04 Notes on Preparing, Signing, and Keeping Accounting Documents for Import and Export Goods

1. General Principles

- All transactions related to accounting for tax and other revenues concerning export and import goods must be documented with accounting vouchers. Accounting vouchers are issued only once for each arising transaction.

- Accounting vouchers must be prepared according to the prescribed content in the template for each type of transaction, ensuring sufficient content and legal validity for each type of voucher as stipulated in the Law on Accounting and Decree 147/2016/ND-CP.

2. Recording on Accounting Vouchers

- Recording must be complete, clear, prompt, and accurate in accordance with Article 18 of the Law on Accounting and Decree 174/2016/ND-CP.

- Writings on accounting vouchers must be continuous, without interruption, without abbreviations, erasures, or corrections. The writing must use a ballpoint pen or ink pen; it must not be in red ink or pencil.

- The amount in words must match the amount in figures. The first letter must be capitalized, and the remaining letters must not be capitalized; it must start at the beginning of the line, and the writing and figures must be continuous without spacing; finish one line before moving to the next line, without overwriting or writing over pre-printed text; blank spaces must be crossed out to prevent additions or corrections. Vouchers that are erased or corrected have no payment value or accounting record validity. If a mistake is made on a pre-printed voucher, it must be canceled by crossing out the incorrect voucher.

Illustrative image (source: internet)

3. Creating Accounting Vouchers

- Accounting vouchers must be prepared with the required number of copies. If multiple copies of an accounting voucher are needed for a single economic or financial transaction, the content of the copies must be identical.

- Accounting vouchers prepared in electronic form must comply with the provisions of Articles 17, 18, 19 of the Law on Accounting and Decree 174/2016/ND-CP.

4. Signing Accounting Vouchers

- Accounting vouchers must be signed according to the provisions of Article 19 of the Law on Accounting and Decree 174/2016/ND-CP. The signature on accounting vouchers of an individual must be consistent and match the registered signature specimen as required.

- The creator, approver, and other individuals who sign the accounting vouchers are responsible for the content of the accounting vouchers.

- Individuals responsible for signing accounting vouchers may only sign them after fully completing the content for which they are responsible according to the regulations.

The above provisions are based on Clause 2, Article 1 of Circular 112/2018/TT-BTC amending and supplementing Article 19 of Circular 174/2015/TT-BTC.

Duy Thinh

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