What Changes in Latvia’s E-Invoice Mandate, 2026–2028

Latvia’s 2026 deadline hasn’t gone anywhere. It just doesn’t mean what many people fear it means. From 1 January 2026, a company registered in Latvia that issues an invoice to a budget institution must hand the structured e-invoice data to the Latvian tax authority — VID, or Valsts ieņēmumu dienests. Mandatory business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing, on the other hand, only begins on 1 January 2028, because the original 2026 date was pushed back.

If your company runs a subsidiary in Latvia or bills Latvian public-sector customers, these two dates are easy to confuse. So here’s the untangled version — no doubt left about what to do, and when.

The 2026 deadline moved — but only for B2B

The press spent a long time on one storyline: Latvia would make e-invoicing compulsory between companies from the start of 2026. That deadline did move. On 5 June 2025 the Saeima adopted an amendment that took effect on 12 June 2025 and shifted mandatory B2B e-invoicing from the beginning of 2026 to the beginning of 2028.

That deferral touched the B2B segment only. It left the public-sector invoice flow untouched. There, the 2026 deadline stayed put — but with an entirely different meaning. So the right mental model is this: 2026 = public sector plus reporting to VID, and 2028 = every invoice between businesses.

What applies from 1 January 2026?

The public-sector flow started in 2025

Latvia introduced the structured e-invoice in stages. From 1 January 2025, a Latvia-registered company already had to issue any invoice payable by a budget institution — a state or municipal body — as a structured e-invoice. That covered B2G (business to institution), G2B (institution to business) and G2G (institution to institution) transactions alike.

The 2026 layer: reporting to VID

From 1 January 2026, a second obligation lands on top: in those same public-sector transactions, the e-invoice data must also be handed to VID. VID confirms that submitting e-invoice data is mandatory specifically in the G2G, B2G and G2B segments — transactions between the state and companies registered in Latvia.

For newer contracts signed with a budget institution before 31 December 2024, a transition period applied, ending no later than 1 January 2026. Anyone still allowed to send a PDF back then should by now have moved to the structured e-invoice.

What changes on 1 January 2028?

This is the big step. From 1 January 2028, an invoice one company issues to another Latvia-registered company for payment must be issued as a structured e-invoice, and its data must be submitted to VID. This is a B2B obligation covering the entire Latvian domestic market.

Domestic registration, not VAT status, is the trigger

What triggers the obligation is domestic registration. The Accounting Law (Grāmatvedības likums) speaks of an invoice issued to another company registered in the Republic of Latvia. Being VAT-registered isn’t the deciding factor.

This is where many get it wrong. VID stresses that the Latvian B2B segment covers all companies, including those that are not VAT payers. Nothing here hinges on a turnover or registration threshold. If you carry out registered economic activity in Latvia, you’re inside the obligation in 2028.

The short list of exceptions

The Accounting Law does list a limited set of exceptions. You needn’t issue an e-invoice for transactions documented under cash-register rules, nor for certain invoices generated in the state health service and employment agency systems, nor for internal electronic documents of security and law-enforcement bodies. For an ordinary company selling goods and services, those exceptions mostly won’t apply.

An XML e-invoice isn’t a prettier PDF

A structured e-invoice is not a PDF with “e-invoice” in the file name. It’s a machine-readable data file that the recipient’s system can process automatically. Under Regulation No. 749, the structure of the XML — Extensible Markup Language, a structured data format — must conform to the UBL 2.1 and Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 CIUS specification. Underneath it all, Latvia’s e-invoice rests on the European standard EN 16931, which sets out the data model for an e-invoice’s core elements.

The PDF still has a place here — as a human-readable copy, not as the primary invoice. When you create an e-invoice through the e-address on the latvija.gov.lv portal, two files appear at once: the XML as the structured e-invoice, and the PDF as the human-readable form. The data flows in the XML; the PDF sits alongside it to be read.

Sending the invoice and reporting to VID are two different things

This is the part people misread most often. Sending the invoice to your partner and submitting the invoice data to VID are two separate actions — and Latvia doesn’t demand a single technical channel for either.

Peppol is one permitted route, not the only channel

Peppol is one permitted technical route, not the only legal channel. Regulation No. 749 lets the parties use the official e-address, an operator’s (service provider’s) channel, or another channel: a system-to-system integration, email, or another electronic channel the parties agree between themselves. Which one to pick is up to the parties.

Reporting happens within five working days

Reporting to VID is not real-time. Each e-invoice must be submitted to VID once, within five working days of the day it was sent. So this isn’t a live check at the moment of sale — it’s a reporting duty to be met within a few days.

If the official e-address is used for invoicing, the system does part of the work itself: the e-address information system forwards the e-invoice notification and its data to VID automatically. Anyone who wants to can submit B2B e-invoices to VID voluntarily earlier — through an integrated operator channel, the EDS (electronic declaration system) API, or an EDS XML upload — from 1 January 2026.

What to do when a system breaks

The regulation also spells out what happens when something breaks. If a company or operator can’t submit an invoice on time because of a system failure, it must report this in EDS by the next working day after the deadline and submit the invoice within three working days of the fault being fixed. For other kinds of delay, you likewise report in EDS and submit the invoices within 30 calendar days of identifying the cause.

Who stays outside the mandate for now?

Private customers and foreign companies

B2C invoices to private individuals stay out of the mandatory structured e-invoice flow. An invoice to a private person may be issued in the usual form, though a structured e-invoice is allowed if a human-readable version also exists.

The 2026 rule doesn’t bind foreign companies. VID confirms that a company registered abroad has no obligation to submit B2G, G2B or G2G e-invoices to VID, and that cross-border e-invoicing is currently planned from 2030 — but that’s a plan, not an obligation in force yet. If your Estonian company issues an invoice to a Latvian state body, the VID reporting duty doesn’t reach you for now. If you do run a subsidiary registered in Latvia, however, the domestic Latvian rule applies to it just as it does to any local company.

What the e-invoice leaves unchanged

What matters just as much is what the e-invoice does not change. Adopting the e-invoice doesn’t alter the requirements for VAT invoices or the existing procedure for filing the VAT return. VAT is still calculated and declared exactly as before.

On the consequences of getting it wrong, it’s worth knowing there’s no separate “e-invoice fine” in Latvia. The Accounting Law provides for a warning or a fine of up to 86 fine units for breaching the rules on preparing, registering and using source documents. One fine unit is 5 euros, which puts the statutory ceiling at 430 euros. It’s the general source-document sanction, not a penalty specific to the e-invoice.

Getting ready between 2026 and 2028

The timeline gives you breathing room, but not endless room. Sensible preparation breaks into a few clear moves:

• Map your invoice flows. Look at who you invoice and who invoices you. Separate budget institutions, Latvia-registered companies, foreign partners and private individuals. That split alone decides what applies to you, and when.
• Spot your public-sector customers today. If Latvian budget institutions are among them, the structured e-invoice and VID reporting already apply to you now — not in 2028.
• Test your XML output and VID submission. Check whether your accounting or business software can produce XML that conforms to UBL 2.1 and Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 CIUS, and can send the invoice data to VID. Voluntary submission opens in 2026, so you can use it as a dry run.
• Agree channels with your partners. Since the parties choose the channel themselves, settle the e-address, operator or integration arrangements early — not in late 2027.
• Document what happens on a failure. Write down who reports a system fault to VID and within what deadline the invoice is submitted once the fault is cleared. The Regulation No. 749 procedure is clear, but the responsibility has to sit on someone’s desk.

Latvia is moving to the e-invoice in stages, and each stage touches a different set of companies. Once you know whether your customer is a budget institution, a Latvia-registered company or a foreign partner, you also know which deadline is yours.