close

Olive branch

Country Profiles

Country flagLatvia (PVN)

Latvia  being an EU member state falls under the EU VAT regime. Member states must adopt EU VAT Directives into their own legislation.

 

Standard VAT Rate: 22%

Reduced VAT Rate: 12%

Registration Threshold Distance Selling: 24,000 LVL

EU VAT number format: LV99999999999

 

VAT Registration

A person has to register as VAT payer if in the exercise of his economic activity it undertakes taxable supplies defined in the VAT law:

  • sale of goods, including in-house consumption;
  • provision of services, including in-house consumption;
  • intra-community acquisitions.

 

VAT Compliance

Detail rules regulate reporting requirements of Latvian transactions for Value Added Tax purposes. These include: invoice requirements, timeliness for an invoice to be issued, invoice and credit notes corrections rules, foreign currency reporting requirements and exchange rate sources, correction of previously submitted returns and accounting records that must be maintained for VAT purposes. 

VAT Returns

Depending on the total amount of taxable supplies made and depending on the type of transactions supplied VAT returns must be filed:

  • monthly; or
  • quarterly; or
  • semiannualy.

In certain cases, a company is also liable to file Annual VAT return.

15 days of the end of reporting month.
In case of electronic filing - 20 days of the end of reporting month. The annual return is due on 1 May of the following year.

 

Intrastat and EC Sales Lists

The Intrastat discloses details of movements of goods between Member States which take place for commercial reasons, recording the movement whenever goods enter the territory of Latvia from other Member States or leave it to other Member States.
Declaration must be filed monthly once the annual threshold is exceeded.

Intrastat declarations can be submitted in paper format. The due date for submission is the 10th day of the month following the reference period. E.g. for the January period, declarations must be submitted by the 10th of February. For businesses with an agreed, non-standard VAT period, the time limit operates from the end of the special period.