Regulatory updates - Lithuania

Earlier this month, the Lithuanian Ministry of Economy and Innovation announced the intention to develop an e-invoicing exchange system to promote digitalization in the country and a more harmonious approach for exchanging EN standard e-invoices between companies.

According to the project plan, the system is expected to be launched by 1 September 2023. Furthermore, the platform will be free of charge for businesses to use for at least 5 years.

Right now, the government is calling for the implementation plan submission. According to the technical requirements in the project outline, the solution has to comply with Peppol Network and Peppol BIS 3.0 (Post-Award) provisions.

Companies willing to participate in the project must submit the implementation plan to the Central Project Management Agency (CPVA) by 9 December 2022.

Currently, e-invoicing in the private sector is not mandatory in Lithuania, nor are continuous transaction controls implemented. The introduction of the e-invoicing system is not only a step towards a more harmonized e-invoicing exchange within the country but also with the European Union. Moreover, it could lead to further countrywide regulations being implemented in the future.

Read the full announcement in English and Lithuanian.

Suppliers will be able to send e-invoices to contracting authorities via service providers, provided they are using PEPPOL AS4 communication and that they are a certified PEPPOL (Access Point).

The timelines of the new standard will be as follows:

• From April 18th, 2018, all contracting authorities are obliged to receive and process EN compatible e-invoices
• From April 18th, 2019, all suppliers to contracting authorities are obliged to issue only EN compatible e-invoices

The eSaskaita is a central information intermediary that performs the service of receiving and sending electronic invoices and accompanying documents between suppliers and public contracting authorities in Lithuania. The suppliers will be able to submit their invoices in three ways:

• Manually, by keying in the invoice information in an online portal;
• By uploading files in XML format, which requires that the economic operator’s accounting system is suitable for storing e-invoices in this standard; and
• By submitting e-invoices via a PEPPOL-certified Access Point utilising AS4 communication protocol.

eSaskaita will be accepting e-invoices that comply with EN 16931, namely PEPPOL BIS 3.

“Lithuania is one of several European countries adopting PEPPOL to comply with the upcoming requirements of EU Directive 2014/55”, said Trent Targa, Compliance Manager at Pagero. “Pagero is following the development of different European countries’ standards closely, and we are ready to support our customers as more countries work to meet the eProcurement Directive deadline in April 2019.”