eRēķins — mandatory B2G since 1 January 2025

Latvia switched its entire public sector to structured electronic invoicing on 1 January 2025, and immediately follows up with a universal B2B mandate on 1 January 2026. This "double-step" sequence in 12 months is one of the most aggressive in the European Union's CTC wave — comparable only to Italy (SdI 2014-2019) and Poland (KSeF, postponed). The mandatory format is PEPPOL BIS 3.0 EN 16931-compliant, operated via the PEPPOL network and Latvijas Pasts' eAdrese channel.

History — from 2014/55/EU to the universal 2025-2026 mandate

Latvia was long behind on transposing Directive 2014/55/EU. The first MK noteikumi (Council of Ministers regulations) framing B2G invoicing only arrived in 2018-2019, jointly pushed by Finanšu ministrija and VID. The 2023-2024 acceleration — backed by the Grāmatvedības likums (Accounting Act) revision — made it possible to set an unprecedented double-step schedule: universal B2G in 2025, universal B2B in 2026, only 12 months apart.

2014       | Directive 2014/55/EU — mandatory B2G for EU contracting authorities.
           | Latvia transposes late (like many member states).
           |
2018-2019  | Finanšu ministrija publishes first MK noteikumi (Council of
           | Ministers regulations) on B2G electronic invoicing.
           | The eAdrese platform is reused as a public rail.
           |
2020       | MK noteikumi No. 154 (16 June 2020) — formalises PEPPOL BIS 3.0
           | usage in central public procurement.
           |
2022       | eRēķins pilot phase with 200+ voluntary contracting authorities.
           | Latvijas Pasts operates eAdrese (official citizen + business account).
           |
2023       | Grāmatvedības likums (Accounting Act) — revision to explicitly
           | allow the structured invoice as accounting original.
           | Preparation of the double-step 2025 + 2026 schedule.
           |
2024       | MK noteikumi confirming the 1 Jan 2025 B2G universal and
           | 1 Jan 2026 B2B universal trigger. VID + Finanšu ministrija campaigns.
           |
2025-01-01 | eRēķins B2G mandatory — every invoice issued to a Latvian
           | public buyer must be PEPPOL BIS 3.0 (EN 16931).
           | Scope: State, local authorities, public undertakings, equivalents.
           |
2026-01-01 | eRēķins B2B mandatory — every Latvian taxable person must
           | issue and receive structured. One of the EU's most aggressive
           | schedules (with Italy 2014 and Poland 2026).
           |
2027-2028  | Full ViDA alignment — Digital Reporting Requirements and
           | SAF-T-LV. Convergence with Eiropas New Approach (ENA).

Governance — Finanšu ministrija + VID

Steering is tripartite. Finanšu ministrija (Ministry of Finance) owns public policy and publishes MK noteikumi via Latvijas Vēstnesis (official gazette) and Likumi.lv. VID (Valsts ieņēmumu dienests, State Revenue Service) operates the receiving channel through EDS (Elektroniskās deklarēšanas sistēma — electronic declaration system). Latvijas Pasts (national post) operates eAdrese, the official State ↔ citizen / business account, which also acts as a delivery channel for eRēķini.

The Latvian PEPPOL network is coordinated through the Latvian PEPPOL Authority, hosted by the State. The list of accredited Access Points is published on the official SMP.

Technical schema — PEPPOL BIS 3.0 + EN 16931

The mandatory format is PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 (UBL 2.1, EN 16931 profile). Latvia made the political choice not to develop a national proprietary format — unlike Finland (Finvoice), Italy (FatturaPA) or Poland (KSeF FA(2)). This simplifies cross-border flows with already PEPPOL-native Nordic and Baltic neighbours.

• EndpointID: ICD 0218 = Latvian vienotais reģistrācijas numurs (11 digits).
• VAT: LV + 11 digits in PartyTaxScheme/CompanyID.
• CustomizationID: standard PEPPOL Billing 3.0 profile, no mandatory national extension.
• Transport: AS4 between PEPPOL Access Points, XAdES signature, MIME multipart.
• Encoding: strict UTF-8.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Invoice xmlns="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2">
  <cbc:CustomizationID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0</cbc:CustomizationID>
  <cbc:ProfileID>urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:01:1.0</cbc:ProfileID>
  <cbc:ID>LV-2026-001247</cbc:ID>
  <cbc:IssueDate>2026-01-15</cbc:IssueDate>
  <cbc:DueDate>2026-02-14</cbc:DueDate>
  <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>380</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>
  <cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>EUR</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>
  <cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0218">LV40003123456</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
        <cbc:RegistrationName>SIA Rīgas Inženierija</cbc:RegistrationName>
        <cbc:CompanyID>40003123456</cbc:CompanyID>
      </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
      <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
        <cbc:CompanyID>LV40003123456</cbc:CompanyID>
        <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
      </cac:PartyTaxScheme>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0218">LV90000050138</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
        <cbc:RegistrationName>Valsts ieņēmumu dienests</cbc:RegistrationName>
        <cbc:CompanyID>90000050138</cbc:CompanyID>
      </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
</Invoice>

Comparison — Latvia vs Italy / Poland / France

Adoption — 2024 → 2026 curve

• Before 2025: ~15% of Latvian B2G invoices were already PEPPOL BIS under a voluntary regime, with pilots covering ~200 contracting authorities.
• 1 January 2025: universal B2G switch. VID reports ~85% compliance from Q1 2025, driven by regulatory pressure and the already deployed eAdrese.
• End 2025: 98%+ B2G in eRēķins per CSP (Centrālā statistikas pārvalde — Central Statistical Bureau).
• 1 January 2026: universal B2B switch. Finanšu ministrija estimate: 70% compliance by Q1 2026, ~95% end of 2026 — a conservative calibration vs. Italy SdI which hit 99% in 6 months (with a central platform).
• 2027-2028: full ViDA alignment, with SAF-T-LV added for granular tax reporting.

Common pitfalls

• Confusing eRēķins with eAdrese. eRēķins = structured electronic invoice format (PEPPOL BIS 3.0). eAdrese = State ↔ entity official channel run by Latvijas Pasts. eAdrese carries eRēķini but also any other official correspondence.
• Testing with ICD 0007 or 0037 instead of 0218. The official Latvian ICD for the vienotais reģistrācijas numurs is 0218. SMPs defaulting to 0007 (Sweden) or 0037 (Finland) will not find the target.
• Forgetting the LV VAT prefix. The intra-EU VAT number is LV + 11 digits, while the vienotais reģistrācijas numurs (without prefix) is also 11 digits. Without the prefix, VIES rejects.
• Thinking the 2026 B2B can be postponed. Unlike Poland (KSeF, postponed twice), the Latvian schedule is confirmed by MK noteikumi published in Latvijas Vēstnesis — a postponement would require new official MK noteikumi, unlikely.
• Sending from a non-accredited Access Point. The Latvian PEPPOL Authority maintains a public list of accredited APs. A non-listed foreign AP may route technically but will not be tax-recognised by VID.

Cross-links

• Latvia hub — full view
• eParaksts — mobile electronic signature
• PVN — VAT regimes 21 / 12 / 5 / 0%
• Uzņēmumu reģistrs — commercial register
• VID — tax authority + EDS
• ViDA + ENA — 2028 roadmap
• Finanšu ministrija — Ministry of Finance
• VID — Valsts ieņēmumu dienests
• Likumi.lv — official legal database
• Latvijas Vēstnesis — official gazette