VAT group and fiscal representative applications get detailed guidance

Latvia's State Revenue Service, VID, now sets out application guidance for registering a VAT group, adding a group member and becoming a fiscal representative. For each service it states registration within five working days after receiving the applicationLikumi, while qualifying that timing where additional information or analysis is requiredVID.

A VAT group consists of registered taxpayers meeting the statutory conditions and operating under a group formation agreementVID. At least one member must have taxable supplies of goods and services totalling at least €350,000 in the preceding 12 calendar months up to the month of applicationVID. Membership is confined to the specified companies in the same corporate group and qualifying Latvian branches of foreign companies in that groupVID.

The members must conclude a formation agreement identifying the principal company and must be reachable at their registered addressesVID. A registered taxpayer cannot belong to another VAT group simultaneouslyVID. The law does not cap the number of membersVID.

To register the group, VID requests the VAT-registration application, the taxpayer registration sheet for another type of entity and the group formation agreementVIDVID. The name field on the VAT application must identify it as a VAT group. When adding a member, the principal company submits an application and the amended formation agreement. VID sends decisions concerning the group and its membership to the principal company through EDS.

A fiscal representative is a registered VAT taxpayer that, under a written agreement, represents a taxpayer from another member state or a third country or territory in the specified goods transactions and pays VAT to the state budget. Registration is subject to the separate statutory eligibility conditions, including operating history, tax compliance and financial security.

The fiscal-representative application uses Annex 4 to Cabinet Regulation No. 17 and includes the prescribed evidence covering potential tax debtVIDVID. An authorised signatory must also provide a written power of attorneyVID. VID describes electronic submission through EDS, securely signed email or the official electronic addressVID, and communicates the registration decision through EDS.

The legal basis is the VAT Law, particularly sections 64, 65 and 68, together with Cabinet Regulation No. 17, Annexes 2 and 4, and Cabinet Regulation No. 537, Annex 2.