Mandatory E-Invoicing in Latvia: 2026 Requirements and Rollout

On January 1, 2026, every company selling goods or services to a Latvian government entity woke up to a new reality: paper invoices and PDF attachments no longer count. B2G (business-to-government) transactions now require structured electronic invoices in the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format — machine-readable, standardized, and transmitted through the Peppol network. Three months in, some companies are still scrambling to comply.

This is only phase one. B2B e-invoicing is scheduled for 2028, which will affect every business in the country.

What B2G E-Invoicing Means Right Now

If your company has contracts with government institutions — ministries, municipalities, state-owned enterprises, hospitals, schools — you must issue invoices as structured electronic documents. Not a scanned PDF. Not an Excel file attached to an email. A proper e-invoice in the European standard format (EN 16931), delivered via the Peppol network.

The practical requirements:

Format: Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, based on the UBL 2.1 or CII syntax.
Delivery: Through a certified Peppol Access Point. You either connect directly (if you process high volumes) or use an intermediary service provider.
Content: All mandatory fields must be populated — seller and buyer identifiers, tax registration numbers, line items with unit prices and quantities, applicable VAT rates, and payment terms.

The government receiving entity processes the invoice automatically. If a field is missing or the format is wrong, the invoice gets rejected — and you do not get paid until you resubmit correctly.

Who Is Affected Today?

Any company that invoices a public sector entity in Latvia. This includes direct government suppliers (IT, construction, consulting) as well as companies further down the supply chain if the contracting authority requires e-invoicing from subcontractors.

In practice, many small companies discovered this requirement only when their first 2026 invoice was bounced back with an error message. The government did not always communicate the change effectively to smaller vendors.

If you do not sell to the government at all, B2G e-invoicing does not affect you — yet. But the B2B mandate in 2028 will.

The 2028 B2B Mandate: What We Know

Starting in 2028, all B2B transactions between Latvian VAT-registered entities will require e-invoicing. The exact implementation details are still being finalized, but the direction is clear: Latvia is following the European trend toward universal structured invoicing.

What this means for your business:

Your accounting software must support e-invoice generation and receipt.
You will need a Peppol Access Point connection (or use software that has one built in).
PDF invoices sent via email will no longer satisfy legal requirements for B2B transactions.
Incoming e-invoices will need to be processed and booked automatically or semi-automatically.

Companies that adopt e-invoicing voluntarily before 2028 gain two advantages: they avoid the last-minute rush (which will be significant — think of tens of thousands of companies all trying to onboard to Peppol simultaneously), and they start benefiting from the efficiency gains immediately.

How E-Invoicing Affects Annual Reporting

The connection to annual reporting is indirect but real. E-invoicing changes the source documents that underpin your financial statements:

Document retention becomes simpler. Structured e-invoices are inherently digital and timestamped. No more scanning paper invoices for archive. Your five-year (or ten-year) retention obligation is easier to meet.

Reconciliation improves. When invoices arrive in a structured format, matching them to payments and purchase orders becomes automatable. Fewer manual entries means fewer errors in the books that feed your annual report.

VID gains visibility. With e-invoicing, VID can cross-reference your reported revenue and expenses against the actual invoices transmitted through Peppol. Discrepancies will be flagged faster. This is, frankly, one of the main reasons governments push e-invoicing — it reduces the tax gap.

Getting Ready: A Practical Approach

For B2G compliance now: Contact your accounting software provider and ask about Peppol integration. Many Latvian accounting platforms (Jumis, Tildes Jumis, Horizon) have added e-invoicing modules. If your software does not support it, a standalone Peppol Access Point provider can convert your invoices into the required format for a per-invoice fee (typically EUR 0.20–1.00 per invoice).

For B2B preparation: Start evaluating your invoice volume and the systems you use. If you process more than 50 invoices per month, investing in automated e-invoicing now will pay for itself through reduced manual processing time. If you process fewer, a simpler provider-based solution will suffice.

For your accountant: Ensure your accounting team or external accountant understands the structured data format. E-invoices contain more granular data than traditional invoices, and this data should flow cleanly into your accounting records.

The companies that treat e-invoicing as an opportunity for process improvement — rather than just another compliance burden — consistently come out ahead.

Make the E-Invoicing Transition Painless

Peppol access points, EN 16931 format compliance, accounting software integration, and the workflow changes that come with going fully electronic -- we handle the entire transition so your team sends its first compliant e-invoice without disruption.

Get e-invoicing set up for your company →