What are regulations on reference number of an e-invoice in tax records in Vietnam?

What are regulations on reference number of an e-invoice in tax records in Vietnam?

Based on Article 4 of Circular 78/2021/TT-BTC which stipulates as follows:

* The reference number of an e-invoice template is a character with one natural number, ranging from 1 to 6, to reflect the types of e-invoices as follows:

- Number 1: Reflects the value-added tax e-invoice;

- Number 2: Reflects the sales e-invoice;

- Number 3: Reflects the e-invoice for the sale of public assets;

- Number 4: Reflects the e-invoice for the sale of national reserve goods;

- Number 5: Reflects other types of e-invoices such as e-stamps, e-tickets, e-cards, e-receipts, or other e-records which however contain the content of an e-invoice as specified in Decree 123/2020/ND-CP;

- Number 6: Reflects the e-records used and managed as invoices including the outbound stocktaking cum internal transportation e-receipts, and outbound stocktaking for goods consigned for sale at agents e-receipts.

* The e-invoice code is a group of 6 characters, including both letters and numbers, reflecting information about the type of authenticated e-invoice or without the code, the year the invoice was issued, the type of e-invoice used. These six (06) characters are specified as follows:

- The first character is one (01) letter designated as C or K as follows: C represents e-invoices with the tax authority code, K represents e-invoices without the code;

- The next two characters are two (02) Arabic numerals representing the year the e-invoice was issued, determined by the last 2 digits of the calendar year. For example: If the e-invoice was issued in 2022, it will be displayed as 22; if issued in 2023, it will be displayed as 23;

- The following character is one (01) letter designated as T, D, L, M, N, B, G, H representing the type of e-invoice used, specifically:

+ Letter T: Applied for e-invoices used by enterprises, organizations, business households, and individuals registered with the tax authority;

+ Letter D: Applied for invoices selling public assets and national reserve goods or special e-invoices that may not need certain mandatory items registered by enterprises, organizations.

+ Letter L: Applied for e-invoices issued by tax authorities on a case-by-case basis.

+ Letter M: Applied for e-invoices generated from cash registers.

+ Letter N: Applied for outbound stocktaking cum internal transportation e-receipts.

+ Letter B: Applied for outbound stocktaking for goods consigned for sale at agents e-receipts.

+ Letter G: Applied for e-stamps, tickets, and cards as value-added invoices.

+ Letter H: Applied for e-stamps, tickets, and cards as sales invoices.

- The last two characters are letters determined by the seller based on management needs. If the seller uses multiple samples of e-invoices of the same type, the last two characters are used to distinguish different samples of the same type. If there is no management need, it should be left as YY;

- On the display, the e-invoice code and the e-invoice template code are shown on the upper right of the invoice (or in a recognizable position);

- Example representing the characters of the e-invoice template code and e-invoice code:

+ “1C22TAA” – represents a value-added tax invoice with the tax authority code issued in 2022 and registered by enterprises, organizations with the tax authority;

+ “2C22TBB” – represents a sales invoice with the tax authority code issued in 2022 and registered by enterprises, organizations, business households, and individuals with the tax authority;

+ “1C23LBB” – represents a value-added tax invoice with the tax authority code issued in 2023 and created by the tax authority on a case-by-case basis;

+ “1K23TYY” – represents a value-added tax invoice without the tax authority code issued in 2023 and registered by enterprises, organizations with the tax authority;

+ “1K22DAA” – represents a value-added tax invoice without the tax authority code issued in 2022 and registered by enterprises, organizations as a special e-invoice that does not necessarily need some mandatory items;+ “6K22NAB” – represents an outbound stocktaking cum internal transportation e-receipt without the tax authority code issued in 2022 and registered by enterprises with the tax authority;

+ “6K22BAB” – represents an outbound stocktaking for goods consigned for sale at agents e-receipt without the tax authority code issued in 2022 and registered by enterprises with the tax authority.

* Name, address, tax code of the authorized recipient regarding the e-invoice commission.

What are regulations on reference number of an e-invoice in tax records in Vietnam? (Image from Internet)

What is an authenticated e-invoice in Vietnam?

Based on Article 89 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the following stipulations apply:

E-Invoice

1. An e-invoice is an invoice with or without the tax authority code, displayed in e-data form by the organization or individual selling goods or providing services, recording the information of sales or service provision according to the legal regulations on accounting and tax using e-means, including invoices generated from cash registers connected to transmit e-data to the tax authority.

2. e-invoices include value-added tax invoices, sales invoices, e-stamps, e-tickets, e-cards, e-receipts, outbound stocktaking cum internal transportation e-receipts, or other e-records by other names.

3. An authenticated e-invoice is an e-invoice provided with a code by the tax authority before the organization or individual selling goods or providing services sends it to the buyer.

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

4. An e-invoice without the tax authority code is an e-invoice issued by the organization selling goods or providing services to the buyer without the tax authority code.

5. The Government of Vietnam will detail this Article.

Thus, it can be seen that an authenticated e-invoice includes a unique numeric sequence generated by the tax authority's system and a string of characters encoded by the tax authority.

How is the e-invoice applied when providing services in Vietnam?

Based on Article 91 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the application of e-invoices when providing services is as follows:

- Enterprises and economic organizations use e-invoices with the tax authority code when selling goods or providing services regardless of the value of each sale or service provision, except in cases specified in Clauses 2 and 4 of Article 91 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019.

- Businesses in the fields of electricity, petroleum, postal and telecommunications, clean water, financial credit, insurance, healthcare, e-commerce, supermarket business, commerce, air transport, road, railway, sea, and waterway businesses, and enterprises, economic organizations that have conducted or will conduct transactions with the tax authority using e-means, have invested in information technology infrastructure, have accounting software systems, and e-invoice creation software that meets the requirements for generating, retrieving e-invoices, storing e-invoice data as per regulations, and ensures the transmission of e-invoice data to buyers and the tax authority, may use e-invoices without the tax authority code when selling goods or providing services, regardless of the value of each sale or service provision, except for cases of high tax risks as regulated by the Minister of Finance and cases registering to use e-invoices with the tax authority code.

- Business households and individual businesses falling under the circumstances specified in Clause 5 of Article 51 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 and cases where the revenue from goods and service sales is identified, use e-invoices with the tax authority code when selling goods or providing services.

- Business households and individual businesses not meeting the conditions for using e-invoices with the tax authority code as specified in Clauses 1 and 3 of Article 91 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 but need invoices to provide to customers or in cases where enterprises, economic organizations or other organizations are accepted by the tax authority to issue e-invoices for customers, will be granted e-invoices with the tax authority code on a case-by-case basis and must declare and pay taxes before the tax authority issues the e-invoice.