What this guide covers
This guide is for a person planning to carry out individual activity in Lithuania under a certificate, or already doing so and trying to keep the basic administration in order. It is a practical orientation guide, not personal tax advice. Your obligations can vary with the type of income, expenses, VAT position, social-insurance status, and the facts of your activity.
Start with the activity, not the tax calculation
Before issuing an invoice or accepting payment, identify the activity you will actually perform and use the State Tax Inspectorate guidance to register it correctly. Keep the registration confirmation and revisit it if the activity changes or ends. Treat the start date and description as operational facts that should match your later records, not as a formality to complete after work has started.
Build a record-keeping routine from day one
For each payment, retain enough information to show what was supplied, when, to whom, and how much was paid. For each business expense, keep the supporting document and the reason it relates to the activity. A simple monthly reconciliation of invoices, receipts, and bank movements is more reliable than trying to reconstruct a year of activity immediately before a declaration is due.
Questions to review during the year
- Has the type or scale of the activity changed since registration?
- Are income and expenses supported by records that can be checked later?
- Could the activity create additional obligations, including VAT questions?
- Have you checked the current State Tax Inspectorate guidance before filing or paying?
When general guidance is not enough
Ask for official clarification when your activity involves several income types, foreign customers or platforms, unusual expenses, or uncertainty about VAT. A rule that fits another self-employed person may not fit your factual situation. Keep the answer and the documents used to ask the question with your activity records.
Official source and review date
Primary source: State Tax Inspectorate of Lithuania: individual activity under a certificate. The official page links to registration, permitted activity, taxes, expenses, obligations, and cessation guidance. The source is published in Lithuanian.
Reviewed: 2026-08-13. Check the current VMI guidance before registering, filing, or paying tax.
Before your first annual declaration
Do not wait until the filing period to discover missing records. Make a short file for the activity that contains registration confirmation, issued documents, expense evidence, and notes about payments that need explanation. Review the current VMI declaration guidance before filing because forms, calculation rules, and deadlines can change. If a figure in your records does not match the bank movement or source document, resolve it first rather than guessing in the declaration.