This article explains how Lithuania’s new business-trip allowance rules change the cost and compliance framework relevant to public-sector employers and suppliers.
A new distinction takes effect on 1 October
Changes to business-trip allowances and other travel expenses take effect in Lithuania on 1 October 2026. The reform changes the basis on which an employer may reduce the daily allowance from the maximum amount set by the Government. The distinction is between a collective agreement and an employer’s internal legal act. Until now, either route could establish an allowance of at least 50% of the Government-set maximum, regardless of the length of the trip. The new rules preserve that 50% threshold for collective agreements, but impose additional conditions where an employer relies only on internal rules.
Internal rules will carry a longer-trip condition
Where a company has no collective agreement and sets reduced allowances through an internal legal act, the lower rate will apply only to business trips lasting at least 7 days. The allowance must also be at least 65% of the maximum amount set by the Government. This creates two separate compliance routes rather than one general minimum: a collective agreement can continue to support the 50% threshold regardless of trip length, while an internal policy cannot use that threshold for shorter assignments. The change therefore makes the legal basis for the reduction as important as the percentage itself.
The procurement relevance lies in cost formation
For public procurement, the transferable point is how travel costs enter the price and delivery assumptions behind a service. A supplier performing work away from its normal base may calculate staff costs, travel expenses and allowance obligations when preparing an offer or managing performance. From 1 October, those calculations may depend on whether the employer has a collective agreement or relies on internal rules, as well as on the length of the assignment. The source does not announce a new tender procedure or a change to award criteria. It does, however, establish a labour-cost rule that public buyers and bidders may need to reflect in cost planning for mobile work.
Rules once limited to public bodies broaden
Some of the rules that previously applied only to state and municipal institutions will become mandatory for private employers for the first time from October. That matters to procurement because public contracts are often delivered by private organisations alongside public-sector bodies, even though the source does not identify particular procurements or contract types. The practical compliance question is whether the allowance reduction is supported by the correct internal instrument and meets the relevant minimum. Businesses reviewing policies before the change will need to distinguish collective-agreement terms from internal legal acts, while public-sector procurement teams can treat that distinction as part of the supplier’s travel-cost framework.
IN NUMBERS
The reform does not remove the possibility of reduced allowances, but it links that possibility to the employer’s chosen legal instrument and, in some cases, to a minimum trip length. That distinction is the central change for organisations whose publicly funded work involves business travel.
Reported from vz.lt, 2026-09-28. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
