Shall business entities selling smuggled goods suspend their use of use of e-invoices in Vietnam?

Shall business entities selling smuggled goods suspend their use of use of e-invoices in Vietnam?

Based on Point đ, Clause 1, Article 16 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, regarding cases of suspension of use of e-invoices as follows:

Suspension of use of e-invoices

1. Enterprises, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals engaged in business activities who fall into the following categories will have their usage of e-invoices with or without tax authority codes suspended:

a) Enterprises, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals in business whose tax identification numbers are no longer valid;

b) Enterprises, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals in business whose non-operation at the registered address has been verified and announced by the tax authority;

c) Enterprises, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals in business who notify the competent state management agency of their temporary suspension of business;

d) Enterprises, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals in business who receive tax authority notification to suspend use of e-invoices to enforce tax debt collection;

dd) In cases where the use of e-invoices to sell smuggled goods, prohibited goods, counterfeit goods, or goods infringing intellectual property rights is discovered and reported to the tax authority by the competent agency;

e) In cases where e-invoices are issued to sell fictitious goods or provide services to misappropriate funds from organizations or individuals, discovered and reported to the tax authority by the competent agency;

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Thus, the act of using e-invoices to sell smuggled goods discovered and reported by competent agencies to the tax authority will lead to suspension of use of e-invoices, including both invoices with and without tax authority codes.

Shall business entities selling smuggled goods suspend their use of use of e-invoices in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

What is the procedure for suspension of use of e-invoices in Vietnam?

According to Clause 2, Article 16 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the procedure for suspending the use of e-invoices is as follows:

- The directly managing tax authority sends a notification to taxpayers in cases specified at Points đ, e, g, Clause 1, Article 16 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP requesting taxpayers to provide explanations or supplementary information and documents related to the use of e-invoices.

- Taxpayers must provide explanations or supplementary information and documents within no more than 2 working days from the date the tax authority issues the notification. Taxpayers can provide explanations directly to the tax authority or submit supplementary information and documents in writing.

- The taxpayer continues to use e-invoices or provides supplementary explanations, specifically:

+ If the taxpayer has adequately explained or supplemented information and documents proving the lawful use of e-invoices, the taxpayer continues to use e-invoices.

+ If the taxpayer has explained or supplemented information and documents but fails to prove the lawful use of e-invoices, the tax authority will continue to notify the taxpayer to provide further supplementary information and documents. The deadline for this supplement is 2 working days from the date the tax authority issues the notification.

- If the taxpayer fails to provide explanations, supplementary information, and documents within the deadline specified in the notification, the tax authority will issue a notification requesting the taxpayer to cease using e-invoices with or without tax authority codes and proceed with actions according to regulations.

What is the format of e-invoices in Vietnam?

According to Article 12 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, e-invoices are formatted as follows:

- The format of e-invoices is a technical standard that prescribes the data type, data length of information fields to serve the transmission, reception, storage, and display of e-invoices. The format of e-invoices uses XML language (XML is an abbreviation for "eXtensible Markup Language" that was created to facilitate e-data sharing between information technology systems).

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

- The General Department of Taxation constructs and publishes the component containing e-invoice business data, the component containing digital signature data, and provides tools for displaying the contents of e-invoices.

- Organizations, enterprises selling goods, providing services when transferring e-invoice data to the tax authority by direct sending method must meet the following requirements:

+ Connect with the General Department of Taxation through a private lease channel or MPLS VPN Layer 3 channel, including 1 main transmission channel and 1 backup transmission channel. Each channel must have a minimum bandwidth of 5 Mbps.

+ Use Web Service or Message Queue (MQ) with encryption as a method for connection.

+ Use the SOAP protocol for packaging and transmitting data.

- e-invoices must completely and accurately display the contents of the invoice to ensure no misleading interpretation, enabling the buyer to read it by e-means.