Pro forma invoice in Lithuania: what it is, with an example

A pro forma invoice (išankstinė sąskaita in Lithuanian) is the seller's request to be paid before the goods are handed over or the service is provided.

It is not an invoice: it does not document a supply of goods or services. The three Lithuanian texts we read for this guide do not contain the term, so its content is settled by practice.

The supply is documented separately, with an invoice (sąskaita faktūra) or a VAT invoice (PVM sąskaita faktūra).

The example is invented.

Vardenis Pavardenis is self-employed under an individual activity certificate (individualios veiklos pažyma), is not a VAT payer, and has agreed with UAB „Pavyzdys“ to build a website for EUR 600.

He asks for half up front. The document, which you can use as a template, would contain these lines:

• Title: Pro forma invoice No. IS-014
• Date: 2026-10-07
• Seller: Vardenis Pavardenis, individual activity certificate No. 000000 (example), Pavyzdžio g. 1, Vilnius
• Buyer: UAB „Pavyzdys“, legal entity code 000000000 (example), Pavyzdžio g. 2, Kaunas
• Payment for: website development under the agreement of 2026-10-05, 50 % advance
• Full price of the service: EUR 600.00
• Amount payable under this document: EUR 300.00
• Pay by: 2026-10-14
• Payment details: payee Vardenis Pavardenis, account LT00 0000 0000 0000 0000 (example), payment reference "Pro forma invoice IS-014"
• Note: This is not an invoice. An invoice will be issued once the service is provided.

Once the service is provided, Vardenis can document it with an invoice for the full EUR 600.00 and note on it that EUR 300.00 has already been paid. You can fill in that invoice in our free invoice tool.

The tool prepares the ordinary invoice and the VAT invoice; it has no pro forma title.

VAT payers usually show the net amount, the VAT and the total. Suppose the price is EUR 1,000.00 excluding VAT and the standard 21 % rate applies:

• Amount excluding VAT: EUR 1,000.00
• VAT 21 %: EUR 210.00
• Total including VAT: EUR 1,210.00
• 50 % advance payable: EUR 605.00

This shows only the layout; whether the advance then needs a VAT invoice depends on the deal.

On 2026-10-07 we read the consolidated versions of three texts in the Register of Legal Acts: the Law on Value Added Tax (the VAT Law), the Law on Financial Accounting, and the rules approved by Government Resolution No. 780.

None contains the words "išankstinė sąskaita", "išankstinio apmokėjimo sąskaita" or "pro forma".

So these texts give no list of required information for it and oblige nobody to issue one: you can equally ask for an advance in the contract or by email. What this guide says about its content is practice.

We did not check other legislation or the explanations of the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI).

An invoice and a VAT invoice document a transaction that has taken place:

• Under the VAT Law. Article 79(1) requires a taxable person (other than a Lithuanian taxable person applying the small-business scheme, with an exception stated there) to document a completed supply with a VAT invoice. Article 79(2) requires it to be issued immediately after the supply; separate deadlines apply to long-term services and some other cases.
• Legal entities that are not VAT payers. Point 3 of the Resolution No. 780 rules says that economic entities that are not VAT payers, other than natural persons, must use invoices to document a supply. It lists exceptions for sales to a natural person who carries out no economic activity.
• Individuals who are not VAT payers. Under point 8¹, an individual carrying out economic activity, including individual activity, may document a supply with an invoice. It is mandatory only where the individual should have registered for VAT but did not. Ask your accountant which documents your income records need.

Article 2 of the Law on Financial Accounting defines an accounting document as textual information confirming an economic transaction, that is, an activity or event that changes the amount or structure of assets, liabilities, income and expenses, among other items.

A pro forma only asks for payment. Whether it supports anything in your accounts the law does not say directly, so ask your accountant.

A pro forma therefore does not replace an invoice; see Invoices in Lithuania: the requirements.

The VAT Law mentions the advance but not the pro forma. Under Article 2(30), a VAT invoice documents a supply of goods or services and also the payment of an advance.

Article 14(4) calls an advance (avansas) the full or partial consideration paid before the goods are handed over or the service is provided, and describes two cases:

1. 01If, under the terms of the deal, the goods will be handed over or all the services provided no earlier than 12 months after the deal was concluded, the obligation to calculate VAT arises when the advance is received.
2. 02If that will happen sooner, the taxable person has the right to choose to treat the receipt of the advance as the tax point and to calculate VAT on it.

The same paragraph does not apply where the taxable amount is a margin.

Article 79(4) says that if an advance is received that gives rise to an obligation to calculate VAT under Article 14, its receipt must be documented with a VAT invoice.

The supply itself is then documented with a VAT invoice on which the consideration is reduced by the advance. It says nothing about advances that give rise to no such obligation.

Article 80(1)(8) adds that a VAT invoice documenting an advance states the day the advance was received, if it differs from the date of issue.

So a pro forma is a request sent before payment, while a VAT invoice for an advance documents an advance already received and is described in the law. Ask your accountant which case fits your deal.

See VAT invoice in Lithuania: required information.

The Resolution No. 780 rules mention an advance only in point 9, which concerns VAT invoices. They do not say how a non-VAT payer should document an advance received; that too is a question for an accountant.

No list is mandatory; these are practical suggestions:

• A clear title. Write "Pro forma invoice" (in Lithuanian, "Išankstinė sąskaita"). Do not write "Invoice" or "VAT invoice".
• Separate numbering. Points 6 and 12 of the Resolution No. 780 rules require invoice and VAT invoice numbers to run in ascending sequence and never repeat. A separate marking for pro formas, such as "IS", keeps them out of the invoice sequence. See Invoice numbering in Lithuania.
• The rest as in the example. The parties and their codes, what is being paid for, the amount, the payment deadline (see Invoice payment terms in Lithuania) and a note that this is not an invoice.

The title matters to a VAT payer: under Article 14(1) of the VAT Law, the obligation to calculate VAT arises when a VAT invoice documenting the supply is issued, unless that article provides otherwise.

So do not call a request for payment a VAT invoice; if you already have, speak to your accountant.

No. "Pro forma invoice" and "proforma invoice" are business usage, not terms from the legislation we read.

For a buyer abroad the same suggestions apply, with a note such as "This pro forma invoice is a request for payment, not a VAT invoice".

What the buyer's country or customs require is a question for the buyer or your accountant. See Invoice in English for a foreign company.

1. 01VAT payers check whether the advance has given rise to an obligation to calculate VAT; if so, its receipt is documented with a VAT invoice.
2. 02Hand over the goods or provide the service, then document the supply with an invoice or a VAT invoice.
3. 03Keep the paid pro forma with the documents of the deal, as is usual in practice. The texts we read contain no instruction to cancel it.

You can fill in the invoice or the VAT invoice free and without registration in the invoice tool: it shows which required information is missing and prints or saves a PDF through the browser's print window.

It is not accounting software, keeps no register and sends nothing to the tax authority.

This guide explains what the legislation says and is not tax advice. If the advance is large, the deal will run for more than a year or the buyer is abroad, talk to an accountant first.