyers across the EU. If you don’t have the technical setup for automated PEPPOL transmission, you can still enter the data directly into the platform the regulation refers to by its earlier name, “E. sąskaita.”

The system itself was renamed SABIS in 2024, replacing the earlier information system “E. sąskaita.” One change also catches smaller transactions off guard: until 31 December 2024, oral procurement contracts under €1,000 (excluding VAT) were exempt from the electronic requirement. Since 1 January 2025, every invoice issued under an oral procurement contract must go through SABIS, regardless of the amount.

Can a VAT Payer Still Send a PDF or Paper Invoice to Another Business?

Yes. Submitting register data through i.SAF doesn’t make the invoice’s own format mandatory. A VAT invoice issued on paper or as a PDF is still allowed in an ordinary B2B relationship, as long as the buyer accepts it. For electronic invoices, that consent can be written or simply implied through action: receiving the goods, paying the invoice, or recording it in the accounts.

One thing worth remembering on the record-keeping side: VAT invoices must be kept for 10 years from the date they were issued. Since 1 January 2026, the requirement to notify the local tax authority of where electronically stored invoices are kept outside Lithuania has been dropped, provided full access to the documents is still guaranteed for tax purposes.

What Does i.SAF Actually Require?

If you’re VAT-registered in Lithuania, you need to submit register data on the VAT invoices you’ve received and issued to the State Tax Inspectorate, known locally as VMI. Legal entities submit data for each calendar month by the 20th of the following month. For individuals, the deadline depends on the tax period tied to their VAT return.

One place people trip up: even if you received or issued no invoices at all during a period, you still have to submit the register, empty, but submitted. Data can go into i.SAF manually, as an uploaded data file, or through a web service connection.

When Does ViDA Become Relevant for Lithuanian Companies?

The EU’s move toward digital VAT reporting runs under the ViDA package, short for VAT in the Digital Age. Council Directive (EU) 2025/516 was adopted on 11 March 2025, and its provisions on digital reporting and e-invoicing for cross-border B2B transactions apply from 1 July 2030. From that date, the EU e-invoice becomes the default format for cross-border B2B transactions and gets tied to digital reporting obligations.

That’s not a 2026 deadline for domestic Lithuanian B2B invoicing. So if anyone tells you ViDA has already introduced a blanket domestic e-invoice mandate in Lithuania, that’s simply not accurate.

The Short Version

There’s no blanket e-invoice mandate for all Lithuanian companies in 2026. In ordinary B2B relationships, paper and PDF remain valid, and an e-invoice still needs the buyer’s consent. Electronic format is mandatory for public-sector buyers, through SABIS and PEPPOL, since 1 January 2025, and VAT payers carry a separate i.SAF reporting obligation on top of that. The cross-border ViDA rules only reach Lithuanian companies on 1 July 2030.