Aid exports switch to deduct-first VAT recovery from 2026

Goods supplied to Lithuanian-registered paramos gavėjai and shipped outside the European Union as paramaVMI, and goods supplied for humanitarian aid, carry 0% VATVMI — and the VAT paid on those goods is now recovered deduction-firstVMI. Anyone named in Article 50(1) or (2) who has included purchase or import VAT in VAT deduction, or is entitled to do so, is deemed to have had that VAT refundedVMI; only VAT that cannot be deducted, or can be deducted only in part, is paid out as a refund, after subtracting whatever was deductedVMI.

The zero rate covers two channels. The first is parama: supplies to recipients registered in Lithuania under the Labdaros ir paramos įstatymas, where the recipient ships the goods outside the EU to foreign legal persons or organisations eligible to receive paramaVMI — Lithuanian communities abroad, non-profit entities in Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway, and entities in the Government-listed democratic states suffering Rome Statute crimes. Recipients in the latter two groups are reached only through a supplier holding the documents proving the public-benefit purpose set by the VMI order No VA-137 Aprašas. The second is humanitarian aid: goods for state and municipal institutions and bodies, for companies holding an approval of the expediency of giving humanitarian aid, and for other persons with humanitarian-aid agreements with those institutions — provided the goods leave the EU and are handed over as humanitarian aidVMI. A company gives such aid only by gratuitously transferring its own funds or property at the request of the listed foreign recipients, and only with the competent authority's expediency approval reflecting the Foreign Ministry's recommendation; institutions notify the Foreign Ministry of aid decisions within 3 working days.

Refund claims go through Mano VMIVMI with the VAT invoices, the import documents with proof the import VAT was paid or set off, proof the goods left the EU, and proof of the recipient's eligibility or of the humanitarian handover. Where the territorial VMI asks for missing information to be fixed, it sets a cure period of at least 5 days. A VAT-payer charity fund illustrates the deduction-first logic: it buys instruments worth EUR 20,000 plus EUR 4,200 VAT for a Ukrainian hospital, deducts the input VAT, and does not declare the outbound shipment in the VAT return (form FR0600). A non-VAT-payer institution sending goods to the Lithuanian community in Bergen, Norway claims the same way by refund instead.

The refund clock is 30 days from the complete application, or 10 days from the end of a tax audit or tax investigation of the claimant. Transfers of the donor's own taxed assets follow the private-consumption logic: a state enterprise handing over lorries whose purchase VAT was deducted treats the transfer as consumption for private needs taxed at the 0% rate, self-invoices with classifier code PVM28 and reports the taxable amount in FR0600 field 14 — while passenger cars whose purchase VAT was never deducted under Article 62(2)(3) fall outside Article 50 altogether, with no supply, no invoice and no declaration. A VAT-payer company donating deducted materials and vehicles to rebuild Ukrainian energy infrastructure is likewise deemed refunded. Legal basis: PVMĮ Article 50 as amended by Law No XV-366 of 26 June 2025E TAR, Finance Minister Order No 1K-277 of 20 November 2025 recasting Order No 169, VMI letter No (18.2-31-2 Mr) RTD-132 of 22 October 2026, and the Labdaros ir paramos įstatymas and Vystomojo bendradarbiavimo ir humanitarinės pagalbos įstatymas provisions they cite.