Shall Vietnamese without diacritics be used on e-invoices?

Shall Vietnamese without diacritics be used on e-invoices?

Pursuant to the provisions in Clause 13, Article 10 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the content of an e-invoice is specified as follows:

Content of the invoice

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13. Language, numerals, and currency displayed on the invoice

a) The language displayed on the invoice is Vietnamese. In cases where foreign language additions are required, the foreign language must be placed to the right within parentheses () or immediately below the Vietnamese line with a smaller font size than that of Vietnamese. In cases where the text on the invoice is Vietnamese without diacritics, the text without accent marks on the invoice must ensure it does not lead to any misinterpretation of the invoice content.

b) Numbers displayed on the invoice are Arabic numerals: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The seller can choose: after the number for thousands, million, billion, thousand billion, million billion, billion billion, a dot (.) must be placed; if there are digits following the unit digit, a comma (,) must be placed after the unit digit or use a comma (,) as a natural number separator after thousands, million, billion, thousand billion, million billion, billion billion and use a dot (.) after the unit digit on accounting documents.

c) The currency recorded on the invoice is Vietnamese Dong, the national symbol is “đ”.

- In cases where economic and financial transactions arise in foreign currency according to foreign exchange regulations, the unit price, total amount, total VAT amount per tax rate, the total VAT amount, and total payment amount can be recorded in foreign currency, the currency must state the name of the foreign currency. The seller must also display on the invoice the foreign currency exchange rate with Vietnamese Dong according to the exchange rate prescribed by the Tax Management Law and the guiding documents.

- Foreign currency code according to international standards (e.g., 13.800,25 USD - Thirteen thousand eight hundred US dollars and twenty-five cents, e.g., 5.000,50 EUR - Five thousand euros and fifty cents).

- In cases of selling goods arising in foreign currency according to foreign exchange legislation and paying taxes in foreign currency, the total payment amount displayed on the invoice in foreign currency does not need to be converted to Vietnamese Dong.

14. Certain cases where e-invoices do not need to contain all contents

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Thus, the text displayed on an e-invoice can be written in Vietnamese without diacritics but must ensure it does not lead to any misinterpretation of the e-invoice's content.

Shall Vietnamese without diacritics be used on e-invoices? (Image from the Internet)

What is an e-invoice?

Pursuant to the provisions in Clause 2, Article 3 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the definitions are as follows:

Definition

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2. An e-invoice is an invoice with or without a tax authority code displayed in an e-data form created by entities selling goods, providing services using e-means to record information on the sale of goods, provision of services as per the law on accounting and tax, including cases where invoices are generated from cash registers connected to e-data transfer with tax authorities, in which:

a) An e-invoice with a tax authority code is an e-invoice assigned a code by the tax authority before the entities selling goods, providing services send it to the buyer.

The tax authority code on the e-invoice includes a transaction number as a unique sequence generated by the tax authority's system and a string of characters encoded by the tax authority based on the seller's information on the invoice.

b) An e-invoice without a tax authority code is an e-invoice issued by the entity selling goods, providing services to the buyer without the tax authority code.

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Thus, an e-invoice is an invoice with or without a tax authority code displayed in an e-data form created by entities selling goods, providing services using e-means to record the sale information according to regulations, including invoices generated from cash registers connected to e-data transfer with tax authorities.

How to store and retain e-invoices in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 6 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the provisions are as follows:

Storage and retention of invoices, documents

1. Invoices and documents are stored and retaind to ensure:

a) Safety, security, integrity, completeness, non-modification, non-distortion throughout the retention period;

b) retaind correctly and for the full duration according to accounting law regulations.

2. e-invoices, e-documents are stored and retaind using e-means. Agencies, organizations, individuals have the right to choose and apply a method of preserving, storing e-invoices, e-documents that suit their operational characteristics and technology application capacity. e-invoices, e-documents must be ready to be printed or referenced upon request.

3. Invoices issued by tax authorities, self-printed and externally printed documents must be stored and retaind per the following requirements:

a) Unissued invoices and documents are retaind in the warehouse according to the retention policies of valuable documents.

b) Issued invoices and documents in accounting units are retaind following accounting document retention regulations.

c) Issued invoices and documents in organizations, households, individuals not in accounting units are retaind and protected as personal assets of those organizations, households, individuals.

Thus, according to the above regulations, the storage and retention of e-invoices are specified as follows:

- e-invoices, e-documents are stored and retaind using e-means.

- Agencies, organizations, individuals have the right to choose and apply a method of preserving, storing e-invoices, e-documents appropriate to their operational characteristics and technology application capability.

- e-invoices, e-documents must be ready to be printed or retrieved upon request.