I am pregnant (maternity benefit)

1. Discuss with the medical practitioner in charge when you can go on pregnancy and childbirth and set the precise date. On the agreed date, the doctor will issue you an electronic certificate of pregnancy and childbirth leave. It may be issued not earlier than after 30 weeks of pregnancy.
2. When the doctor issues you an electronic certificate of pregnancy and childbirth leave, notify your employer so he could prepare the necessary documents regarding your leave and submit a notification NP-SD2 to the "Sodra".
3. Submit an application to the "Sodra" (online, by post or by visiting any "Sodra" offices in person) claiming a maternity benefit covering pregnancy and childbirth.

  Not later than within 12 months after the end of the period of pregnancy and childbirth leave.

You are entitled to receive maternity benefit if:

• Your doctor has issued an electronic certificate of pregnancy and childbirth leave;
• Before the first day of the pregnancy and childbirth leave you have the maternity social insurance record of not less than 12 months during the last 24 months.​
• If you do not have the obligatory social insurance record because you had been on child care leave before, i.e. the employer granted child care leave for the child who was born before. In such a case, the maternity social insurance period is calculated from the period of 24 months before the child reaches 2 years of age.

​​You are insured under maternity social insurance:

• you are employed under employment contracts;
• you work in the civil service;
• you work under copyright contracts or contracts on the activity of sports or performers;
• you perform individual activities under an individual activity certificate;
• you perform individual agricultural activities;
• you are an owner of a sole proprietor company;
• you are a partner of a small partnership, general partnership or limited partnership;
• you are a member of a family-type child care organisation;
• you are a soldier of the compulsory initial military service or perform an alternative national defence service;
• you are a serviceman in professional military service of the national defence system, also a volunteer soldier;
• you are not employed, but you are a spouse of a civil servant and live abroad where he has been transferred to a post at a diplomatic mission, consular post of the Republic of Lithuania;
• you are a spouse of a serviceman in professional military service and live abroad where he has been transferred to a post at a mission of the Republic of Lithuania at an international organisation;
• you are a spouse a delegated person and live abroad where he has been transferred to a post at a diplomatic mission, consular post of the Republic of Lithuania;
• you are a spouse of the President of the Republic of Lithuania;
• you don't work or do self-employment, but you get a childcare allowance.

  IMPORTANT:

• Persons who work under the individual activity certificate, are engaged in individual agricultural activities, are members of a family-type child care organisation, owners of individual companies, partners of small, general or limited partnerships are considered insured if they have paid maternity social insurance contributions for the last period specified in the Law on State Social Insurance and from 01-02-2021 - for the calendar month preceding the month in which entitlement to sickness benefit arises or for the current month if in the previous month you were temporarily incapacitated for work or received sickness, profesional rehabilitation, maternity, paternity or childcare benefits or entitlement to sickness benefit arose in the month of commencement of activity. For self-employed persons who have acquired the right to maternity benefit, this benefit is paid regardless of income.
• If you have the required maternity social insurance record but have become uninsured maternity social insurance (i.e. you have been dismissed from work, service, you have terminated your individual activity, you have interrupted your sport activity or other self-employment), you are entitled to maternity benefit.
• A pregnant woman who is not entitled to maternity benefit from the State Social Insurance Fund shall be paid a lump sum benefit to a pregnant woman under the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Child Benefits.

• An application for granting a maternity or child care benefit.
• An application for applying of the tax-free amount of income.

They can be submitted:

1. ​Via internet through a personal "Sodra" account for resident and choosing an application for granting a maternity benefit, GPS2 and an application for applying of the tax-free amount of income, GPS9.
2. ​By post.  Applications' forms you can download here. When sending applications by post, a copy of the identity document approved in accordance with the law (for example notary) must be attached.
3. ​Upon arrival at the "Sodra" department, the application will be completed and submitted to you to sign by the employee. You need to have:

• An identity document, such as a passport, identity card, a permit to live in Lithuania.
• It is also needed to know the details of the personal account to which the benefit will be paid.

If you have not acquired the required length of service to receive parental benefit while working in Lithuania, but have worked and / or been insured abroad in the last 24 months, additionally submit an application to mediate in obtaining data on periods of employment and / or insurance acquired abroad. You can submit this application:

1. By internet, by connecting to your personal citizen’s “Sodra” account and choosing an application to mediate in obtaining data on periods of employment and / or insurance acquired abroad, GPS12 (in Lithuanian).
2. By mail. An application you can download here. When sending a request by post, a copy of the identity document approved in accordance with the law must be attached (i.e. notary approved copy).
3. Upon arrival at the “Sodra” department, the application will be filled out and submitted for you by the employee. You need to have the following with yourself:

• Personal identification document (passport, personal identification card, a Lithuanian residence permit);
• Social security number (or personal identification number) given in the foreign country where you worked;
• Name (s) and period (s) of employment of the foreign employer (s).

1. If the pregnancy and childbirth leave is not granted from the first day of the month, the employer's certificate on the amount of calculated and paid salary, applied amount of tax-exempt income, deducted and paid personal income tax may be provided by the employer. If you do not submit the certificate, the amount of tax-exempt income will be applied from the first day of the next month, and the resulting overpayment of the personal income can be recovered by declaring income to the STI.
2. An employer's certificate on the amount of the insured income, if you have insured income during the period of pregnancy and childbirth leave or you receive compensation or incentive lump sums related to employment relationships. The employer may submit this certificate through the personal "Sodra" account for an insurer, where the recommended certificate form is presented.
3. If during the pregnancy and childbirth leave you receive insured or other work income which is not insured income, the work performed prior to the first day of this leave must be accompanied by a document of transfer-acceptance of the work performed, a copyright contract or other document justifying the end of the work.
4. If during the pregnancy and childbirth leave you receive income from work activities that are not insured income, you must provide documents confirming the amount of income received and the period for which it was calculated, for example, a salary received abroad from an international or European Union institution or foreign state institutions, certificate, etc.

• The maternity benefit makes 77.58 percent of the compensated recipient’s wages (hereinafter - QW*). This size is calculated according to the personal insurable income received in 12 consecutive calendar months until the calendar month preceding the month when the right to maternity benefit appeared.
• The maternity benefit is paid for working days (a week of 5 working days is applicable).
• If you are on the leave of child maintenance and you are granted leave of pregnancy and childbirth while expecting another child, you are entitled to maternity benefit. Both benefits will be paid to you, however, the total amount of both benefits cannot exceed 77.58 percent of the wages more favourable to you, on the ground of which the maternity benefit or child maintenance benefit was calculated.

IMPORTANT! From 1 January 2021,  the amount of the maternity benefit for self-employed persons will no longer be reduced if the person will have an income from self-employment during the period of receipt of the benefit. However, as before, the amount of the benefit will be reduced if the person has income under an employment contract or legal relationship equivalent to employment relationships. 

Minimum amounts of benefit if you acquire right to the maternity benefit in:

2023 Q:

• Monthly - €294**.
• Daily - €14,07.

* If a woman entitled to maternity benefit has been insured/worked abroad during 12 consecutive calendar months, her insured income for maternity benefit may be calculated during consecutive 12 calendar months or during the last calendar months during which she was insured/employed in Lithuania (including unemployment insurance and childcare benefits). Since the entry into force of the legislative amendments from 01/04/2022, the amount of the QW for these two periods will be compared and a more favourable (higher) QW will be applied.

For example, a woman has been granted maternity leave from 04/05/2023. During the period from 03/01/2022 to 02/28/2023, this woman was working in Lithuania (03/01/2022 – 05/25/2022), in Spain (01/06/2022 – 09/30/2022), received unemployment insurance benefit  in Lithuania 10/11/2022 – 12/30/2022), and from 01/02/2023 to her maternity leave she was working again. In this case, two daily compensatory earnings must be calculated – according to the insured income received in Lithuania for the period from 03/01/2022 to 02/282023 (days 255) and according to the period from 07/01/2022 to 02/28/2023 (days 98). Maternity benefit shall be granted on the basis of a more favourable (higher) amount of the QW.

** 6 basic social insurance benefits valid for the last quarter before the right to maternity benefit appeared.

1. The maternity benefit will be paid to the personal account specified in the application.
2. The decision on granting the maternity benefit must be appointed not later than within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the application with all the necessary documents and data in the "Sodra" department.
3. The benefit is paid within 7 working days from the date of adoption of the decision.

The maternity benefit is paid in a lump sum for the whole period of pregnancy and childbirth leave

Please note that if your pregnancy and child birth leave covers months of two different years, you can choose how your maternity benefit should be paid whether in a lump sum or in instalments. In the latter case, the instalment of the benefit for the period until 31 December will be paid by 31 December, and the instalment for the period from 1 January will be paid after 1 January. You must mark your choice in the application form (in Lithuanian) to apply the amount of tax-exempt income.

If you choose to receive the maternity benefit in a lump sum, the amount of tax-exempt income will not be applied when the instalment for the months of the next year will be taxed by the personal income tax. The beneficiary of the overcharged payment will be able to withdraw when they submit the annual income tax return for that year to the State Tax Inspectorate. By choosing the payment in instalments, the instalment of the benefit for the months of the next year will be paid by applying the amount of tax-exempt income.

  The benefit is paid:

1. For 126 calendar days after 30 or more weeks of pregnancy.
2. In the case of complicated childbirth and if more than one child was born, the benefit shall be paid for extra 14 calendar days.
3. For 56 calendar days after the childbirth if a woman has not used the right to a pregnancy and childbirth leave before the date of childbirth.
4. For 70 calendar days after the childbirth in the case of complicated childbirth and if more than one child was born if a woman have not used the right to a pregnancy and childbirth leave before the date of childbirth.

  The maternity benefit for women, who gave birth during the 22–30th week of pregnancy, is paid:

1. For 28 calendar days after the childbirth.
2. For extra 98 calendar days if the baby survives for 28 days or more.
3. The benefit shall be payable for extra 14 calendar days in the case of complicated childbirth and if more than one child was born.
4. For women who gave birth to a stillborn baby in the 22nd-30th week of pregnancy, the maternity benefit shall be paid for 28 calendar days after the childbirth.

  The insured person who is appointed as a guardian of a new-born shall be paid a maternity benefit for the period from the date of establishment of the guardianship until the day the baby is 70 days old.