What is the time for issuing invoices in Vietnam according to Decree 123?

What is the time for issuing invoices in Vietnam according to Decree 123?

Under Article 9 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the time for issuing invoices is regulated as follows:

- Invoices for sale of goods (including the sale of state-owned property, property confiscated and put into state fund, and the sale of national reserve goods) shall be issued when the right to own or use goods is transferred to buyers, whether the payment of the invoiced amount is made or not.

- Invoices for provision of services shall be issued upon completion of the provision of services, whether the payment of the invoiced amount is made or not.

In case a service is provided with payments collected in advanced or during the provision of that service, an invoice shall be issued when each payment is collected (excluding payments of deposited amounts or advance payments which are made to ensure the execution of contracts for provision of accounting, audit, financial consulting or taxation services; valuation services; technical survey and design services; supervision consulting services; investment construction project formulation services).

Note: In case where multiple deliveries are required, or each goods item or service phase is accepted, it shall be mandatory to issue an invoice showing quantity, value of goods or service for each respective delivery or acceptance.

- Invoices for electricity, water supply, telecommunication, and television services:

+ Invoices shall be issued upon completion of figures checking and verification between the parties but no later than the 07th of the month following the month in which the service is provided or within 07 days after the end of a cycle. This cycle shall be agreed upon between the service provider and the buyer.

+ With regard to telecommunications services (including value-added telecommunications services) and IT services (including intermediary payment services provided on telecommunications or IT platforms) of which the payments require checking and verification of data connections between the service providers, invoices shall be issued upon completion of service charge data under economic contracts signed between service providers but within 2 months following the month in which connection service charges arise.

+ In case telecommunications services (including value-added telecommunications services) are provided by selling prepaid cards or collecting interconnection charges when clients register for use of services without requesting the issue of VAT invoices or providing name, address and TIN, at the end of each day or on the periodical basis of each month, the service provider shall issue a VAT invoice recording total revenue from each service provided to the buyer for which the buyer does not request invoice or does not provide name, address and TIN.

- Invoices for construction and installation shall be issued at the time of commissioning and acceptance of the finished work, work item or construction/installation amounts, whether the payment of the invoiced amount is made or not

Notes: In case where multiple deliveries are required, or each goods item or service phase is accepted, it shall be mandatory to issue an invoice showing quantity, value of goods or service for each respective delivery or acceptance.

For organizations trading real estate or building infrastructure facilities and houses for sale or transfer, the invoice shall be issued on the payment date.

- Invoices for retailing of oil and gas shall be issued to buyers upon completion of each sale. The seller shall retain e-invoices for sale of oil and gas to non-business individuals and business individuals, and make sure they can be accessed at the request of competent authorities

- Invoices for online airline ticket purchase:

An invoice for air tickets issued via websites or e-commerce systems established according to international practices shall be issued within 05 days from the day on which the ticket is issued on the website or e-commerce system

- In case of provision of air transport services or insurance services through agents, invoices shall be issued upon completion of data checking and verification between the parties but by the 10th of the month following the month in which the service is provided.

- In case of non-stop electronic toll collection (ETC), an invoice shall be issued on the day on which the vehicle charged runs through the tollbooth. If a client using the ETC service owns two or more vehicles using the service multiple times in a month, the ETC service provider may issue e-invoices to that client periodically but by the last day of the month in which the ETC service is provided.

- Invoices for provision of passenger transport services by taxis equipped with using taxi fare calculation software as prescribed by law shall be issued at the end of the journey.

- With regards to health facilities that use software for managing medical examination and treatment, and hospital fees, if physical receipt (hospital fee receipt or medical service charge receipt) is printed out upon each provision of medical service or x-ray or testing services, and stored on the IT system, and the client (i.e. patient) does not request for invoices, at the end of each day, the health facility shall, based on information on medical services provided and contained in physical receipts, compile e-invoices for medical services provided in the day, and send e-invoices to clients at their request.

- Invoices for export:

According to Clause 4, Article 16 of Circular 219/2013/TT-BTC (amended by Clause 7, Article 3 of Circular 119/2014/TT-BTC), when exporting goods abroad, a ccommercial Invoice is used.

- The invoices for export shall be issued at the time for selling goods mentioned above (the day the goods are transferred to the customer), and the date for determining export revenue for tax calculation is the date the customs clearance completion is confirmed on the customs declaration.

What is the time for issuing invoices in Vietnam according to Decree 123? (Image from the Internet)

What are the administrative penalties for issuing invoices at the wrong time in Vietnam?

Under Article 24 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP which specifies penalties for violations against regulations on issuance of invoices upon sale of goods or provision of services, businesses committing incorrect invoicing timelines will be penalized as follows:

Note: The above fines apply to organizations; for individual violations, the fines are halved.

What is the prescriptive time limit for imposing administrative penalties regarding invoices in Vietnam?

Under Article 8 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP (amended by Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree 102/2021/ND-CP), the regulation is as follows:

Prescriptive time limits for imposition of tax and invoice-related administrative violations; duration for considering none of penalties is imposed; reversal period of back taxes

1. Time limits for imposition of invoice-related administrative penalties

a) The prescriptive time limit for imposition of an invoice-related administrative penalty shall be 02 years.

b) Start dates of time limits for imposition of invoice-related administrative penalties shall be regulated as follows:

As for in-progress administrative violations which are stipulated in point c of this clause, the time limits for imposition of administrative penalties for these violations shall start from the dates on which competent law enforcement officers detect such violations.

As for completed administrative violations which are stipulated in point d of this clause, the time limits for imposition of administrative penalties for these violations shall start from the dates on which these violations terminate.

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The prescriptive time limit for administrative penalties regarding invoices is 02 years.