Blog/ Invoices and VAT
E-invoices from 2028: what changes for tradespeople
From 1 January 2028, an invoice you send to another Latvian company will no longer be a PDF in an email. It will be a structured e-invoice. Here is what that means and what you can sort out now.
Today most tradespeople send invoices as a PDF. The client's accountant opens it, types the amounts into their own software and books it. With an e-invoice the retyping goes away: the invoice is a file the accounting software reads by itself, line by line.
In June 2025 the Saeima passed amendments to the Accounting Law, and the obligation starts on 1 January 2028. With state and municipal bodies, e-invoices have been required since 2025.
Who will have to use it
The rule covers invoices between companies registered in Latvia. If your client is an SIA, a sole trader (IK) or another company, the invoice will have to be an e-invoice. If the client is a private person, nothing changes.
- Invoice to a company: from 2028, e-invoice only.
- Invoice to a state or municipal body: e-invoice already now.
- Invoice to a private person: PDF or paper, as before.
An e-invoice is not a PDF attached to an email. It is a file to a European standard where every field has its own place: seller, buyer, registration and VAT numbers, the address split into fields, every line with quantity, price and VAT rate. If a required field is empty, the file is not valid.
The biggest job will not be the e-invoice itself, but the client details you need to sort out before then.
What to sort out now
There is still time before 2028, but those who start in December 2027 will be in a rush. Three things you can do this month:
- Check your own company details: name, registration number, VAT number and legal address.
- For business clients, enter the registration number, VAT number and address in separate fields: street, town, postcode.
- Ask your accountant how they will receive and send e-invoices, so you know where the file has to go.
Kvedo already checks whether your details and your clients' have everything an e-invoice needs, and turns an invoice to a company into an e-invoice file (XML). For now Kvedo does not send e-invoices itself: you download the file and pass it to your accountant or the client.
