Lithuania

Allowable deductions include all the usual costs that an entity actually incurs for the purpose of earning income or receiving economic benefit unless the Law on CIT provides otherwise.

Depreciation

Tangible and intangible assets may be depreciated using a directly proportional (straight-line) depreciation method, a production depreciation method, or a double-declining-balance depreciation method. Depreciation may not exceed maximum rates established by the law. For certain typical assets, depreciation rates relevant for tax purposes are shown in the chart below:

Goodwill

Goodwill can be amortised for tax purposes using a straight-line method over 15 years after a merger of a purchasing company and an acquired company, provided that certain conditions are met.

Start-up expenses

Generally, start‑up expenses are deductible for tax purposes provided that the expenses are related to the activities carried out or planned to be carried out in the future by the company incurring such expenses. However, expenses directly related to the establishment of the entity and the issuance of shares, incurred during the establishment or reorganisation of the entity, or the distribution of a new issue of shares are considered as non-deductible expenses as related to the entity's shareholder(s), and not directly to the entity's activities.

Interest expenses

Interest expenses are generally deductible for tax purposes. Interest expenses should be generally recognised as non-deductible for tax purposes if, after acquisition, a purchasing company and an acquired company are merged and debt used for acquisition of shares is pushed down to the acquired company (possibility to deduct interest after merger remains only if certain conditions are met, e.g. economic benefit for surviving entity from such exercise is substantiated).

Interest paid to related parties may be non-deductible for tax purposes if thin capitalisation rules are infringed, limits of the EBITDA rule are exceeded, or the interest rate on a debt from the related party does not correspond to a fair market interest rate (see Thin capitalisation and EBITDA rules and Transfer pricing in the Group taxation section).

Bad debts

Bad debts are deductible only if proved that they cannot be recovered and specific criteria are met. Provisions are non-deductible.

Charitable contributions

Generally, double the amount of donation/sponsorship can be deducted for tax purposes (i.e. 200% deduction is available) but only if donation/sponsorship was provided to registered recipients and only up to a limit of 40% of taxable result before deduction of donation/sponsorship and utilisation of tax losses carried forward.

Fines and penalties

Fines and penalties are generally non-deductible for tax purposes.

Taxes

All taxes, fees, and other compulsory payments to the state budget are deductible for CIT purposes, except VAT and CIT paid to the budget. Note that VAT can be treated as deductible for CIT purposes if it is treated as fully or partly non-deductible for VAT purposes and this input/import VAT relates to deductible expenses.

Other significant items

Limited deductible expenses also include the following:

• Maintenance, repair, and reconstruction expenses of tangible fixed assets: If the repair or reconstruction increase the service period and improve the qualities (useful characteristics of the fixed assets), the value of repair or reconstruction shall be added to the acquisition value of the tangible fixed assets.
• Business travel expenses: Deductible with restrictions.
• Advertising and representation expenses: 50% of representation expenses not exceeding 2% of the company’s income for the tax period are deductible.
• Natural losses: Deduction limited to not more than 1% (3% for fresh fruits, vegetables, and some other cases) of turnover.
• Contributions and expenses for the benefit of employees: Deductible with restrictions.
• Special provisions of credit institutions and insurance companies: Deductible when calculated according to the methods established by the Bank of Lithuania and the Commission of Insurance Supervision.
• Membership fees, contributions, and premiums: Deductible with restrictions.
• Costs of purchasing and renting passenger cars, except in cases where these cars are used only for rental activities, driving training services, or providing transport services (from 1 January 2025).

Non-deductible expenses also include the following:

• Default interest (forfeit), fines, and late interest paid to the state budget as well as other sanctions imposed for violations of laws and regulations of Lithuania.
• Interest or any other indemnity paid due to non-performance of contractual obligations by related parties.
• Amount of the limited deductible expenses in excess of the established limits.
• Expenses attributed to allowable deductions more than 18 months past, although the payments for goods or services supplied by the entities registered or otherwise organised in blacklisted territories (see below) have not been made.
• Sponsorship and gifts that do not correspond to the requirements of the Law on CIT.
• Payments to blacklisted territories (see below) if they are not verified and payments are not subject to WHT.
• Indemnification for damages inflicted by the entity.
• Dividends or otherwise distributed profits.
• Other expenses not related to the deriving of income and not attributed to operating activities of the entity, as well as the expenses that are not considered allowable deductions under the Law on CIT.
• Amounts resulting from adjustments and corrections of errors of previous tax periods.
• Expenses related to revaluation of fixed assets and securities, except for financial instruments acquired for hedging purposes.
• Expenses incurred while earning non-taxable income.
• Expenses related to income from certain international maritime activities if a maritime entity chose to apply a fixed CIT.
• Expenses incurred while carrying out the activities prohibited by Criminal Code (including bribes).
• Solidarity contribution, paid in accordance with the procedure established by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania "On the Implementation of Regulation (EU) 2022/1854".

Net operating losses

Operating losses may be carried forward for an indefinite period, provided that certain requirements are met.

Current year operating losses can be transferred to another legal entity of the group if certain conditions are met.

Losses incurred due to the transfer of securities and/or derivative financial instruments may be carried forward for five years (indefinitely for financial institutions).

Reduction of taxable profit by accumulated tax losses is limited to 70% of the taxable profit for the current year (except for entities that are subject to the reduced CIT rate of 5% [6% from 1 January 2025]). The rest of the accumulated tax losses can be carried forward for an unlimited period of time. However, such transfer shall be terminated if the entity ceases to carry on the activities that caused these losses, unless the entity ceases to carry on the activities for reasons beyond its control.

No carryback of losses is available in Lithuania.

Payments to foreign affiliates

Payments to foreign affiliates (e.g. interest, royalties, management fees, fees for other services) are deductible for tax purposes if the payment serves a business purpose, provides a benefit to the payer, is at arm’s length, and is substantiated by sufficient documentation. Payments to foreign affiliates may also be subject to various WHTs. Certain payments to affiliates located in tax haven (blacklisted) countries are subject to a 15% (16% from 1 January 2025) WHT rate.

Blacklisted territories

A blacklisted territory is a foreign country or territory that is included on a list of offshore territories established by the Minister of Finance that meets at least two of the following criteria:

• Similar tax rate in such territory is below 75% of that set in the Lithuanian Law on CIT.
• In such territory, different rules for levying a similar tax are applied, depending on the country where the parent company (controlling entity) is registered or otherwise organised.
• In such territory, different rules for levying a similar tax are applied, depending on the country where the business is conducted.
• The company (the controlled taxable entity) has entered into agreement with the tax administrator of that territory with regard to the application of a tax rate or tax base.
• There is no effective exchange of information in such territory.
• There is no financial and administrative transparency in such territory, the tax administration rules are not quite clear, and the application thereof is not communicated to tax administrators of other countries.

A list of 49 offshore territories (including the newly listed Russian Federation since 1 December 2023) has been published. With certain exceptions specified in the law, all payments to offshore companies or their branches for any work or services, commodities, interest on funding, insurance premiums, guarantees, etc. are non-deductible for CIT purposes unless the Lithuanian entity provides evidence to the state tax authorities that:

• the payments are related to usual activities of the paying and the receiving business entities
• the receiving foreign business entity manages the property necessary to carry out such usual activities, and
• there is a connection between the payment and the economically grounded business operation.