VAT registration in Latvia: thresholds, deadlines and the PVN return
Value-added tax — PVN in Latvian — is where many small businesses in Latvia first need an accountant. Register too late and you face penalties; register too early and you add monthly paperwork you didn't need yet. Here is how the threshold, the registration and the returns actually work.
When do you have to register?
The headline rule: once your taxable turnover passes €50,000 in any rolling 12-month period, registration with the State Revenue Service (VID) becomes mandatory. You must apply within the deadline that follows the month you crossed the threshold.
Two things catch people out. First, buying services from EU businesses (or selling B2B services across the EU) can create a VAT obligation well before you hit €50,000, through the reverse-charge mechanism. Second, you can register voluntarily below the threshold — often worth it if your customers are VAT-registered and you have input VAT to reclaim.
How to register with the VID
Registration is done electronically through the EDS portal (Elektroniskās deklarēšanas sistēma). You submit the application, the VID reviews it, and on approval you receive your PVN registration number — an LV-prefixed VAT number you then show on every invoice.
Keep your planned activity description accurate: it affects how quickly the application clears and whether the VID asks follow-up questions.
Monthly or quarterly returns
The default filing period is monthly, with the PVN return due by the 20th of the following month. Smaller taxpayers can qualify for quarterly filing, which cuts the admin to four returns a year instead of twelve.
If you sell goods or services to VAT-registered businesses elsewhere in the EU, you also file an EC Sales List (the recapitulative statement) alongside the return. Getting the period policy right from day one saves re-work later.
Reverse charge and EU trade
For cross-border EU services, construction services, and certain goods like electronics, VAT is handled by reverse charge: the buyer accounts for both the output and input VAT, so it nets to zero when fully deductible. It still has to appear correctly on the return.
Mistakes here are the most common reason a Latvian VAT return gets queried, so the mapping between transaction type and VAT code matters.
Let Bilenta handle the paperwork
Bilenta ships with the Latvian chart of accounts and VAT codes pre-loaded, lets you set monthly or quarterly filing per company, and generates the PVN return and EC Sales List in the format the VID expects — with reminders before each deadline.
Country-specific charts of accounts, VAT returns in the local format, payroll and a 40-day free trial — no card.
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