Latvia gives affected farmers tax breathing room: up to 12 months without late-payment interest

Short answer: farmers whose operations were affected by prolonged rainfall, waterlogging or flooding in the summer and early autumn of 2026 may ask Latvia’s State Revenue Service, or VID, to extend the payment term for overdue taxes for up to 12 months. If VID approves the schedule and the farm follows it, no late-payment interest will accrue during that period.

Important: this is not a write-off of tax debt and the extension is not granted automatically to every farmer. The application must explain how the force-majeure circumstances affected the specific farm’s revenue and its ability to pay taxes on time.

Why is this special tax arrangement available?

On 29 September 2026, the Latvian government declared an agricultural state of emergency throughout the country until 10 January 2027. The reason was prolonged and intense rainfall during the summer and early autumn, which caused waterlogged soil, flooding of agricultural land in some places and difficulties in harvesting crops and carrying out other seasonal work.

VID explains that the agricultural emergency qualifies as force majeure. This provides a legal basis for individual relief to farms experiencing tax-payment difficulties because weather-related losses disrupted their cash flow.

What relief can an affected farmer receive?

Under Section 24, Paragraph one, Clause 4 of Latvia’s Law on Taxes and Duties, a farmer may request that overdue tax payments be rescheduled for up to 12 months. No late-payment interest is calculated while the approved payment schedule is being fulfilled.

In practical terms, the debt does not disappear, but the farm receives additional time to pay without further late-payment interest accumulating. To retain this advantage, the farmer must comply with the schedule approved by VID and the other conditions stated in its decision.

Who is eligible?

The VID announcement does not create automatic tax holidays for the entire agricultural sector. An extension may be requested by a farmer whose operations and ability to pay were genuinely affected by force-majeure circumstances.

The application must describe the specific situation, circumstances and transactions that adversely affected the business and tax payments. Merely referring to the nationwide agricultural emergency will therefore not be sufficient.

What should be included in the supporting explanation?

information about the affected land, crops or stages of the farm’s operations;
a description of crops that could not be harvested or were damaged and of delayed seasonal work;
a cash-flow calculation showing the loss of income and the ability to follow the proposed schedule;
changes to contracts, invoices, deliveries or sales caused by the weather;
other documents or data available to the farm that help demonstrate causation.

VID has not stated that this exact set of documents is mandatory in every case. It is a practical checklist intended to make the application specific enough for VID to assess the farm’s actual circumstances.

How can the request be submitted in EDS?

The application can be submitted through VID’s Electronic Declaration System, or EDS. Select:

“Documents”;
“Create a new document”;
“By document group”;
“Applications”;
“Application for an extension of the payment term”.

VID advises farmers to apply as soon as possible. The more clearly the application explains the effect of the weather, the relevant tax liabilities and the proposed payment schedule, the lower the risk that VID will need to request additional information.

What if the original tax-payment deadline has not yet arrived?

VID advises farms that have so far paid their taxes on time but already expect difficulty meeting the next payment to contact the authority before the due date. This is important to prevent late-payment interest from starting to accrue at all.

A common mistake would be to wait until both the debt and late-payment interest have arisen even though the cash-flow problem was foreseeable earlier.

Can an existing VID schedule be extended for up to five years?

Yes. In certain cases, a farmer already subject to a VID-approved tax-payment extension may ask for the remaining unpaid amount to be rescheduled again for up to five years. The application must be submitted before the final payment deadline under the current schedule.

There is an important distinction: during the five-year restructuring, late-payment interest is calculated at 0.0125% for every day of delay. The phrase “without late-payment interest” therefore applies to the special extension of up to 12 months, not to the repeated schedule of up to five years.

What should a farmer do now?

List the tax liabilities and determine the amount that cannot be paid by the current deadline.
Prepare a realistic payment schedule covering no more than 12 months.
Explain the direct link between the consequences of the rainfall and the deterioration of the farm’s ability to pay.
Submit the request through EDS as soon as possible.
After receiving VID’s decision, comply precisely with the approved schedule and pay new current liabilities on time.

Questions may be submitted through “Correspondence with VID” in EDS or by calling VID’s advisory line at +371 67120000. If a farm has several debts, active recovery proceedings or a previously breached schedule, the applicable solution should be clarified with VID before submitting the application.