What is the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday schedule in Vietnam? Shall invoices be issued by enterprises when giving Lunar New Year gifts?

What is the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday schedule in Vietnam?

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs of Vietnam has issued Notice 6150/TB-BLDTBXH 2024 regarding Lunar New Year, National Day holiday, Victory Day April 30, and International Labor Day May 1, 2025, for officials and public employees and employees.

The 2025 Lunar New Year holiday schedule nationwide is as follows:

[1] Officials and public employees and employees of administrative agencies, career organizations, political organizations, political-social organizations (hereinafter referred to as officials and public employees) will have the Lunar New Year holiday 2025 from Saturday, January 25, 2025 (corresponding to December 26 of the Year of the Dragon) to the end of Sunday, February 2, 2025 (corresponding to January 5 of the Year of the Snake). This includes 5 Lunar New Year days and 4 weekly days off.

[2] Agencies and units that do not implement a fixed holiday schedule on Saturdays and Sundays weekly will base on the specific schedule and plan of the unit to arrange holidays accordingly, in compliance with the law.

[3] For employees not covered under Section 1 Notice 6150/TB-BLDTBXH 2024, the employer will decide on the Lunar New Year holiday 2025 plan as follows:

Choose 1 day at the end of the Year of the Dragon and 4 early days in the Year of the Snake or 2 days at the end of the Year of the Dragon and 3 early days in the Year of the Snake or 3 days at the end of the Year of the Dragon and 2 early days in the Year of the Snake.

- Notify employees of the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday plan at least 30 days before implementation.

- If the regular weekly holiday coincides with the prescribed holiday under Section 1, Article 112 of the Labor Code 2019, the employee is entitled to compensatory leave on the next working day as prescribed in Section 3, Article 111 of the Labor Code 2019.

Therefore, according to the official 2025 Lunar New Year holiday schedule, officials and public employees will have a continuous 9-day holiday from January 25, 2025, to February 2, 2025 (December 26 of the Year of the Dragon – January 5 of the Year of the Snake).

For employees at private enterprises, the employer will decide the Lunar New Year holiday 2025 plan as follows: 1 day at the end of the Year of the Dragon and 4 early days in the Year of the Snake or 2 days at the end of the Year of the Dragon and 3 early days in the Year of the Snake or 3 days at the end of the Year of the Dragon and 2 early days in the Year of the Snake.

What is the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday schedule in Vietnam? Shall invoices be issued by enterprises when  giving Lunar New Year gifts?

Shall invoices be issued by enterprises when  giving Lunar New Year gifts?

According to Section 1, Article 4 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP regulating the principles for preparing, managing, and using invoices and documents:

Principles for Preparing, Managing, and Using Invoices and Documents

1. When selling goods or providing services, the seller must issue an invoice to deliver to the buyer (including cases where goods or services are used for promotions, advertisements, samples; goods or services used as gifts, donations, exchanges, payment in place of wages for employees, and internal consumption (except for internal goods transfer for continuing production); exporting goods under the forms of lending, borrowing, or returning goods) and must fully record the contents as prescribed in Article 10 of this Decree, in the case of using electronic invoices, it must be in the standard data format of the tax authorities as prescribed in Article 12 of this Decree.

Therefore, when an enterprise uses its own products to give Lunar New Year gifts to employees, it must issue an invoice as if it were a normal sale according to the law.

How much is the fine for issuing invoices at the wrong time in Vietnam in 2024?

Pursuant to Article 24 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP supplemented by Section 3, Article 1 of Decree 102/2021/ND-CP on administrative penalties related to taxes and invoices issued regarding penalties for violations of regulations on issuing invoices when selling goods and services are as follows:

Penalties for Violating Regulations on Issuing Invoices When Selling Goods and Services

1. Warning for one of the following acts:

a) Issuing invoices at the wrong time but not leading to delayed tax obligations and having mitigating circumstances;

b) Issuing continuous invoices from small to large numbers but different books (using books with larger serial numbers and not yet using books with smaller serial numbers) and organizations or individuals have cancelled the books with smaller serial numbers after discovery;

c) Issuing incorrect type of invoice as prescribed, delivered to the buyer or declared for tax purposes, and the seller and buyer discovered the incorrect invoice type and reissued the correct invoice type before the competent authority announces the inspection decision at the taxpayer's headquarters and does not affect tax obligation determination.

...

3. Fines from 3,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND for issuing invoices at the wrong time but not leading to delayed tax obligations, except as prescribed in point a, clause 1 of this Article.

4. Fines from 4,000,000 VND to 8,000,000 VND for one of the following acts:

a) Issuing invoices at the wrong time as prescribed by the laws on invoices for goods sales, services supply, except for the case specified at point a, clause 1, clause 3 of this Article;

b) Issuing invoices not in the order from small to large numbers as prescribed, except for the case of a warning under point b, clause 1 of this Article;

c) Issuing invoices dated before the purchase of invoices from the tax authority;

...

Thus, for issuing invoices at the wrong time, depending on the specific case and the severity, fines are as follows:

- Warning for issuing invoices at the wrong time but not leading to delayed tax obligations and having mitigating circumstances.

- Fine from 3,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND for issuing invoices at the wrong time but not leading to delayed tax obligations.

- Fine from 4,000,000 VND to 8,000,000 VND for issuing invoices at the wrong time as prescribed by the laws on invoices for goods sales, services supply.

Note: The above fines apply to violations by organizations. For the same violation, the fine for organizations is twice that for individuals.