Shall e-tax transactions be conducted while waiting for the issuance of a digital certificate in Vietnam?

Shall e-tax transactions be conducted while waiting for the issuance of a digital certificate in Vietnam?

Based on Clause 1, Article 7 of Circular 19/2021/TT-BTC guiding e-transactions in the field of taxation issued by the Minister of Finance, it is stipulated as follows:

e-signing in e-tax transactions

1. Taxpayers conducting e-tax transactions must use a valid digital certificate issued by a public digital signature authentication service provider, or by a competent state agency, or recognized by a competent state agency for signing digital tax documents and tax records, except for the following cases:

a) The taxpayer is an individual who has a tax code but has not been issued a digital certificate.

b) The taxpayer is registering for a taxpayer identification for the first time and is assigned a tax code as stipulated in Clause 1, Article 13 of this Circular.

c) The taxpayer chooses the method of e-tax payment prescribed at Point đ, Clause 2, Article 4 of this Circular, following the regulations of the bank or service provider of intermediary payment services.

2. Registration for the use of digital certificates and mobile phone numbers to conduct e-transactions in the field of taxation

a) Taxpayers can register one or multiple digital certificates to conduct e-tax transactions; multiple digital certificates may be used for one tax administration procedure.

b) Before using a digital certificate to make e-tax transactions, the taxpayer must register the digital certificate with the tax authority.

c) For individuals mentioned at point a, Clause 1 of this Article, they can register a single mobile phone number to receive authentication codes for e-transactions via “text messages” on each e-transaction with the tax authorities.

d) For taxpayers as stipulated at point b, Clause 1 of this Article, they can register a single mobile phone number belonging to an individual or an individual as the legal representative of an organization to receive e-transaction authentication codes via “text messages” when e-filing the first taxpayer registration to the tax authority.

Therefore, the principle is that taxpayers must use a valid digital certificate or a digital signature recognized by a competent state agency for tax records when conducting e-tax transactions. However, if a digital certificate is not yet available (including the time of application), transactions can still be conducted if the individual already has a tax code or in other cases specified in Clause 1 mentioned above.

Shall e-tax transactions be conducted while waiting for the issuance of a digital certificate in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

How to use digital signatures and authentication when performing e-tax transactions with the tax authority without a digital certificate in Vietnam?

Based on Point c, Clause 4, Article 7 of Circular 19/2021/TT-BTC guiding e-transactions in the field of taxation issued by the Minister of Finance, it is stipulated as follows:

e-signing in e-tax transactions

...

4. Use of digital signatures and e-transaction authentication for taxpayers:

a) Taxpayers must use digital signatures via the digital certificate prescribed in Clause 1 and Point a, Point b, Clause 2 of this Article to sign the digital documents of the taxpayer when transacting with the tax authority electronically.

b) If the taxpayer signs a tax procedure service contract with a tax agent, the tax agent will use their digital certificate to sign on the taxpayer's digital documents when transacting with the tax authority electronically.

c) If the taxpayer is an individual conducting e-tax transactions with the tax authority but has not been issued a digital certificate:

c.1) They are allowed to use an e-transaction authentication code sent by the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation or systems related to e-transactions via “text message” to the registered phone number, or via the taxpayer's registered email address with the tax authority or the systems related to e-transactions (hereafter referred to as SMS OTP);

c.2) Alternatively, they can use an e-transaction authentication code generated randomly every minute from an automatic e-device provided by the tax authority or a related authority (hereafter referred to as Token OTP);

c.3) Alternatively, they can use an e-transaction authentication code self-generated randomly after a certain period by an application from the tax authority or a related authority and installed on a smartphone, tablet (hereafter referred to as Smart OTP).

c.4) Or biometric authentication as prescribed in Decree No. 165/2018/ND-CP.

Therefore, if a taxpayer is an individual conducting e-tax transactions with the tax authority but has not been issued a digital certificate, they can undertake activities specified at Point c, Clause 4 above, such as using an e-transaction authentication code sent by the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation or systems related to e-transactions via “text message” to the registered phone number, or via the taxpayer's registered email address with the tax authority or the systems related to e-transactions (hereafter referred to as SMS OTP).

What are regulations on the time for submitting e-tax documents and e-tax payments in Vietnam

Based on Clause 1, Article 8 of Circular 19/2021/TT-BTC, the determination method of the time for taxpayers to submit e-tax documents, e-tax payments and the time for tax authorities to send notices, decisions, documents to taxpayers are as follows:

- Time for submitting e-tax documents, e-tax payments

a) Taxpayers can conduct e-tax transactions 24 hours a day (from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59) and 7 days a week, including rest days, holidays, and Tet. The time for a taxpayer to file a document is considered to be within a day if the document is successfully signed and sent from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 of the day.

b) The time to confirm the submission of e-tax documents is determined as follows:

b.1) For e-taxpayer registration documents: it is the day when the tax authority's system receives the document and it is recorded in the Notice of Receipt of the e-Taxpayer Registration Document sent to the taxpayer (as per Form No. 01-1/TB-TDT attached to this Circular).

b.2) For tax declaration documents (except for tax declaration documents where the tax authority calculates the tax and notifies the tax payment according to Article 13 of Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP): it is the day when the tax authority's system receives the document and it is recorded in the Notice of Receipt of the e-Tax Declaration Document sent to the taxpayer (as per Form No. 01-1/TB-TDT attached to this Circular) if the tax declaration document is accepted by the tax authority in the Notice of Acceptance of the e-Tax Declaration Document sent to the taxpayer (as per Form No. 01-2/TB-TDT attached to this Circular).

For tax declaration documents that include attached documents submitted directly or sent via postal service: The time to confirm submission of tax declaration documents is calculated according to the date when the taxpayer completes the full submission of documents as prescribed.

b.3) For documents not covered at Point b.1, b.2 above: it is the day when the tax authority's system receives the document and it is recorded in the Notice of Acceptance of the e-Document sent to the taxpayer (as per Form No. 01-2/TB-TDT attached to this Circular).

b.4) The time to confirm the submission of e-tax documents mentioned in this clause is the basis for the tax authority to determine the time of submission of tax documents; calculate the delay in the submission of tax documents or calculate the time to resolve tax documents according to the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration, guiding documents, and the regulations in this Circular.

c) The day of e-tax payment is determined according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 58 of the Law on Tax Administration.

- The time for the tax authority to send notices, decisions, documents to taxpayers is considered to be within a day if the document is successfully signed and sent from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 of the day.