Country deep dive
Lithuania transposed the EU's B2G e-invoicing directive on 1 July 2017, applying it more broadly than the EU minimum (all public procurement, not just above-threshold contracts). Since around October 2016, VAT-registered businesses have separately filed a monthly VAT-ledger report (i.SAF) — a reporting obligation, not an invoicing mandate. In 2024 the B2G platform was consolidated into SABIS. The one open question is whether a general B2B e-invoicing mandate is really coming in 2028 — the European Commission's own factsheet names that date while, on the same page, also stating no B2B mandate currently exists.
Since around October 2016 (date corroborated by industry sources, not independently dated by VMI's own page), every VAT-registered entity in Lithuania -- domestic or foreign with an LT VAT number, no size threshold -- must file a monthly i.SAF report: a line-by-line ledger of sales and purchase VAT invoices, due by the 20th of the following month, with a nil report required even when no invoices were issued. This is a periodic, after-the-fact reporting obligation to the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) -- comparable in concept to Spain's SII or Bulgaria's SAF-T -- not a real-time clearance system and not an e-invoicing mandate. The EU Commission's own country factsheet confirms directly: "Currently, there is no real-time reporting system in Lithuania."
Since 1 July 2017, all suppliers to Lithuanian contracting authorities must submit structured e-invoices for public procurement contracts -- both above and below the EU procurement thresholds, a broader scope than the EU minimum. Legal basis: the Law on Public Procurement (Lietuvos Respublikos viešųjų pirkimų įstatymas), transposing EU Directive 2014/55/EU. Format: EN 16931, via Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 or CII.
Lithuania has no business-to-business e-invoicing mandate, no invoice-clearance system, and no real-time transaction reporting requirement -- confirmed directly by the European Commission's own country factsheet ("There is no business-to-business (B2B) mandate" / "Currently, there is no real-time reporting system in Lithuania"). Structured B2B e-invoicing is optional, by mutual agreement between trading partners. The existing i.SAF obligation (above) is a separate, after-the-fact VAT reporting requirement, not an invoicing mandate.
In mid-to-late 2024 (sources disagree on the exact cut-over day -- variously reported as 1 July, "September," or "1 September after a two-month transition"), SABIS (Sąskaitų administravimo bendroji informacinė sistema) became Lithuania's sole national B2G e-invoicing platform, replacing the older "E. sąskaita"/eSaskaita system launched in 2015. Suppliers can enter invoices manually via the web portal or transmit structured EN 16931 e-invoices over Peppol.
From 1 January 2025 (industry-sourced; no official VMI/Public Procurement Office page independently confirming this date could be fetched this research round), invoices arising from verbally-concluded public procurement contracts -- previously only required to route through SABIS above a EUR 1,000 (excl. VAT) threshold -- must also be submitted through the platform regardless of value.
The European Commission's own 2025 Lithuania eInvoicing Country Sheet names "1 January 2028" as a target for mandatory e-invoicing -- but the very same page separately states "There is no business-to-business (B2B) mandate," and no enacted Lithuanian law, VMI order, or Seimas act was found anywhere corroborating an actual 2028 mandate. Neighbouring Latvia has a real, separately-enacted B2B mandate that was itself postponed to exactly 1 January 2028 (KPMG, June 2025) -- raising a genuine possibility that some or all of the "Lithuania 2028" claims circulating in industry coverage trace back to this ambiguity or to conflation with Latvia's confirmed date, rather than an independent Lithuanian commitment. Treat this date as directional at most, not confirmed -- it is recorded here only because it appears on an official EU source, with this hedge attached.
From 1 July 2030, under Council Directive (EU) 2025/516, structured e-invoicing and digital reporting become mandatory for all intra-Community B2B supplies -- a firm EU-law floor that applies to Lithuania regardless of whether the unconfirmed 2028 domestic target above ever materializes into real legislation.
Lithuania supports EN 16931-compliant structured e-invoices for B2G via SABIS, over Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 or CII. For the separate i.SAF reporting obligation, VMI accepts XML submissions (format FR0600) through its own portal — this is invoice *data* reporting, not an invoice exchange format, and has no bearing on how you actually issue or send an invoice to a business customer.
Lithuania's B2G scope is broader than most EU peers -- it applies to every public procurement contract, not just those above the EU's procurement thresholds.
i.SAF is a periodic report about your invoices, filed to VMI after the fact -- it does not change what format you must use to actually issue an invoice to a customer, and it is not a real-time or clearance system.
B2G e-invoicing scope covers all public procurement suppliers, with no minimum contract value — a genuinely broader scope than most EU peers who limit the mandate to above-threshold contracts. i.SAF reporting scope covers every VAT-registered entity in Lithuania, domestic or foreign, with no size threshold at all. B2B e-invoicing itself has no defined scope today because no mandate exists — see the dedicated note on the disputed 2028 target below for what might change that.
This card exists specifically so a reader encountering the "2028" figure elsewhere understands why this page does not treat it as confirmed.
Most businesses trading with Lithuanian public bodies are likely already compliant with the 2017 B2G requirement via SABIS. The live compliance task for any Lithuanian VAT-registered business is the monthly i.SAF filing, not e-invoicing itself.
If you supply Lithuanian public bodies, verify your invoices are structured EN 16931 e-invoices submitted via SABIS -- the platform that replaced the legacy E. sąskaita system in 2024.
Confirm your accounting software can produce a compliant FR0600 sales/purchase VAT ledger, due by the 20th of the following month -- there is no size exemption, and a nil report is required even in a month with no invoices.
i.SAF changes what accounting data you report and when -- it does not require you to change how you issue or exchange invoices with other businesses, since no B2B e-invoicing mandate exists in Lithuania today.
Don't build compliance plans around a confirmed 1 January 2028 Lithuanian B2B mandate -- it isn't confirmed. Monitor VMI and the Ministry of Finance for an actual enacted law before treating any date as real.
Whatever happens domestically, structured e-invoicing and digital reporting become mandatory for cross-border intra-EU B2B trade from 1 July 2030 under ViDA -- that date is settled EU law.
No specific, independently-confirmed penalty figures were established for i.SAF/SAF-T non-compliance during this research round — two industry sources give different euro bands, and this page does not repeat either as settled fact until the current Administrative Offences Code text can be read directly. What is confirmed: Lithuania has general VAT-underpayment penalties (20-100% of unpaid VAT under the VAT Law and Tax Administration Law) that would apply to underlying tax errors surfaced by an i.SAF discrepancy, separate from any filing-specific fine.
Other countries in the same region, ordered by their next dated milestone. Each links to a full briefing.