VAT in Lithuania in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

7 minutos de lectura

In Lithuania, VAT is called pridėtinės vertės mokestis, or PVM for short. It has a general rate of 21% and two reduced rates, 12% and 5%. The 12% and 5% rates are set by Article 19 of the Pridėtinės vertės mokesčio įstatymas, the VAT law; 21% is the standard rate defined by Article 2, and the same Article 19 requires it to be applied to everything not included in the two reduced-rate lists. Be careful with tables dated before 2026: until 31 December 2025 there was a 9% reduced rate, and on 1 January 2026 it ceased to exist.

If you sell products, keep two things in mind. First: food does not have a reduced rate in Lithuania; meat, fish, fruit and vegetables are taxed at 21%, as the VMI itself states. Second: the 12% rate covers only three services, so a product store never charges it.

Rate	Percentage	Applies to
Standard (standartinis PVM tarifas)	21%	Everything not included in the two reduced-rate lists: clothing, footwear, electronics, cosmetics, household goods, toys, and also food — meat, fish, fruit, vegetables — and catering; from 1 January 2026, also residential heating, hot water and firewood
Reduced (lengvatinis PVM tarifas)	12%	Only three services, and only from 1 January 2026: accommodation provided under the tourism law, passenger transport and baggage transport on regular routes set by the Ministry of Transport — or the institution it authorizes — or by municipalities, and tickets to art and cultural institutions and events. Until 31 December 2025 they were taxed at 9%
Reduced (lengvatinis PVM tarifas)	5%	Newspapers, magazines and other periodicals, in print and electronic form; books and non-periodical publications — textbooks, exercise books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, informational brochures, photo albums, children’s drawing and coloring books, sheet music, maps and plans — from 1 January 2026; prescription medicines; over-the-counter medicines, medical devices and special medical-purpose foods when reimbursed by compulsory health insurance; and technical aids for people with disabilities, including repairs

Rates verified on 12 September 2026 against the VMI’s “PVM tarifai” page, the State Tax Inspectorate of Lithuania (vmi.lt).

The 9% rate disappeared on 1 January 2026

For years, Lithuania had two reduced rates, 9% and 5%. Law XV-287 of 17 June 2025, which amended Article 19 of the VAT law, abolished the 9% rate with effect from 1 January 2026. From that date there are two reduced rates: 12% and 5%. What was at 9% did not all move to the same place, and that is the important detail:

To 12%: tourist accommodation and passenger transport on regular routes, which had been at 9% since 1 January 2015, and tickets to art and cultural institutions and events, which had been at 9% since 1 July 2021.
To 5%, that is, down: books and non-periodical publications. Printed books had been at 9% since 2003 and electronic books since 2023; now they pay the same as the press.
To 21%: residential heating and hot water, which had been at 9% since October 2009, and firewood and wood products for burning by household consumers, at 9% since 2019. Those two lost any reduction.

The change has transitional rules, and they are not the same for everything. For accommodation, the booking date applies: if it was recorded by 31 December 2025, the stay is taxed at 9% even if it takes place in 2026; booked on 1 January 2026 or later, 12%. For passenger transport and cultural tickets, the payment date applies: paid by 31 December 2025, 9%; paid on 1 January 2026 or later, 12%.

For an online store, the result is easy to remember: 12% applies to three services, and none of them are sold in a product cart. If you ship goods to Lithuania, your VAT is 21% or 5%, and 5% only if you sell press, books, prescription medicines or technical aids for people with disabilities. In press and books there is fine print, and it is not the same: press excludes from 5% erotic or violent publications declared as such by the competent authority and technical or bibliographic databases; books exclude calendars and notebooks; and in both cases, publications with more than 4/5 advertising and those that are mostly music or video.

Which VAT you charge customers in Lithuania if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 21% as the standard rate in Lithuania, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes tax rates by country, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class or monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to set up:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT number validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once across all countries.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points where stores selling to the rest of the European Union break.

Two quick checks: check the customer’s VAT number in VIES before invoicing without VAT, and use the EU VAT calculator to see which rate to charge on each sale.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the general VAT rate in Lithuania in 2026?

21%, the standard rate under Lithuanian VAT law: Article 19 requires it to be applied to everything not included in its two reduced-rate lists. Those lists are 12%, for accommodation, passenger transport on regular routes and tickets to art and cultural events, and 5%, for press, books, prescription medicines and technical aids for people with disabilities. Food has no reduction: it is taxed at 21%.

Did Lithuania not have a 9% reduced rate?

It did until 31 December 2025. Law XV-287 of 17 June 2025 replaced it with 12% from 1 January 2026. In the same move, books dropped from 9% to 5%, and residential heating, hot water and firewood lost the reduction and moved to 21%. If a table still shows 9%, it is outdated.

I sell to Lithuania from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (21% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in Lithuania?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.