Vietnam: Do e-documents during e-tax transactions include tax exemption and reduction documents?

Vietnam: Do e-documents during e-tax transactions include tax exemption and reduction documents?

Based on Clause 1, Article 6 of Decree 19/2021/ND-CP, the provisions are as follows:

e-documents during e-tax transactions

1. e-documents include:

a) e-tax dossiers: taxpayer registration dossiers; tax declaration dossiers; confirmation of tax obligation performance; review of tax payment information; procedures for offsetting overpaid tax, late payment penalties; tax refund dossiers; tax exemption and reduction dossiers; exemption from late payment interest; non-application of late payment interest; dossiers for debt freezing of tax amounts; dossiers for write-off of tax debts, late payment, penalties; tax payment extension; installment payment of tax debts, and other tax dossiers, documents in e-form as regulated by the Law on Tax Administration and guiding documents of the Law on Tax Administration.

b) e-NSNN (state budget revenue) payment vouchers: NSNN payment vouchers as regulated in Decree 11/2020/ND-CP dated January 20, 2020, by the Government of Vietnam on administrative procedures under the field of State Treasury (hereinafter referred to as Decree 11/2020/ND-CP) in e-form. If tax payment is conducted through the e-tax payment form of a bank or intermediary payment service provider, the NSNN payment voucher is the transaction document of the bank or intermediary payment service provider, ensuring all necessary information on the NSNN payment voucher form.

c) Other notifications, decisions, and documents of the tax authorities in e-form.

d) The e-documents mentioned in this clause must be electronically signed in accordance with Article 7 of this Circular. If e-tax dossiers include accompanying documents in paper form, they must be converted to e-form according to the Law on e-Transactions, Decree 165/2018/ND-CP dated December 24, 2018, by the Government of Vietnam on e-transactions in financial activities (hereinafter referred to as Decree 165/2018/ND-CP).

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e-documents during e-tax transactions will include e-tax dossiers, which will include:

- Taxpayer registration dossiers;

- Tax declaration dossiers;

- Confirmation of tax obligation performance;

- Review of tax payment information;

- Procedures for offsetting overpaid tax, late payment penalties;

- Tax refund dossiers;

- Tax exemption and reduction dossiers;

- Exemption from late payment interest;

- Non-application of late payment interest;

- Dossiers for debt freezing of tax amounts;

- Dossiers for write-off of tax debts, late payment, penalties;

- Tax payment extension;

- Installment payment of tax debts, and other tax dossiers, documents in e-form.

Therefore, it can be seen that e-documents during e-tax transactions will include tax exemption and reduction dossiers.

Vietnam: Do e-documents during e-tax transactions include tax exemption and reduction documents? (Image from the Internet)

What are the regulations on e-signatures included in e-documents during e-transactions in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 5, Article 8 of Decree 19/2021/ND-CP, the provisions are as follows:

E-transactions in the field of tax

1. Taxpayers, tax administration agencies, state management agencies, organizations, and individuals who meet the conditions to conduct e-transactions in the field of tax must perform such e-transactions with tax administration agencies as regulated by this Law and the law on e-transactions.

2. Taxpayers who have conducted e-transactions in the field of tax are not required to use other transaction methods.

3. Tax administration agencies, when receiving and returning results of administrative tax procedures to taxpayers electronically, must confirm the completion of taxpayers' e-transactions, ensuring the rights of taxpayers as regulated in Article 16 of this Law.

4. Taxpayers must comply with the requests from tax administration agencies stated in e-notifications, decisions, and documents as with paper notifications, decisions, documents of the tax administration agencies.

5. e-documents used in e-transactions must be electronically signed in accordance with the law on e-transactions.

6. Agencies and organizations connected to tax administration agencies electronically must use e-documents in transactions with tax administration agencies; use e-documents provided by tax administration agencies to resolve administrative procedures for taxpayers and must not request taxpayers to submit paper documents.

7. Tax administration agencies organizing e-information systems have the following responsibilities:

a) Guide and support taxpayers, service providers in e-transactions in the field of tax, banks, and related organizations to perform e-transactions in the field of tax;

b) Develop, manage, and operate systems for receiving and processing e-tax data ensuring security, safety, confidentiality, and continuity;

c) Develop information connection systems, provide information on tax amounts paid to the state budget, information on taxpayers' tax obligations performance for related agencies, organizations, and individuals electronically to perform administrative procedures for taxpayers according to regulations;

d) Update, manage and provide information on taxpayer registration for e-tax transactions; authenticate taxpayers' e-transactions to agencies, organizations coordinating state budget collection to implement tax management and state budget collection management;

e) Receive and return results of administrative tax procedures to taxpayers electronically;

f) If taxpayers' e-documents have been stored in the tax administration agency's database, tax administration agencies and tax officials must exploit and use data in the system, and must not request taxpayers to provide paper tax documents and payment vouchers.

8. The Minister of Finance regulates the dossiers and procedures for e-transactions in the field of tax.

Therefore, according to the above regulation, e-documents used in e-transactions must be electronically signed in accordance with the law on e-transactions.

Are e-documents during e-tax transactions valid in Vietnam?

Based on Clause 1, Article 6 of Decree 19/2021/ND-CP, the provisions are as follows:

e-documents during e-tax transactions

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2. Legal value of e-documents: e-documents as regulated in this Circular have the same value as dossiers, documents, notifications, and paper documents. e-documents have the value of original documents if implemented by one of the measures stipulated in Article 5 of Decree 165/2018/ND-CP.

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Therefore, it is evident that e-documents during e-tax transactions have the value of original documents if implemented by one of the measures in Article 5 of Decree 165/2018/ND-CP as follows:

- e-documents are digitally signed by the authority, organization, or individual who created the e-document and by relevant responsible entities as regulated by specialized laws.

- The information system ensures the integrity of e-documents during transmission, receipt, and storage; records the authority, organization, or individual who created the e-document and relevant responsible entities involved in the processing of e-documents and applies one of the following measures to authenticate the authority, organization, or individual creating the e-document and relevant responsible entities involved in the processing of e-documents: digital certificate authentication, biometric authentication, multi-factor authentication including an element such as a one-time password or random authentication code.

- Another measure agreed upon by the transaction parties, ensuring data integrity, authenticity, non-repudiation, and compliance with the Law on e-Transactions.