When shall an invalid e-invoice be destroyed in Vietnam?

When shall an invalid e-invoice be destroyed in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 27 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the regulations are as follows:

Destruction of printed invoices purchased from the tax authority

1. Enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individuals engaged in business activities that have invoices no longer in use must proceed with their destruction. The deadline for destroying invoices is no later than 30 days from the date of notification to the tax authority. In cases where the tax authority has notified that the invoices are invalid (except in cases of enforcement of tax debt), enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individuals engaged in business activities must destroy the invoices. The deadline for destruction is no later than 10 days from the date the tax authority announces the invoices' invalidity or from the date lost invoices are recovered.

Invoices already issued by accounting units are destroyed according to legal provisions on accounting.

Invoices not yet issued but serving as evidence in legal cases are not destroyed but handled per legal regulations.

2. Destruction of invoices by enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individual businesses is conducted as follows:

a) Enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individuals must compile an inventory list of invoices to be destroyed.

b) Enterprises and economic organizations must establish an Invoice Destruction Council. The council must include representatives from leadership and the accounting department of the organization. Households and individual businesses are not required to establish a council when destroying invoices.

c) Members of the Invoice Destruction Council must sign the destruction minutes and bear responsibility under the law for any errors.

d) The invoice destruction record includes:

- Decision to establish the Invoice Destruction Council, except for households and individual businesses;

- Inventory list of invoices to be destroyed detailing: Invoice name, invoice form number symbol, invoice symbol, number of invoices destroyed (from number... to number... or detailing each invoice number if invoice numbers to be destroyed are not sequential);

- Invoice destruction minutes;

- Notice of invoice destruction results must include: type, symbol, number of invoices destroyed from number… to number, reason for destruction, date and time of destruction, destruction method according to Form 02/HUY-HDG Appendix IA issued with this Decree.

The invoice destruction records are retained by the enterprise, economic organization, household, or individual business using the invoices. The Invoice Destruction Results Notice is prepared in two copies, one retained and one sent to the direct tax authority no later than 5 days from the date of invoice destruction.

3. Destruction of invoices by the tax authority

a) The Tax Authority destroys invoices printed by the Tax Department that have been published but not sold or issued but will no longer be used.

b) The General Department of Taxation is responsible for establishing procedures for the destruction of invoices printed by the Tax Department.

In cases where the tax authority has notified that the invoices are invalid (except in enforcement of tax debt), enterprises, economic organizations, households, and individuals engaged in business activities must destroy the invoices within no more than 10 days from the date of being notified by the tax authority or from the date lost invoices are found.

Thus, it is understood that when e-invoices are declared invalid, they must be destroyed within no more than 10 days from the notification date.

*Note: The timeframe does not apply in cases of notification due to tax debt enforcement.

When shall an invalid e-invoice be destroyed in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

What are the documents required to destroy e-invoices that have been declared invalid in Vietnam?

Based on Point d, Clause 2, Article 27 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the documents required to destroy e-invoices that have been declared invalid include:

[1] Decision to establish the Invoice Destruction Council, except for households and individual businesses;

[2] Inventory list of invoices to be destroyed detailing: Invoice name, invoice form number symbol, invoice symbol, number of invoices destroyed (from number... to number... or detailing individual invoice numbers if invoices to be destroyed are not consecutive);

[3] Invoice destruction minutes;

[4] Notice of invoice destruction results must include: type, symbol, number of invoices destroyed from number… to number, reason for destruction, date and time of destruction, destruction method following Form 02/HUY-HDG Appendix IA issued together with Decree 123/2020/ND-CP.

*Note: The invoice destruction records are retained by the enterprise, economic organization, household, or individual business using the invoices. The Invoice Destruction Results Notice is prepared in two copies, one retained and one sent to the direct tax authority no later than 5 days from the date of invoice destruction.

When shall the use of e-invoices be suspended in Vietnam?

According to Clause 1, Article 16 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, the cases for suspending the use of e-invoices are as follows:

Businesses, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals engaged in business under the following circumstances must suspend the use of e-invoices with tax authority codes, and e-invoices without tax authority codes:

- Businesses, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals terminate the validity of their tax identification number;

- Businesses, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals where the tax authority has verified and announced non-operation at the registered address;

- Businesses, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals inform the competent state management agency of halting business operations temporarily;

- Businesses, economic organizations, other organizations, households, and individuals receive notification from the tax authority about the suspension of e-invoice use to enforce tax debt;

- Cases involving the use of e-invoices to sell contraband, prohibited goods, counterfeit goods, or goods infringing intellectual property rights discovered and reported by competent authorities to the tax authority;

- Cases involving the creation of e-invoices for the purpose of false sales of goods, providing services to defraud funds from organizations or individuals as discovered and reported by competent authorities to the tax authority;

- Cases where the business registration authority or competent state authority requests a business to cease operations in conditional business sectors when it's found that the business does not meet the legal requirements.

Based on inspection and audit results, if the tax authority determines that a business is established for the purpose of buying, selling, or using e-invoices unlawfully or uses e-invoices unlawfully to evade taxes, the tax authority will issue a decision to suspend the use of e-invoices, and the business will be dealt with according to legal provisions.