Does an electronic invoice necessarily have the buyer’s electronic signature in Vietnam?

Does an electronic invoice necessarily have the buyer’s electronic signature in Vietnam?

Pursuant to point a, clause 14, Article 10 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, it is stipulated that in some cases, e-invoices do not necessarily need to contain all the contents of a complete invoice, as follows:

Contents of the Invoice

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14. Certain cases where e-invoices do not necessarily have full contents

a) An e-invoice is not required to have the buyer's digital signature (including cases where an e-invoice is generated when selling goods or providing services to customers abroad). In cases where the buyer is a business establishment and the buyer and seller have agreed that the buyer meets the technical conditions to digitally sign the e-invoice issued by the seller, the e-invoice will contain the digital signature of both the seller and the buyer according to their agreement.

b) For e-invoices issued by the tax authority on a per-transaction basis, the digital signature of the seller and the buyer is not necessarily required.

c) For e-invoices issued for sales at supermarkets or shopping centers where the buyer is an individual not engaged in business, it is not necessary to include the name, address, or tax code of the buyer on the invoice.

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Therefore, on e-invoices, a digital signature of the buyer is not compulsory.

However, if the buyer is a business establishment and there is an agreement between the buyer and seller concerning the buyer's technical capacity to digitally sign the invoice issued by the seller, the e-invoice will include the digital signatures of both the buyer and seller per their agreement.

Does an electronic invoice necessarily have the buyer’s electronic signature in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

Shall e-invoices be printed out or search upon request in Vietnam?

Based on Article 6 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP regarding the retention and retention of invoices and records:

Retention and retention of Invoices and records

1. Invoices and records must be stored and retained to ensure:

a) Safety, confidentiality, integrity, completeness, without alteration or misrepresentation throughout the retention period;

b) Correct and complete retention duration as prescribed by accounting law.

2. e-invoices and e-records must be stored and retained by e-means. Entities, organizations, individuals have the right to choose and apply methods of preserving and storing e-invoices and records that fit the specifics of their activities and their capability to apply technology. e-invoices, e-records must be printed out or search upon request or accessible upon request.

3. Invoices printed by tax authorities, self-printed records must meet the following retention, retention requirements:

a) Unissued invoices, records must be retained and stored in a warehouse according to the retention and retention policies for valuable records.

b) Issued invoices, records within accounting units must be retained under the provisions for retention and retention of accounting records.

c) Issued invoices, records within organizations, households, individuals not classified as accounting units must be retained and stored as private assets of those organizations, households, individuals.

Therefore, according to regulations, e-invoices and e-records must be printed out or search upon request or accessible upon request.

What language does the e-invoice use in Vietnam?

According to Article 12 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, it is stipulated as follows:

Format of e-Invoices

1. The format of an e-invoice is a technical standard that prescribes the data type and data length for information fields used for the transmission, retention, and display of e-invoices. The format of an e-invoice uses the XML record format language (XML stands for "eXtensible Markup Language" in English, created for the purpose of sharing e-data between IT systems).

2. The format of e-invoices comprises two components: the business data component of the e-invoice and the digital signature data component. For e-invoices with the tax authority's code, there is an additional data component related to the tax authority code.

3. The General Department of Taxation develops and announces the business data components of e-invoices, the digital signature data component, and provides the tools for displaying the contents of e-invoices as stipulated in this Decree.

4. Organizations and enterprises selling goods and providing services must meet the following requirements when transmitting e-invoice data to the tax authority through direct submission:

a) Connect with the General Department of Taxation through a leased line channel or MPLS VPN Layer 3 channel, comprising 1 main transmission channel and 1 backup transmission channel. Each channel must have a minimum bandwidth of 5 Mbps.

b) Utilize Web Service or Message Queue (MQ) with encryption as the method for connection.

c) Use the SOAP protocol for packaging and transmitting data.

5. e-invoices must fully and accurately display the contents of the invoice to avoid misleading interpretations so that buyers can read them using e-tools.

Therefore, e-invoices use the XML record format language (XML stands for "eXtensible Markup Language" in English).