Latvia
Latvia: 5 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment, and what it is known for.
Forming a company
Company types in Latvia
The 5 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
What it is known for
Where Latvia is in the world’s top 10 on a measure anyone can check, the best rank first. Only the top is shown; a low rank is never stated.
- World’s3rdWorld-leading exports Fuel wood, wood chips and sawdustFuel wood, in logs, in billets, in twigs, in faggots or in similar forms; wood in chips or particles; sawdust and wood waste and scrap, whether or not agglomerated in logs, briquettes, pellets or similar formsUS$713 m · 5.0% of world exports of 147 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
A rank is among everything the source reports for that year, so it moves when the source adds or drops economies. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Latvia. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for Latvia.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for Latvia: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Latvia belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
- European Union: internal market and customs union
- Single market · since 2004
Covers goods, services, establishment, capital, movement of people, a common external tariff.
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EU Member State since 2004, Euro area member since 2014, Schengen area member since 2007 and more about Latvia’s participation in the EU.
- European Union: VAT territory
- Inside it
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‘Community’ and ‘territory of the Community’ mean the territories of the Member States as defined in point (2);
- Euro area
- Monetary union · since 2014
Covers a common currency.
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EU Member State since 2004, Euro area member since 2014, Schengen area member since 2007 and more about Latvia’s participation in the EU.
- Schengen area
- Free movement area · since 2007
Covers movement of people.
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EU Member State since 2004, Euro area member since 2014, Schengen area member since 2007 and more about Latvia’s participation in the EU.
- European Economic Area
- Single market
Covers goods, movement of people, services, establishment, capital.
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which now covers the EU and its 27 Member States, and three of the four EFTA members: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 20%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- Medium-sized and large undertakings, and those with securities on a regulated market, must have the annual statement audited by a sworn auditor. A small undertaking is audited only if it exceeds two of three limits for two years running (balance sheet EUR 1,000,000; net turnover EUR 2,000,000; 50 employees), is a group parent, or is a public-entity capital company (s.91(2)); micro undertakings are not audited on size.Official The registry or ministry page as of 2026-10-10
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if it is a medium-sized or large undertaking or if its transferable securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- Not in our records
VAT
The tax on what the company sells in Latvia, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- Standard rate
- 21%Official European Commission, Taxes in Europe Database situation on 2026/07/01
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Latvia, tax year 2026, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
- Corporate tax, final payment
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
- Corporate tax, instalments
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
- Personal income-tax return
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
- Personal income tax, final payment
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
- Personal income tax, instalments
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
- VAT return
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
- Payroll withholding
- Not in our records
vid.gov.lv inaccessible when checked
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Latvia yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Latvia exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Latvia’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed, of a thickness exceeding 6 mm HS 4407 | 5.4% | 3.9% | 4.5% | US$892 m |
| Wheat and meslin HS 1001 | 5.5% | 5.3% | 4.1% | US$812 m |
| Fuel wood, in logs, in billets, in twigs, in faggots or in similar forms; wood in chips or particles; sawdust and wood waste and scrap, whether or not agglomerated in logs, briquettes, pellets or similar forms HS 4401 | 3.1% | 3.3% | 3.6% | US$713 m |
| Telephone sets, including smartphones and other telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528 HS 8517 | 2.9% | 3.5% | 3.5% | US$690 m |
| Medicaments (excluding goods of heading 3002, 3005 or 3006) consisting of mixed or unmixed products for therapeutic or prophylactic uses, put up in measured doses (including those in the form of transdermal administration systems) or in forms or packings for retail sale HS 3004 | 2.5% | 3.0% | 3.3% | US$643 m |
| Undenatured ethyl alcohol of an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 80 % vol; spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages HS 2208 | 1.8% | 2.4% | 2.8% | US$543 m |
| Wood in the rough, whether or not stripped of bark or sapwood, or roughly squared HS 4403 | 1.7% | 1.7% | 2.2% | US$440 m |
| Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood HS 4412 | 1.6% | 2.0% | 2.0% | US$394 m |
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude; preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils HS 2710 | 3.5% | 1.1% | 2.0% | US$393 m |
| Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons (other than those of heading 8702), including station wagons and racing cars HS 8703 | 1.2% | 1.8% | 1.9% | US$384 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$19.7 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.