How many years is a digital signature certificate valid from April 10, 2025? How shall taxpayers use digital signatures in e-tax transactions in Vietnam?
Vietnam: How many years is a digital signature certificate valid from April 10, 2025?
According to Article 7 of Decree 23/2025/ND-CP (effective from April 10, 2025), the validity period of digital signature certificates is regulated as follows:
- The validity period of the original digital signature certificate issued by the national e-certification service provider is 25 years.
- The validity period of the digital signature certificate issued by a trusted service provider:
+ The digital signature certificate for timestamping services has a maximum validity of 5 years;
+ The digital signature certificate for data message authentication services has a maximum validity of 5 years;
+ The digital signature certificate for public digital signature authentication services has a maximum validity of 10 years.
- The maximum validity period of a public digital signature certificate is 3 years.
How many years is a digital signature certificate valid from April 10, 2025? How shall taxpayers use digital signatures in e-tax transactions in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
Vietnam: What does a digital signature certificate include?
Based on Article 6 of Decree 23/2025/ND-CP (effective from April 10, 2025), the contents of a digital signature certificate are defined as follows:
(1) The content of the original digital signature certificate issued by the national e-certification service provider includes:
- The name of the national e-certification service provider;
- The serial number of the digital signature certificate;
- The validity period of the digital signature certificate;
- The public key of the national e-certification service provider;
- The digital signature of the national e-certification service provider;
- The purpose, scope of use of the digital signature certificate;
- The legal responsibilities of the national e-certification service provider;
- Asymmetric key algorithm.
(2) The content of the digital signature certificate from the trusted service provider corresponds to each type of service includes:
- The name of the digital signature certificate issuer;
- The name of the trusted service provider;
- The serial number of the digital signature certificate;
- The validity period of the digital signature certificate;
- The public key of the trusted service provider;
- The digital signature of the digital signature certificate issuer;
- The purpose, scope of use of the digital signature certificate;
- The legal responsibilities of the trusted service provider;
- Asymmetric key algorithm.
(3) The content of a public digital signature certificate includes:
- The name of the organization issuing the digital signature certificate;
- The name of the subscriber;
- The serial number of the digital signature certificate;
- The validity period of the digital signature certificate;
- The public key of the subscriber;
- The digital signature of the organization issuing the digital signature certificate;
- The purpose, scope of use of the digital signature certificate;
- The legal responsibilities of the public digital signature certification service provider;
- Asymmetric key algorithm.
How do taxpayers use digital signatures in e-tax transactions in Vietnam?
According to Clause 4, Article 7 of Circular 19/2021/TT-BTC, the usage of digital signatures in e-tax transactions is specified as follows:
- Taxpayers must use the digital signature with the digital certificate regulated in Clause 1 and Point a, Point b of Clause 2, Article 7 of Circular 19/2021/TT-BTC to sign on the taxpayer's e-documents when conducting transactions with the tax authority electronically.
- If taxpayers sign a service contract for tax procedures with a tax agent, then the tax agent uses its digital certificate to sign on the taxpayer's e-documents when conducting transactions with the tax authority electronically.
- For individual taxpayers conducting e-tax transactions with the tax authority but not yet granted a digital certificate:
+ They are allowed to use the e-transaction authentication code sent by the e-information portal of the General Department of Taxation or the systems of relevant agencies to the taxpayer's registered phone number or email (hereafter referred to as SMS OTP);
+ Alternatively, they can use the e-transaction authentication code generated randomly every minute from an automatic e-device provided by the tax authority or the relevant agency (hereafter referred to as Token OTP);
+ Alternatively, they can use an e-transaction authentication code generated randomly after a certain period of time by the application of the tax authority or the relevant agency, installed on smartphones or tablets (hereafter referred to as Smart OTP).
+ Or authenticate using biometrics according to regulations in Decree 165/2018/ND-CP.
- Taxpayers who are organizations or individuals declaring or paying taxes on behalf of other organizations, individuals, or foreign contractors in e-tax transactions with the tax authority, must use the digital certificate of the organization or individual declaring and paying taxes on behalf of them, to sign on the e-documents when conducting transactions with the tax authority electronically.
