Vietnam: Handling of issued invoices purchased from tax authorities

Hello Mr. Khoa, LawNet would like to answer your question as follows:

1. Regulation on handling errors when issuing sales invoices

Pursuant to Article 26 of the Decree No. 123/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government on handling of issued invoices purchased from tax authorities:

“Article 26. Handling of issued invoices purchased from tax authorities

In case an issued invoice is found erroneous before it is given to a buyer, the seller shall cross out its copies and keep the erroneous invoice.

If the buyer's name and/or address is wrong but its TIN is correct, two parties shall prepare a correcting record without issuing a correction invoice.

If the issued invoice has been given to the buyer and is found erroneous but the invoiced goods/services are not yet delivered, or both the buyer and seller do not yet declare tax, the buyer and seller shall make a record of withdrawal of copies of the erroneous invoice. The reasons for withdrawing an invoice must be specified in the record of invoice withdrawal. The seller shall cross out the copies of the erroneous invoice, keep the erroneous invoice and issue a new invoice as prescribed.

If an issued invoice has been given to the buyer and is found erroneous and the goods/services have been delivered, or both the buyer and seller have completed tax declaration, the seller shall issue a correction invoice. The correction invoice shall specify the corrections (increase/decrease) to the quantity of goods, price, VAT rate and/or VAT amount specified in the invoice No……..reference No…….. Based on the correction invoice, the seller and buyer shall declare corrections to their revenues, input and output VAT. No negative numbers are written on the correction invoice.

The seller and the buyer shall prepare a document specifying the errors as agreed upon between them before the seller issues a correction invoice.”

According to this Article, handling errors when issuing sales invoices is divided into 04 cases as follows:

- Case 01:

An issued invoice is found erroneous by the seller before it is given to a buyer:

+ The seller shall cross out its copies.

+ The seller shall keep the erroneous invoice.

+ The seller shall issue a new invoice and give it to the buyer.

- Case 02:

If the buyer's name and/or address is wrong but its TIN is correct:

+ The seller and the buyer shall prepare a correcting record.

+ A correction invoice is not required to be issued to the buyer.

- Case 03: 

If the issued invoice has been given to the buyer and is found erroneous but the invoiced goods/services are not yet delivered, or both the buyer and seller do not yet declare tax:

+ The seller and buyer must cancel the invoice.

+ The buyer and seller shall make a record of withdrawal of copies of the erroneous invoice.

+ The reasons for withdrawing an invoice must be specified in the record of invoice withdrawal.

+ Concurrently, the seller shall cross out the copies of the erroneous invoice, keep the erroneous invoice and issue a new invoice as prescribed.

- Case 04:

If an issued invoice has been given to the buyer and is found erroneous and the goods/services have been delivered, or both the buyer and seller have completed tax declaration:

+ The seller shall issue a correction invoice.

+ The correction invoice shall specify the corrections (increase/decrease) to the quantity of goods, price, VAT rate and/or VAT amount specified in the invoice No……..reference No……..

+ Based on the correction invoice, the seller and buyer shall declare corrections to their revenues, input and output VAT.

* Note: 

+ No negative numbers are written on the correction invoice.

+ The seller and the buyer shall prepare a document specifying the errors as agreed upon between them before the seller issues a correction invoice.

2. Regulation on names of copies of an invoice

According to Article 4 of the Circular No. 39/2014/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam guided by Section 2 of the Official Dispatch No. 1839/TCT-CS in 2014, names of copies of an invoice are as follows:

Copies of an invoice are the sheets of the same invoice number. Each invoice number must have at least 02 copies and not more than 9 copies, including:

+ Copy 1 which is kept by the issuer.

+ Copy 2 which is given to the buyer.

From the third copy onwards, the copies shall be named according to their functions decided by the invoice issuer. Every separate invoice provided by a tax authority must have 3 copies (according to Point c Clause 2 Article 4 of the Circular No. 78/2021/TT-BTC on names of copies of provincial tax department-ordered printed invoices). The third copy shall be kept by the tax authority.

Sellers of products of which the right to ownership or the right to enjoyment must be registered with competent authorities shall create and publish invoices that have 3 copies or more. 2 of them shall be given to the buyer, and the third one shall be used for registration of the right to ownership or the right to enjoyment.

If sellers of such products only use 2-copy invoices, the buyers of such products must register the right to ownership or right to enjoyment (of cars, motorbikes, etc.) at a competent authority, where the second copy of the invoice is kept (e.g. a police authority). The following documents may be used to do bookkeeping, declaring tax, deducting tax, making statement of state capital: second copy of the invoices (a photocopy certified by the seller), payment receipts, registration fee receipts (photocopy of the second copy) related to the products that need to be registered.a

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