How many characters are there in the provincial tax department-ordered printed invoice in Vietnam? If the provincial tax department-ordered printed invoice is evidence, shall it be destroyed?

What information is conveyed through the tax department-ordered printed invoice containing 08 characters?

According to Article 4 of Circular 78/2021/TT-BTC as follows:

Template symbols, invoice number, and invoice copy name

...

2. Invoices printed by the Tax Department

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b) The tax department-ordered printed invoice consists of a group of 08 characters representing information about: the Tax Department printing the invoice; the year the invoice was printed; and the invoice number as determined by the tax authority based on management needs. Specifically:

- The first two (02) characters indicate the number of the Tax Department printing the invoice and are determined according to Appendix I.A issued with this Circular;

- The next two (02) characters are two capital letters selected from 20 capital letters of the Vietnamese alphabet including: A, B, C, D, E, G, H, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Y, representing the invoice number as determined by the tax authority based on management needs;

- The next character (01) is “/” used as a separator;

- The next three (03) characters include the first two (02) Arabic numerals representing the year the Tax Department printed the invoice, as determined by the last two digits of the calendar year, and one (01) character, the letter P, representing the provincial tax department-ordered printed invoice. For example: If the Tax Department printed in 2022, it is represented as number 22P; if printed in 2023, it is represented as number 23P;

- Example illustrating the characters of the invoice template number printed by the Tax Department and the tax department-ordered printed invoice:

Invoice template number “01GTKT3/001”, Invoice number “01AA/22P”: understood as template number 001 of a value-added tax invoice with 3 copies printed by the Hanoi Tax Department in 2022.

c) The invoice copies printed by the Tax Department are the sheets within the same invoice number. Each invoice number has 3 copies including:

- Copy 1: For storage;

- Copy 2: For the buyer;

- Copy 3: For internal use.

d) The invoice template number as a sticker, ticket, card printed by the Tax Department includes 03 characters to distinguish between value-added tax invoices or sales invoices as follows:

- number 01/: for stickers, tickets, cards as value-added tax invoices;

- number 02/: for stickers, tickets, cards as sales invoices.

Thus, according to the aforementioned regulation, the tax department-ordered printed invoice containing 08 characters provides information about the Tax Department printing the invoice, the year of printing, and the invoice number as determined by the tax authority based on management needs.

How many characters are there in the provincial tax department-ordered printed invoice? If the provincial tax department-ordered printed invoice is evidence, shall it be destroyed? (Image from the Internet)

Vietnam: Shall the provincial tax department-ordered printed invoice be destroyed if it is evidence?

According to Article 27 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP it is regulated as follows:

Destruction of pre-printed invoices purchased from the tax authority

1. Enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individual businesses with unused invoices must carry out the destruction of invoices. The deadline for destroying invoices is no later than 30 days from the date of notification to the tax authority. In cases where the tax authority has notified the invoices no longer have valid use (except for cases notified due to tax debt enforcement measures), enterprises, economic organizations, households, or individual businesses must destroy the invoices, with a deadline of no later than 10 days from the tax authority's notification of invalid use or from the date of finding the lost invoice.

Invoices already issued by accounting units are destroyed according to accounting laws.

Invoices not yet issued but are evidence in legal cases are not destroyed but handled according to legal regulations.

2. Destruction of invoices by enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individual businesses is carried out as follows:

a) Enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individual businesses must prepare an inventory list of invoices to be destroyed.

b) Enterprises, economic organizations must establish an Invoice Destruction Council. The Invoice Destruction Council must include representatives of management and accounting departments of the organization. Households and individual businesses are not required to establish a Council when destroying invoices.

c) Members of the Invoice Destruction Council must sign the invoice destruction record and are legally responsible for any errors.

d) The invoice destruction dossier includes:

- Decision on the establishment of the Invoice Destruction Council, except for households and individual businesses;

- Inventory list of invoices to be destroyed detailing: Invoice name, invoice template number, invoice number, quantity of invoices destroyed (from number... to number... or listing each invoice number in detail if the numbers are not continuous);

- Invoice destruction record;

- Notification of the invoice destruction results which must include: type, number, quantity of invoices destroyed from number… to number, reason for destruction, date and time of destruction, destruction method according to Form No. 02/HUY-HDG Appendix IA issued with this Decree.

The invoice destruction dossier is kept at the enterprise, economic organization, household, or individual business using the invoice. The Notice of destruction results is made in two copies, one kept and one sent to the directly managing tax authority no later than 05 days from the date of invoice destruction.

3. Destruction of invoices by the tax authority

a) The Tax Authority shall destroy invoices printed by the Tax Department which have been issued but not sold or allocated and are no longer in use.

b) The General Department of Taxation is responsible for prescribing the process of destroying invoices printed by the Tax Department.

Thus, invoices printed by the Tax Department which serve as evidence are not destroyed but are handled according to legal regulations.

Who is responsible for lost, burnt, or damaged invoices purchased from the tax authority?

According to Article 28 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP it is regulated as follows:

Handling lost, burnt, or damaged pre-printed invoices purchased from the tax authority

1. Enterprises, economic organizations, households, or individual businesses that discover lost, burnt, or damaged invoices, whether issued or not, must report the loss, burning, or damage and notify the directly managing tax authority using Form No. BC21/HDG Appendix IA issued with this Decree within no later than 05 days from the date the invoice was lost, burnt, or damaged. If the last day (the 5th day) coincides with a legal holiday, the last day of the deadline is the next working day.

2. In cases where the seller has issued an invoice for goods sold or services provided but subsequently, the seller or the buyer loses, burns, or damages copy 2 of the original invoice, the seller and the buyer must prepare a record to document the situation. The record must specify which month the seller declared and paid tax for copy 1 of the invoice, signed and clearly state the full name of the legal representative (or authorized person), and stamped (if any) on the record. The seller copies copy 1 of the invoice, signs, and stamps the invoice copy to give to the buyer. The buyer uses this signed and stamped copy attached to the record of the loss, burning, or damage of copy 2 as an accounting voucher and for tax declaration. The seller and the buyer are responsible for the accuracy of the invoice loss, burning, or damage.

If the loss, burning, or damage of copy 2 invoices used involves a third party (for example, the third party could be a carrier of goods or invoice transfer agent), responsibility and penalties for the seller or buyer are determined based on who contracted the third party.

Thus, the seller and the buyer are responsible for the accuracy of the loss, burning, or damage of the invoice.