When do e-invoices become mandatory for companies in Latvia?

Are e-invoices mandatory in Latvia in 2026, or only from 2028?

Between companies, not in 2026. Amendments to the Accounting Law, adopted by the Saeima on 5 June 2025 and in force since 12 June 2025, replaced 2026 with 2028 in point 8 of the transitional provisions. In transactions with budget institutions, e-invoices are already mandatory, since 1 January 2025. The table shows every stage with its source and status on 25 October 2026.

Many articles, and AI answers too, still say that e-invoices are mandatory for all companies from 1 January 2026. Until 12 June 2025 the law really did say 2026, and those texts were written before the amendments. They also often mix three different requirements: issuing an e-invoice, sending its data to the State Revenue Service (VID), and using the official electronic address (e-adrese). Below we explain each one separately.

Abbreviations in the table: G2G is an invoice from one institution to another, B2G from a company to an institution, G2B from an institution to a company, B2B from one company to another.

This article is not legal advice.

Who must send e-invoices now, and who only from 2028?

E-invoices are already required for anyone who issues invoices to budget institutions or receives invoices from them. If you have a contract with a municipality, school, hospital or ministry, your invoice to it must be a structured e-invoice, and a PDF is not enough. All other companies must start using e-invoices with each other on 1 January 2028.

• Budget institutions and their business partners. E-invoices mandatory from 1 January 2025; the data of these invoices must be sent to VID from 1 January 2026.
• Companies dealing with each other. E-invoice and sending data to VID mandatory from 1 January 2028. You may use e-invoices already now, and you can send the data to VID voluntarily from 2026.
• Private individuals as buyers. The requirement does not apply to them: invoices to individuals can be issued the same way as before (VID, 4 December 2025).

The requirement covers everyone listed in Article 3 of the Accounting Law, in domestic transactions, for both goods and services. That includes a small limited liability company (SIA). Whether the law applies to a particular self-employed person is decided by Article 3 of the same law.

What is a structured e-invoice, and why is a PDF not an e-invoice?

A structured electronic invoice (from here on, e-invoice) is an invoice that is prepared, sent and received in a structured electronic format that a computer can process automatically. The law requires compliance with the standard EN 16931-1:2017 and the specification LVS CEN/TS 16931-2:2017. Point 7 of Cabinet Regulation No. 749 sets the format: XML under UBL 2.1 and PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0.

A PDF, a Word document, a scanned invoice or a paper invoice does not meet this definition, because a computer cannot read it automatically. PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 is a specification based on EN 16931. This does not mean you must use the Peppol network: the parties choose the channel.

An e-invoice must also be readable by a person. Point 31.1 of Cabinet Regulation No. 877 of 21 December 2021 requires that it can be shown on a screen and printed. Article 6, Part 5 of the Accounting Law requires converting an e-invoice into a human-readable form.

How are e-invoices sent in Latvia: e-adrese, an operator or email?

There is no single mandatory channel: VID's explanation says that no single delivery channel is set for e-invoice exchange. Point 4 of Cabinet Regulation No. 749 gives three options, and the parties to a transaction choose the channel by agreement (point 5).

The form on the latvija.gov.lv portal is meant for self-employed people and small companies without accounting software. It has limits: you cannot attach files to an e-invoice, and you cannot forward a received e-invoice to another recipient. The form checks compliance with PEPPOL BIS and LVS EN 16931-1 automatically. If you use e-adrese through a system integration, the sender and the recipient check compliance themselves.

Data of the State Digital Development Agency (VDAA) as of 13 November 2025: 460,417 e-invoices sent through e-adrese, 187,124 received. In 2024, 778 e-invoices were sent from the portal.

What must be reported to VID, and when?

You send VID the e-invoice data once, no later than five working days after the day the e-invoice was sent (point 14 of Cabinet Regulation No. 749). The invoice itself goes to your business partner. In transactions with budget institutions, sending the data is mandatory from 1 January 2026. For other companies it becomes mandatory on 1 January 2028, but they can send the data voluntarily from 1 January 2026.

If your system is down, you must inform VID no later than the next working day after the deadline, and submit the data within three working days after the failure is fixed (point 15). If the delay has another reason, the deadline is up to 30 calendar days (point 17).

Voluntary data submission is meant for companies that send e-invoices through an operator channel or through VID's Electronic Declaration System (EDS) (point 18). VID receives e-invoices sent through e-adrese from 1 January 2026 (point 19).

Which transactions are exempt from e-invoicing in Latvia?

Article 11, Part 16 of the Accounting Law sets three exceptions. In addition, no e-invoice is needed for private individuals, and the Cabinet regulations separately exempt the advance invoice.

• Payment confirmed by a receipt or ticket. Transactions where payment is confirmed by a cash register receipt, a receipt or a ticket registered with VID.
• Invoices in state systems. Invoices created in the information systems of the National Health Service or the State Employment Agency.
• State secrets. Transactions related to objects of state secrets.
• Invoices to private individuals. These can be issued the same way as before.
• Advance invoice. It does not have to be a structured e-invoice (amendments of 23 September 2025 to Cabinet Regulation No. 877 of 21 December 2021). A corrective invoice, however, must be an e-invoice with a reference to the number of the original invoice.

How should a company prepare for e-invoicing in 2028?

Start with four steps that do not require buying anything.

• Check your e-adrese. It has been mandatory for legal entities since 1 January 2023. If it is activated, you already have a free channel for e-invoices.
• Ask your accounting software provider whether the software can create and receive e-invoices in UBL 2.1 and PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0.
• Review your customer list. If budget institutions are among your customers, e-invoices are already mandatory for you.
• Choose a channel: e-adrese, an operator, or another channel you agree on with your partners.

What can a small company automate in its e-invoice process?

The e-invoice itself is prepared and sent by your accounting software, e-adrese or an operator. Around it there are repeating steps that a workflow between systems can automate, and you can start now, without waiting for 2028.

• Incoming invoices in one place. An invoice from email or a file lands in one place, and its data waits in a table for the accountant to check.
• Notifications to the person responsible. The person responsible gets a message about a new invoice or a payment deadline that is getting close.
• Log of issued invoices. A table shows whether each issued invoice has been sent, and nothing gets lost when invoices are copied by hand.
• Draft reminders. For customers with unpaid invoices, a draft reminder is prepared, and a person reads it before it is sent.

We can build such a workflow around what you already have, and we do not change your accounting software: a full replacement of your accounting system is a different project. A person checks where the cost of a mistake is high, and the final call stays with a person. Compliance with e-invoice requirements is ensured by your accounting software and the chosen channel, not by the workflow around them. For how workflows work technically, see the n8n workflows page.

Sources

• Amendments to the Accounting Law, adopted 31 October 2024, in force 1 January 2025 (Section 1; Article 11, Parts 14–16; Latvian) (25 October 2026)
• Amendments to the Accounting Law, adopted 5 June 2025, in force 12 June 2025: 2026 replaced with 2028 in transitional provisions point 8; point 10 on sending data to VID (Latvian) (25 October 2026)
• Cabinet Regulation No. 749 of 9 December 2025 on the exchange of structured electronic invoices and data submission to VID (in force 13 December 2025; Latvian) (25 October 2026)
• VID seminar, 4 December 2025: structured e-invoices in Latvia, the road to full adoption and the legal framework (stages, exceptions, advance and corrective invoices, Cabinet Regulation No. 877; Latvian) (25 October 2026)
• VDAA seminar, 4 December 2025: e-invoice exchange in e-adrese (latvija.gov.lv form, limits, statistics as of 13 November 2025; Latvian) (25 October 2026)

Frequently asked questions