Is it necessary to establish a document destruction council when destroying accounting documents in Vietnam?

Is it necessary to establish a document destruction council when destroying accounting documents in Vietnam?

Article 17 of Decree 174/2016/ND-CP stipulates destruction procedures as follows:

1. The legal representative of the accounting unit shall issue a decision to establish a document destruction council. The council consists of the head of the accounting unit, chief accountant, representative of the storage unit and other participants appointed by the legal representative of the accounting unit.

2. The council shall inspect, sort the accounting documents by type, compile a list and a document destruction record.

3. The document destruction record must be made right after accounting documents are destroyed, specify the types of accounting documents destroyed, retention period of each type, destruction method, conclusion and bear the signatures of the council members.

Thus, according to the above regulations in Vietnam, when destroying accounting documents that have expired their storage period, a document destruction council must be established. If your company needs to destroy some accounting documents whose retention period has expired, your company's legal representative will decide to establish a document destruction council to destroy those accounting documents.

Establishing a document destruction council that have expired is mandatory when destroying accounting documents. If your company does not comply, it will be fined.

Is it necessary to establish a document destruction council when destroying accounting documents in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

How much is the fine for failure to establish a destruction council when destroying accounting documents in Vietnam? 

According to Article 15 of Decree 41/2018/ND-CP regulating penalties for violations against regulations on retention of accounting documents as follows:

1. A warning shall be imposed for one of the following violations:

a) Archiving accounting documents 12 months after the specified deadline or later;

b) Failure to arrange the archived accounting documents by fiscal year in chronological order.

2. A fine ranging from VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 shall be imposed for one of the following violations:

a) Failure to retain accounting documents in full;

b) Damage or loss of accounting documents during the retention period;

c) Using accounting documents against regulations during the retention period;

d) Failure to inventory and sort accounting documents or to restore lost or damaged ones.

3. A fine ranging from VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 shall be imposed for one of the following violations:

a) Destroying accounting documents before the end of the retention period specified in the Law on Accounting but not serious enough for criminal prosecution;

b) Failure to establish a destruction council, to apply the destruction methods correctly and to make a destruction report while destroying accounting documents.

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 6 of Decree 41/2018/ND-CP amended by Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree 102/2021/ND-CP regulating fine levels:

2. The fines specified in Chapter II and Chapter III of this Decree are imposed upon organizations except cases specified in Clause 1 Article 7; Article 8; Article 9; Article 10; Article 11; Article 13; Article 14; Article 15; Article 16; Article 17; Article 19; Clauses 1 and 3 of Articles 21; Article 22; Articles 23; Article 24; Article 26; Article 33; Article 34; Clauses 1 and 3 Article 36; Clauses 1 Article 38; Clauses 2 and 3 Article 39; Clauses 1 and 2 Article 48; Clause 1 Article 57; Clauses 1 and 2 Article 61; Article 67, which are fines that apply to individuals. For organizations with the same violations, the fines will double those of individuals.

Therefore, if your company does not establish a document destruction council that have expired their storage period, when destroying accounting documents, you will be fined from 20,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND in Vietnam.

Best regards!