Are paper invoices/records converted from e-invoices/records allowed to be used for transactions in Vietnam?

Hello, Lawnet would like to answer as follows:

Are paper invoices/records converted from e-invoices/records allowed to be used for transactions in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 7 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, it is stipulated:

 Conversion of e-invoices/electronic records into paper invoices/records

1. Legal e-invoices/electronic records may be converted into paper invoices/records to meet the requirements of economic/financial transactions or at the request of tax authorities, audit, inspection or investigation authorities, and in accordance with regulations of laws on inspection and investigation.

2. Contents of a paper invoice or record which is converted from an e-invoice or electronic record must correspond to those of the original e-invoice or electronic record.

3. In case where an e-invoice or electronic record is converted into a paper invoice or record, this paper invoice or record shall be retained for bookkeeping and monitoring purposes only in accordance with regulations of the Laws on accounting and electronic transactions, and shall not be valid for use in transactions or payments, except for cases where invoices are generated from POS cash registers that are digitally connected to tax authorities in accordance with the provisions herein.

Thus, based on the above regulations, paper invoices/records are converted from e-invoices/records that are created from cash registers with electronic data transfer connections with tax authorities according to the provisions of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP will have transaction value. If this is not the case, paper invoices/records are only valid for record-keeping and monitoring according to the provisions of the law on accounting and electronic transactions.

What are the uses of electronic invoices in sale of goods and services in Vietnam?

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 91 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, e-invoices/records are applied to the following subjects:

+ Regarding household businesses and individual businesses that are not qualified to use authenticated electronic invoices as prescribed, enterprises, business organizations and other organizations that need to provide electronic invoices for their customers, tax authorities shall issue separate authenticated electronic invoices for individual sales, provided tax is declared and paid before such electronic invoices are issued.

 + Enterprises and business organizations shall use authenticated electronic invoices when selling their goods/services, regardless of the value of each sale, except for the cases specified in Clause 2 and Clause 4 of Article 91 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019.

+ Enterprises operating in the field of electricity, oil and gas, post and telecommunications, clean water supply, credit, insurance, health, e-commerce, supermarket, commerce, air/road/rail/sea/inland waterway transport; enterprises and business organizations that have been or will conduct electronic transactions with tax authorities, develop information technology infrastructure, have software for accounting, issuance, access and storage of electronic invoices, and ensure the transmission of electronic invoice data to buyers and tax authorities may use unauthenticated electronic invoices when selling goods/services, regardless of the value of each sale, unless tax-related risks are high as prescribed by the Minister of Finance or they wish to use authenticated electronic invoices.

+ Household businesses and individual businesses whose revenues and employees reach the upper limit for extra-small enterprises prescribed by regulations of law on small and medium enterprises shall do accounting and declare tax. and other cases of determinable revenue from sale of goods/services may use authenticated electronic invoices.

What are the regulations on invoices generated by POS cash registers that are digitally connected to tax authorities in Vietnam? 

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 11 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP, invoices generated by POS cash registers that are digitally connected to tax authorities must meet the following rules:

- Invoices printed out from POS cash registers that are digitally connected to tax authorities must be recognizable;

- Digital signatures on such invoices are optional;

- The spending on goods or services written in the invoice (or is described in the scanned invoice or the information search result on the e-invoice page in the Web Portal of the General Department of Taxation) which is generated by a POS cash register may be defined as an expense supported by adequate legal invoices and records upon determination of tax obligations.

Best regards!

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