Latvian VAT number (PVN numurs)
In Latvian: PVN numurs
A Latvian VAT number (PVN numurs) is the registration number of a VAT payer in the VID value added tax register. It consists of the country code LV followed by 11 digits.
For a business in the Enterprise Register the digits match its registration number, because that number is also its taxpayer registration code. For a natural person, such as a self-employed individual, the digits match the personal identity code. A person has a VAT number only once registered in the VAT register.
The VAT Law requires an invoice to show the supplier’s VAT number and also the customer’s number where the customer is VAT-registered in Latvia or another EU country. In EU trade a valid buyer number is a precondition for the 0% rate on a supply of goods to another EU country.
A Latvian number can be checked in the VID VAT payer database, and a number from any EU country in the European Commission’s VIES system. If the buyer’s number is not valid at the time of the transaction, a supply of goods to another EU country cannot be zero-rated.
Example
An SIA with registration number 40103XXXXXX registers for VAT and receives the VAT number LV40103XXXXXX. It shows this number on every invoice, and its Estonian client can check it in VIES.
How Fakts handles it
When you look a client up by name or registration number, Fakts fills in its VAT number from the VID VAT register data held in its copy of the Enterprise Register.
Legal basis
- Value Added Tax Law, Section 125(1) likumi.lv
- LV portāls: what a taxpayer number is (in Latvian) lvportals.lv
- European Commission: VIES VAT number check ec.europa.eu
This explanation is for information and does not replace tax or legal advice. The law in its current consolidated text prevails.