Are collectors of taxes, fees, and charges subject to Circular 123 on e-invoices in Vietnam?

Are collectors of taxes, fees, and charges subject to Circular 123 on e-invoices in Vietnam?

Based on the provisions in Article 2 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP as follows:

Applicable Subjects

1. Organizations and individuals selling goods, providing services including:

a) Enterprises established and operating under Vietnamese law; branches, representative offices of foreign enterprises operating in Vietnam;

b) Cooperatives, cooperative unions;

c) Business households, individual business persons, cooperative groups;

d) Public service units with goods and service provision activities;

đ) Non-business organizations with business activities.

2. Organizations and individuals purchasing goods and services.

3. collectors of taxes, fees, and charges.

4. Taxpayers, fee payers, and charge payers.

5. Organizations responsible for withholding personal income tax.

6. Organizations printing invoices and records; organizations providing software for self-printing records; organizations providing e-invoice and record services.

7. Tax authorities including the General Department of Taxation, Department of Taxation, and Sub-department of Taxation (including regional Sub-departments of Taxation).

8. Customs authorities including the General Department of Customs, Department of Customs, Post-Clearance Audit Department, and Sub-department of Customs.

9. Organizations and individuals related to the management and use of invoices and records.

Thus, according to the regulations, collectors of taxes, fees, and charges are among the subjects applicable to Circular 123 on e-invoices.

Are collectors of taxes, fees, and charges subject to Circular 123 on e-invoices in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

Do collectors of taxes, fees, and charges issue e-records in Vietnam?

According to Clause 5, Article 3 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, it is stipulated as follows:

Interpretation of Terms

In this Decree, the following terms are construed as follows:

1. Invoice is an accounting record prepared by organizations and individuals selling goods, providing services, recording the information of goods sold and services provided. Invoices can be in the form of e-invoices or invoices printed by the tax authority.

2. e-invoice is an invoice with or without a tax authority's code, presented in e-data format, prepared by organizations and individuals selling goods, providing services to record the information of goods sold and services provided as per the regulations of the law on accounting and tax, including invoices generated from a cash register connected to e-data transmission with the tax authority, where:

a) An e-invoice with a tax authority's code is an invoice that the tax authority codes before the organization or individual selling goods and providing services sends it to the buyer.

The tax authority’s code on the e-invoice includes a transaction number, which is a unique number created by the tax authority’s system, and a string of characters encoded by the tax authority based on the information provided by the seller on the invoice.

b) An e-invoice without a tax authority's code is an e-invoice sent by the organization selling goods and providing services to the buyer without a tax authority's code.

3. Invoice printed by the tax authority is a paper invoice printed by the tax authority for sale to organizations, individuals subject to and eligible to purchase tax office invoices for use when selling goods or providing services as per the regulations stated in Article 23 of this Decree.

4. record refers to the material used to record information about deductions, tax collections, fees, and charges belonging to the state budget as per the tax management law. records under this Decree include tax withholding records, tax receipts, and fee and charge receipts in e-or printed formats.

5. e-record includes types of records and receipts mentioned in Clause 4 of this Article, presented in e-data format, issued by organizations and individuals responsible for tax deductions to the taxpayer or by the organization collecting taxes, fees, and charges to the payer by e-means as stipulated in the laws on charges, fees, and taxes.

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Thus, as per the above regulations, it can be observed that collectors of taxes, fees, and charges may issue e-records to the payer by e-means as stipulated in the laws on charges, fees, and taxes.

Are collectors of taxes, fees, and charges required to prepare records and receipts according to principles in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, it is regulated as follows:

Principles for Preparing, Managing, and Using Invoices and records

1. When selling goods and providing services, the seller must prepare an invoice to deliver to the buyer (including cases where goods and services are used for promotion, advertising, samples; goods and services are used for gifting, exchanging, paying salaries to employees, and internal consumption (except for internal circulation of goods to continue the production process); goods release in the form of lending, borrowing or returning goods) and must fully record the contents as stipulated in Article 10 of this Decree. If using e-invoices, they must comply with the standard data format of the tax authority as prescribed in Article 12 of this Decree.

2. When withholding personal income tax, collecting taxes, fees, and charges, the organization withholding tax, the organization collecting fees, charges, and taxes must prepare tax withholding records, tax, fee, and charge receipts for the individual whose income is taxed, the taxpayer, fee payer, charge payer, and must fully record the contents as stipulated in Article 32 of this Decree. If using e-receipts, they must conform to the standard data format of the tax authority. If an individual authorizes tax finalization, tax withholding records are not issued for personal income tax.

For individuals not signing labor contracts or signing labor contracts under 3 months, the organization or individual paying income may choose to issue a tax withholding record for each tax deduction or for multiple deductions within a tax calculation period. For individuals signing labor contracts from 3 months or more, the organization or individual paying income only issues one tax withholding record for a tax calculation period.

3. Before using invoices, receipts, enterprises, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individual businesses must register to use them with the tax authority or notify issuance as prescribed in Articles 15, 34, and Clause 1, Article 36 of this Decree. For invoices and receipts printed by the tax authority, the tax authority shall notify issuance as per Clause 3, Article 24, and Clause 2, Article 36 of this Decree.

4. Organizations, households, and individuals in the business process must report the use status of invoices purchased from the tax authority, report the use status of printed, self-printed receipts, or receipts bought from the tax authority as stipulated in Articles 29 and 38 of this Decree.

5. The registration, management, and use of e-invoices and records must comply with the laws on e-transactions, accounting, tax, tax management, and regulations in this Decree.

6. Invoice and record data when selling goods, providing services, transaction data when paying taxes, deducting taxes, and paying taxes, fees, charges serve as the database for tax management and provide invoice, record information to relevant organizations and individuals.

7. Sellers of goods and services that are enterprises, economic organizations, and other organizations may authorize a third party to prepare e-invoices for the sale of goods and services. Invoices assigned to a third party must still show the name of the selling unit as the authority party. The authorization must be recorded in writing between the authorizing party and the authorized party, fully detailing the authorized invoice information (authorization purpose; authorization period; authorized invoice payment method) and must notify the tax authority when registering to use e-invoices. In cases where the authorized invoice is an e-invoice without a tax authority's code, the authorizing party must transmit e-invoice data to the tax authority through a service provider. The Ministry of Finance provides specific guidance on this content.

8. collectors of fees and charges may authorize a third party to prepare fee and charge receipts. Receipts authorized to a third party must still show the name of the fee and charge collection organization as the authority party. Authorization must be recorded in writing between the authorizing party and the authorized party, fully detailing the authorized receipt information (authorization purpose; authorization period; authorized receipt payment method) and must notify the tax authority upon receipt issuance notification.

Thus, it can be seen, according to the above principles, that collectors of taxes, fees, and charges are required to prepare records and receipts when conducting activities like collecting taxes, fees, and charges.