Lithuanian Tax Authority Updates Tax Administration Law Guidelines on Taxpayer Reliability and Audits

The State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) has published updated official commentaries on Articles 13, 40-1, and 68 of the Law on Tax Administration (MAĮ). These updates implement recent statutory amendments (Laws No. XV-284 and No. XV-309), addressing the administration of new levies and procedural adjustments in tax audits.

The commentary to Article 13 sets out administrative procedures for newly introduced statutory obligations, including the Security Contribution (Saugumo įnašas). The guidelines detail how the tax authority integrates these new charges into standard accounting and compliance frameworks.

The commentary to Article 40-1 clarifies the minimum criteria for reliable taxpayer status. Under Article 40-1(1)(4), a legal entity ceases to qualify as a reliable taxpayer if its director or another responsible individual has received an administrative fine of EUR 1,500 or more under specified articles of the Code of Administrative Offences (ANK) within the preceding year, or has been penalised for a repeat offence (including breaches of crypto-asset and financial services regulations).

Losing reliable taxpayer status triggers immediate commercial and administrative consequences: the entity is placed on the public VMI list of non-compliant taxpayers, disqualified from public procurement procedures pursuant to Article 46(4)(7)(b) of the Law on Public Procurement, and subjected to a mandatory minimum six-month hold on VAT overpayment refunds.

The commentary to Article 68 specifies the calculation of limitation periods during tax reviews and audits. While the standard statutory limitation period covers the current and three preceding calendar years, the tax authority applies an extended five-year limitation period to entities that fail the reliable taxpayer criteria.

The updated guidelines also outline the formal documentation requirements for expanding audit scopes: where ongoing infringements are identified, the tax authority extends the audited timeframe by issuing a supplement (Form FR0773P) to the primary audit order (Form FR0773).