CIRCULAR

GUIDELINES FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S DECREE NO. 51/2010/ND-CP DATED MAY 14, 2010 AND DECREE NO. 04/2014/ND-CP DATED JANUARY 17, 2014 ON SALE INVOICES

Pursuant to the Law on Tax administration No. 78/2006/QH11 dated November 29, 2006 and the Law No. 21/2012/QH13 dated November 20, 2012 on amendments to the Law on Tax administration;

Pursuant to the Law on Accounting No. 03/2003/QH11 on June 17, 2003;

Pursuant to the Law on Value-added tax No. 13/2008/QH12 dated June 03, 2008 and the Law No. 31/2013/QH13 dated June 19, 2013 on amendments to the Law on Value-added tax

Pursuant to the Law on Electronic transaction No. 51/2005/QH11 dated November 29, 2005;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 51/2010/ND-CP dated May 14, 2010 on sale invoices; Decree No. 04/2014/ND-CP dated January 17, 2014 amendments to the Decree No. 51/2010/ND-CP;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 215/2013/ND-CP dated December 23, 2013 defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

At the request of the Director of the General Department of Taxation,

The Minister of Finance provides instructions on sale invoices

Chapter I

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Circular provide instructions on printing, publishing, and using invoices for goods sale and service provision (hereinafter referred to as invoices); tasks and entitlements of tax authorities and agencies involved in printing, publishing, managing, and using invoices; rights, obligations, and responsibilities of organizations and individuals (hereinafter referred to as entities) for printing, publishing, and using invoices; inspection of invoices.

Article 2. Regulated subjects

1. Sellers of goods and providers of services, including:

a) Vietnamese organizations, households, and individuals that sell goods and/or provide services in Vietnam or to abroad;

b) Foreign organizations, households, and individuals that sell goods and/or provide services in Vietnam or sell goods manufactured in Vietnam to abroad;

c) Foreign, Vietnamese organizations, households, and individuals that do not do business but sell goods and/or provide services in Vietnam.

2. Organizations that print invoices (hereinafter referred to as printing facilities), provide invoice printing software, organizations that broker electronic invoice solutions.

3. Buyers of goods and/or services.

4. Tax authorities and other entities involved in printing, publishing, and using invoice.

Article 3. Types and formats of invoices

1. An invoice is a document issued by a seller on which information about the goods sale or service provision is displayed as prescribed by law.

2. Types of invoices:

a) VAT invoices (template 3.1 in Appendix 3 and template 5.1 in Appendix 5 enclosed herewith) are invoices used by organizations that declare and calculate VAT using credit-invoice methods for:

- Domestic goods sale and service provision;

- International transport;

- Export of goods to free trade zones and other cases considered export;

- Export of goods or services to abroad.

b) Goods sale invoices are used by:

- Entities that declare and calculate VAT using direct method when selling goods and services in Vietnam or exporting them to free trade zones, and other cases considered export of goods and services to abroad (template 3.2 in Appendix 3 and template 5.2 in Appendix 5 enclosed herewith).

- Goods and service sale to the domestic market by entities in free trade zone, goods sale and service provision among entities in a free trade zone, export of goods and services to abroad. In this case, the invoices must say “Dành cho tổ chức, cá nhân trong khu phi thuế quan” (For entities in free trade zones) (template 5.3 in Appendix 5 enclosed herewith)

Example:

- Company A is a company that declares VAT using credit-invoice method, sells goods in Vietnam and export goods. Company A shall use VAT invoices for its sales of goods in and goods export.

- Company A is a company that declares VAT using credit-invoice method, sells goods in Vietnam and to entities in free trade zone. Company A shall use VAT invoices for its sales of goods in Vietnam and to entities in free trade zone.

- Company C is a export processing company that sells goods in Vietnam and exports goods to other countries, thus company C shall use sale invoices saying “Dành cho tổ chức, cá nhân trong khu phi thuế quan” (For entities in free trade zones).

- Company D is a company that declares VAT using direct method. Company D shall use sale invoices when selling goods in Vietnam, selling goods to free trade zones, and exporting goods.

c) Other invoices are stamps, tickets, cards, insurance receipts, etc.

d) Air freight receipts, receipt for international transport charges, receipts for banking service charges shall be issued in conformity with international practice and relevant laws.

3. Format of invoices:

Invoices may be in the form of:

a) Invoices printed by sellers using computers, cash registers, or other machines when selling goods and services;

b) Electronic invoices are collections of electronic data about sales of goods and services that are created, issued, sent, received, stored, and managed in accordance with the Law on Electronic transactions and its guiding documents;

c) Ordered invoices are invoices printed as ordered and used for sale of goods and services, or invoices ordered by tax authorities and sold to other entities.

4. The documents printed, published, used, and managed as if invoices are notes of goods delivery and internal circulations, notes of delivery of goods to agents (templates 5.4 and 5.5 in Appendix 5 enclosed herewith).

Article 4. Contents of issued invoices

1. All contents of an issued invoice must be displayed on the same page.

a) Type of the invoice.

The type of the invoice must be displayed on each invoice. Example: VAT INVOICE, SALE INVOICE, etc.

If an invoice is also used as a document for bookkeeping or sale management, it may have an additional name written after the invoice type using a smaller font size or between round brackets. Example: VAT INVOICE - WARRANTY NOTE, VAT INVOICE (WARRANTY NOTE), VAT INVOICE - RECEIPT, VAT INVOICE (RECEIPT), etc.

b) Invoice template numbers and invoice symbol.

Invoice template number reflects the type of the invoice, copy numbers, and template number of a type of invoices (a type of invoice may have multiple templates).

Invoice symbol is meant to distinguish invoices with Vietnam’s alphabet and last two digits of the year.

For ordered invoices, the last two digits of the year indicate the year in which the invoices are printed. For self-printed invoices, the last two digits are the year in which invoices started to be used according to the notification  of invoice publication, or the year in which invoices were printed.

Example: Company X notifies the publication of 500 self-printed invoices on June 07, 2014, from No. 201 to No. 700. These 500 invoices are not used up by 2014.  In 2015, company X may used up these invoices.

If company X does not want to keep using the published but unused invoices, the unused invoices shall be destroyed and a notice of new invoice publication shall be made.

c) Names of copies of an invoice:

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. 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.

d) Ordinal numbers of invoices.

Ordinal numbers of invoices are a series of natural number in the invoice symbol, which consists of 07 digits.

dd) Name, address, taxpayer identification number (TIN) of the seller;

e) Name, address, TIN of the buyer;

g) Names of goods and services, units, quantities, unit prices of goods and services; Amount payable in numbers and in words.

In a VAT invoice, apart from the line “unit price” which indicates price exclusive of VAT, there must be other lines indicating VAT rate and VAT amount. The total amount payable must be written both in numbers and in words.

h) The buyer and the seller must write their names, append the seller’s seal, and write the date on the invoice.

i) Names of the printing facility. (hereinafter referred to as printing organization)

The name, TIN of the invoice printing facility must be displayed on ordered invoices, including the ordered invoices used by the printing organization itself.

k) Invoices must be written in Vietnamese. If a text must be written in a foreign language, it must be put between a pair of brackets () below the Vietnamese text, and must be smaller than the Vietnamese text.  The number written on invoices are natural numbers:  0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. There is a dot (.) after every three zeros (0) from the right, and there is a comma (,) before the decimal number, if any. Where an company uses an accounting software program in which is a comma (,) is used after every three zeros (0) from the right, and a dot (.) is placed before the decimal number; the text on invoices is Vietnamese without diacritics, the invoices of such company may be expressed the same way. The total payment on the invoice must be written in words. The Vietnamese text without diacritics must ensure that the invoice is not misinterpreted. Any company that wishes to use Vietnamese without diacritics, a comma (,) is used after every three zeros (0) from the right, and a dot (.) is placed before the decimal number must send a written application for registration to the tax authority and take responsibility for the accuracy of the invoices issued this way.

Invoices of the same template used by an entity must have the same dimensions (in case invoices are printed by cash registers using paper rolls, the lengths of invoice may vary according to the quantity of goods sold).

2. Optional contents on issued invoices.

a) Apart from the compulsory contents prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the trader may provide additional information serving their business, including logo, decoration, or advertisements.

b) Additional information must be conformable with applicable law, must not block or obscure the compulsory contents.

3. Some cases in which some compulsory information may be omitted on the invoice:

a) The trader may create, publish, and use invoices without buyers' signatures or the seller’s seal in the following cases: electricity bills, water bills, telephone bills, banking service bills that are self-printed as prescribed in this Circular.

b) In the cases below, some compulsory contents may be omitted unless the buyer is an accounting unit and requests the seller to issue an invoice that contains all compulsory information mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article:

- Invoices printed by supermarkets and shopping malls established under the law may omit names, TINs, signatures of buyers and seals of sellers.

- Stamps and tickets that have prices printed thereon may omit signatures, seal of sellers, names, address, TINs, and signatures of buyers.

- Provincial Departments of Taxation shall consider allowing companies that use large amounts of invoices and adhere to tax laws to omit their seals on the invoices at their request according to their business operation, selling method, and invoicing method. Departments of Taxation shall provide instructions on invoices on which the seller’s seal is not required.

- Other cases shall comply with instructions of the Ministry of Finance.

Chapter II

CREATING AND PUBLISHING INVOICES

Article 5. Rules for creating invoices

1. Creating invoices means the creating templates of invoices for goods sale and/or service provision of the business organization. Such invoices are expressed as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 3 of this Circular.

2. An organization may create multiple types of invoices (self-printed invoices, ordered invoices, electronic invoices) in accordance with Decree No. 51/2010/ND-CP, Decree No. 04/2014/ND-CP, and this Circular.

a) New or operating organizations/companies may create invoices in the cases mentioned in Point a Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular.

b) Business organizations may design their own invoices if the conditions in Point b Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular are satisfied.

c) The business organizations mentioned in Point a and Point b of this Clause that are not able to print invoices may design ordered invoices in accordance with instructions in Article 8 of this Circular.

d) Organizations that pay VAT using credit-invoice method, are not those mentioned in Point a or Point b of this Clause, and are not required to buy invoices from tax authorities may designed their ordered invoices in accordance with instructions in Article 8 of this Circular.

dd) Organizations that are not companies but do business (including cooperatives, foreign contractors, project management boards); business households and businesspeople; other organizations and companies that are not allowed to print or order invoices shall buy invoices printed by tax authorities in accordance with Article 11 of this Circular.

e) Public service providers that engage in manufacture or business, satisfy conditions for printing invoices in Clause 1 Article 6, but are not able  to print invoices themselves may order the invoices or buy invoices printed by tax authorities.

g) Organizations other than companies; households and individuals that are not doing business but sell goods or services irregularly and need invoices shall be provided with separate invoices by tax authorities.

3. Numbers of different invoices with the same symbol must not be repeated.

4. Paper and ink being used must ensure the quality of invoices throughout their retention period according to accounting laws.

Article 6. Creating self-printed invoices

1. Entities permitted to create self-printed invoices

a) Companies and public service agencies may create self-printed invoices since they are granted TINs, including:

- Companies established under regulations of law in industrial parks, Economic Zone, export-processing zones, hi-tech zones.

- Public service agencies that engages in manufacture and/or trade as prescribed by law.

- Any company or bank whose charter capital is VND 15 billion or more according to contributed capital when the notice of invoice publication is made, including their branches and affiliated units that declare and pay VAT in provinces other than the province where their headquarter is situated.

Example: VT Telecommunications Corporation whose head office is located in Hanoi has a charter capital of more than 15 billion when invoices are published. The Corporation has created self-printed invoices. Its branches and affiliated units in other provinces shall declare and pay VAT in other provinces may also create self-printed invoices.

b) Any company that is established from the effective of this Circular, has a charter capital of below 15 billion, is a manufacturer or service provider that purchases fixed assets, machinery, and equipment worth VND 1 billion or more according to corresponding sale invoices may print its own invoices to serve the goods sale or service provisions when the notice of invoice publication is made, on condition that:

- Taxpayer ID number has been obtained;

- Revenue is earned from selling goods and services;

- Invoices are issued and printed by machines (computers, printers, cash registers) when selling goods and services;

- The company is an accounting unit Pursuant to the Law on Accounting and has invoice printing software to monthly send data to accounting books for recording revenues and making VAT statements.

- The company has not incurred any penalties for tax offences, or has complied with decisions on penalties for tax offences, provided the total fine does is below VND 50 billion within 365 consecutive days prior to the date of the first notice of issuance of self-printed invoices.

- A written request for permission to use self-printed invoices (Template 3.14 of Appendix 3 enclosed herewith) granted by a supervisory tax authority. Within 5 working days from the receipt of the written request for permission, the supervisory tax authority must offer opinions about conditions for using self-printed invoices (template 3.15 of Appendix 3 enclosed herewith).

c) Before creating invoices, any of the organizations mentioned in Point a and Point b of this Clause must issue a decision to use self-printed invoices and take responsibility for such decision.

A decision to use self-printed invoices must specify:

- The instruments (computers, printers, software) use for printing invoices;

- Names of the department or service provider in charge of invoice printing techniques;

- Responsibilities of each department related to the creation, issuance, circulation, and storage of data about self-printed invoices within the organization; 

- The templates of self-printed invoices and their purposes must have items with sufficient information in accordance with Clause 1 Article 4 of this Circular.

2. Self-printed invoices may be created using invoice printing software from computers, cash registers, or other kinds of machines, provided:

- Invoices are numbered automatically. Each copy of an invoice number is only printed once. If a copy is printed two times or more, it must be expressed as a copy.

- Invoice printing software must ensure security by classifying users so that unauthorized people cannot change data of the application.

3. Conditions and responsibilities of providers of invoice printing software.

a) Conditions

Any provider of invoice printing software must be a company that has a Certificate of Business Registration (or a Certificate of Business registration) that licenses computer programming or software publishing (except for the organizations that use their own invoice printing software).

b) Responsibilities

- Invoice printing software provided must comply with regulations on self-printed invoices. It is prohibited to print invoices using the templates provided in the software provided for other companies.

- Make and send reports on provision of invoice printing software to supervisory tax authorities. The report must specify names, TINs, addresses of users of invoice printing software (template 3.7 of Appendix 3 enclosed herewith).

Reports on provision of invoice printing software shall be sent monthly to supervisory tax authorities. The report on provision of invoice printing software of the first quarter shall be submitted by April 30; the second quarter by July 30, the third quarter by October 30, and the forth quarter by January 30 of the next year.

In case a provider of invoice printing software stops providing invoice printing software, the last invoice printing report shall reflect the period from the beginning of the reporting period to the day the provider of invoice printing software stops providing invoice printing software. The report on provision of invoice printing software must be submitted by the 20^th of the month succeeding the month in which provision of invoice printing software is stopped.

In case a provider of invoice printing software has just started its provision of invoice printing software or resumes its provision of invoice printing software after an interval, the report shall reflects the period from the commencement date or resumption date to the end of the quarter.

In case the provider of invoice printing software is an overseas organization or a company that creates their own invoice printing software for internal use, it is not required to report the provision of invoice printing software.

Tax authorities shall receive reports and post the data on the website of the General Department of Taxation within 03 working days from the receipt of reports.

4. Companies posing high tax risks according to guidance in Clause 2 Article 11 of this Circular and does not buy invoices from tax authorities shall use self-printed invoices as follows: enter the website of the tax authority (The General Department of Taxation or Department of Taxation) and use invoice printing software of such tax authority to issue invoices when selling goods or providing services in order for the tax authority to control all data of self-printed invoices issued by such companies.

Article 7. Creating electronic invoices

1. Electronic invoices shall be created, issued, and processed using the computers of organizations that have TINs when they sell goods and/or services, and stored on computers of all parties in accordance with regulations of law on electronic transactions.

2. Electronic invoices shall be used in accordance with regulations of law on electronic transactions.

3. The management and use of electronic invoices must comply with Circulars of the Ministry of Finance on creating, publishing, and using investment incentives for sale of goods and services.

Article 8. Creating ordered invoices

1. Entities permitted to create ordered invoices:

a) If any of the new business organizations permitted to print their own self-printed invoices mentioned in Article 6 of this Circular does not use self-printed invoices, it may create ordered invoices for sale of its goods and services.

b) Any of the business organizations and companies that is not permitted to buy invoices from tax authorities mentioned in Article 11 and Article 12 of this Circular may create invoices for sale of its goods and services.

Before the placing first order for invoices, the company must send a written request for permission to use ordered invoices to the supervisory tax authority (template 3.14 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith).

Within 5 working days from the receipt of the written request, the supervisory tax authority must make a response (template 3.15 of Appendix 3 enclosed herewith).

c) Provincial Departments of Taxation shall create ordered invoices, then sold, distribute them to the entities mentioned in Article 11, Article 12, and Article 13 of this Circular.

2. Ordered invoices using existing templates must have items with sufficient information mentioned in Clause 1 Article 4 of this Circular.

Entities permitted to create self-printed invoices shall decide and order their own invoice template.

Business organizations that order invoice must print their names and taxpayer ID number on the invoices.

Where a business organization orders invoices for their affiliated units, the name of the business organizations must be placed on the upper left corner of every invoice. Every affiliated unit shall append its seal or its name, TIN, and address in the box “tên, mã số thuế, Dịa chỉ người bán hàng” (Name, TIN, address of seller).

The name of the Provincial Department of Taxation that orders the invoices shall be placed on the upper left corner of every invoice.

3. Printing ordered invoices

a) Ordered invoices shall be printed under contracts between business organizations or Provincial Department of Taxation with any printing facility that satisfies the conditions in Point a Clause 4 of this Article.

b) Invoice printing contracts shall be made in accordance with the Civil Code. The contract must specify the type of invoice, template number, invoice symbol, quantity, ordinal numbers of invoices (a range of numbers), and be enclosed with a sample invoice, a notification of the tax authority of the company’s use of ordered invoices.

c) In case a printing facility prints ordered invoices serving its sale of goods and services, it is required to have a decision to print invoices made by the head of the printing facility. The decision must contain sufficient information such as the type of invoice, template number, invoice symbol, quantity, ordinal numbers (a range of numbers), and be enclosed with a sample invoice.

4. Conditions and responsibilities of printing facilities

a) Conditions

A printing facility must be a company who has an unexpired business registration and a license for printing (including printing of  publications and non-publications).

In case a public service provider engages in manufacture or business as a company, has a license for printing, printing machinery and equipment may print invoices ordered by other organizations.

b) Responsibilities

- Print invoices under concluded printing contracts; do not transfer all or part of the printing process to another printing facility.

- Manage, preserve the films, plates, and similar instruments used for creating ordered invoice under agreements with the organizations that place the orders (clients). The films and plates to be used later must be sealed and stored;

- Destroy erroneous, repeated, redundant invoices; destroy the films, plates, and similar instruments used for creating ordered invoice under agreements with the clients;

- Finalize contracts with clients;

- Make and send reports on the orders for printed invoices to supervisory tax authorities The report must specify: name, TIN, address of the client; type, invoice symbol, template number; quantity of printed invoices (and their numbers) order by each organization (template 3.7 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith).

Reports on ordered invoices shall be submitted to supervisory tax authority quarterly. The report of the 1^st quarter must be submitted by April 30; 2^nd quarter by July 30, 3^rd quarter by October 30, and 4^th quarter by January 30, of the next year.

In case the printing facility stops taking printing orders, the last invoice printing reports shall reflect the period from the beginning of the reporting period to the day the facility stops taking invoice printing orders. The report shall be submitted by the 20^th of the month succeeding the month in which invoice printing is suspended.

In case printing facility has just started its business or resumes its invoice printing after an interval, the report shall reflects the period from the commencement of the business or the resumption of the invoice printing to the end of the quarter.

Tax authorities shall receive reports and post the data on the website of the General Department of Taxation within 03 working days from the receipt of reports.

Article 9. Publishing invoices of business organizations

1. Before a business organization uses invoices for its sale of goods and services, except for invoices purchased from or provided by the tax authority, it must make and send a notice of invoice publication (template 3.5 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith) enclosed with a sample invoice to the supervisory tax authority.

2. The notice of invoice publication must specify: Name, TIN, address, phone number of the invoice publishing unit, types of invoices (names, symbols of invoices, template numbers, commencement dates, quantity of published invoices (a range of numbers)), name and TIN of the printing facility (if invoices are ordered), name and TIN (if any) of the provider of invoice printing software (if invoices are self-printed), names and TINs (if any) of intermediary provider of electronic invoices (applied to electronic invoices); date of the notice of invoice publication, name and signature of the legal representative, and the organization’s seal.

Pursuant to the use of invoices and adherence to regulations on management and use of invoices of the organization, the supervisory tax authority shall determine the quantity of invoices that may be published and used for 3 to 6 months.

Any bank, credit institution, or its branches that use their own invoices for service charges, shall send a notice of invoice publication enclosed with shall to the tax authority, register the invoice number structure. The quantity of published invoices is not required to be registered.

In case the name and/or address of the business organization is changed but the published invoices, on which the name, and address are printed, are not used up and the business organization wishes to keep using such ordered invoices, the new name and/or address shall be stamped next to the existing name and address. A notice of information adjustment shall be sent to the supervisory tax authority (template 3.13 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith).

When the business organizations is moved and thus under the management of a new tax authority but it wishes to keep using the published invoices that remain, an invoice use report shall be submitted to the new tax authority and the new address shall be stamped on the invoice. A manifest of remaining invoices (template 3.1 in Appendix 3 enclosed herewith) and a notice of information adjustment shall be sent to the new tax authority (specifying the number of remaining invoices). In case business organization does not wish to use the published invoices that remain, they shall be destroyed. A report on invoice destruction and a new notice of invoice publication shall be sent to the new tax authority.

In case the contents of the notice of invoice publication are changed, the business organization must make a new notice of invoice publication in accordance with instructions in this Clause.

3. A sample invoice is a published invoice that accurately reflects all items of an invoice given to the buyer, the number of which is a series or "0" or the text “Mẫu” (Sample). The sample invoice enclosed with the notice of invoice publication, which is sent to the tax authority, and posted at the places where goods/services are sold is the copy given to the buyer.

If a business organization that changes its name and/or address does not have a sample invoice, or a branch that use the same invoice template as that used by its headquarter, the first invoice number may be used as the sample using new name/address,  The ordinal number on the invoice used as a sample shall be crossed out, and the text “Mẫu” (Sample) shall be stamped thereon. A notice of invoice publication is not required when an invoice is used as a sample invoice. The sample invoices shall not be included in the quantity of published invoices in the notice of invoice publication).

4. The notice of invoice publication and the sample invoice must be sent to the supervisory tax authority within 05 days before the business organizations starts using the invoices, and within 10 days from the day on which the notice of invoice publication is signed. The notice of invoice publication and the sample invoice must be posted at the places where goods/services are sold as long as invoices are used.

When a business organization sends the notice of invoice publication for the second time onwards, the sample invoice is not required if there is no changes in the contents and method of invoice publication.

The affiliated units/branches of an organization uses the same invoice template but declare VAT separately, each of them shall send a separate notice of invoice publication to their supervisory tax authorities. The affiliated units/branches of an organization uses the same invoice template but their VAT is declared by the organization, such affiliated units/branches are not required to make notices of invoice publication.

According to the notice of invoice publication, General Department of Taxation shall establish an invoice database system on its website so that everyone can look up necessary information about published invoices.

When receiving the notice of invoice publication sent by an organization, if the tax authority finds that the notice is not satisfactory, the tax authority shall notify the sender in writing within 03 working days from receipt of the notice. Then, the sender shall adjust the notice.

Article 10. Publishing invoices of Provincial Departments of Taxation

1. A notice of invoice publication must be made before invoices ordered by a Provincial Department of Taxation is sold or provided for the first time.

2. Contents of the notice of invoice issuance must comply with Clause 2 and Clause 3 Article 9 of this Circular and template 3.6 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith.

3. Every notice of invoice issuance must be sent to all Provincial Departments of Taxation nationwide within 10 working days from its date and before invoices are sold or provided. Every notice of invoice publication shall be posted where it is noticeable at establishments affiliated to Provincial Departments of Taxation throughout its effective period.

If the notice of invoice publication is already posted by a Provincial Department of Taxation on the website of the General Department of Taxation, it is not required to be sent to other Provincial Departments of Taxation.

4. In case the contents of the notice of invoice issuance are changed, the Department of Taxation must follow the procedures for making a new notice in accordance with instructions in Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 11. Buyers of invoices from tax authorities

1. Tax authorities shall sell invoices to the following entities:

a) Organizations that are not companies but engage in business (including cooperatives, foreign contractors, project management boards).

Organizations that are not companies but do business are organizations doing business without being established and operated under Company law and other specialized laws.

b) Business households and individuals;

c) Business organizations and companies paying VAT using direct method.

d) Any company that uses self-printed invoices or ordered invoices and poses high tax risks;

dd) Any company that uses self-printed invoices or ordered invoices and commits violations pertaining to invoices and has incurred administrative penalties for tax offences.

Companies mentioned in Point d and Point dd of this Clause shall buy invoices from tax authorities for 12 months. Within 5 working days after this 12-month period, considering the use of invoices, the company’s tax declarations and payments, and the company’s request, the tax authority shall issue a written permission for the company to create its own invoices or keep buying invoices from the tax authority if the conditions for printing or ordering invoices are not satisfied (template 3.15 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith).

2. Companies posing high tax risks mentioned in Point d Clause 1 of this Article are any company whose equity capital is below VND 15 billion and:

a) Does not have the right to ownership or the right to enjoyment of: a factory, workshop, warehouse, means of transports, outlet, and other facilities; or

b) Engages in excavation of soil, rock, sand, gravel; or

c) Has suspicious banking transactions according to regulations of law against money laundering; or

d) Earns revenue from sale of goods and services to any other company whose owner is a family member (parent, spouse, sibling) or in a cross-ownership relationship which makes up more than 50% of the total revenue on the final statement of corporate income tax in the tax year.

dd) Fails to submit tax declarations or submits a tax declaration after 90 days from the deadline or from the commencement date of the business according to the business registration certificate; suspends the business for longer than the duration informed to the tax authority and the tax authority confirms that the company does business without declaring tax; no longer does business at the registered address without notifying the tax authority or the tax authority fails to determine the permanent or temporary residence of the legal representative or owner of the company.

e) The legal representative of the company is charged with tax evasion, illegally printing, publishing or trading in invoices and receipts for payments to government budget.

g) Is using self-printed invoices or ordered invoices on which the business address is changed twice or more within 12 months without making a notice, or fails to declare and pay tax at the new locality.

h) The company shows other suspicious signs according to criteria for tax risk assessment of tax authorities.

Pursuant to instructions in this Clause, by the 5^th every month, tax authorities shall review, carry out field inspections, and compile lists of companies posing high risks tax. Every Provincial Department of Taxation shall aggregate the lists of companies posing high risks tax complied by Department of Taxation of districts and the list of companies under the management of the Provincial Department of Taxation.

On the 15^th every month, the Director of the Provincial Department of Taxation shall issue a Decision enclosed with a list of companies posing high tax risks, disclose the “List of companies posing high tax risks that buy invoices published by tax authorities" on the website of the General Department of Taxation, and send written notifications to companies.

After 15 days from the day on which the Director of the Provincial Department of Taxation issues the Decision and send notifications, every company that receives the notification must stop using self-printed invoices, ordered invoices, and use invoices bought from tax authorities.  Tax authorities are responsible for selling invoices for such companies right after requiring companies to stop using ordered invoices and self-printed invoices.

3. Any company using self-printed invoices or ordered invoices and commits violations pertaining to invoices mentioned in Point dd Clause 1 of this Article is a company that deliberately uses illegal invoices or uses invoices illegally for the purpose of tax evasion or tax fraud, and incurs administrative penalties for doing so; any company reported by a relevant authority (State Audit Agency, Government Inspectorate, the Police, and other relevant authorities) to the local tax authority for tax evasion or tax fraud.

The period during which the use of ordered invoices and ordered invoices is prohibited begins from the effective date of the decision on administrative penalties for tax evasion or tax fraud. The period during which the use of ordered invoices and ordered invoices is prohibited begins from the effective date of the decision on administrative penalties for tax evasion or tax fraud.

4. Within 30 days from the day on which the Director of the building work notifies the company in writing as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, and from the effective date of the decision on administrative penalties for tax evasion or tax fraud, the company must make a report on expired invoices (template 3.12 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith). The company must destroy all expired self-printed invoices and ordered invoices, the notify the result to the supervisory tax authority in accordance with Article 29 of this Circular.

According to invoice use report submitted by the business organization or company, from the time it starts to buy invoices from the tax authority, the tax authority shall make a notification of expiration of the ordered invoices that have not been used by the company when the company switches over to buying invoices from the tax authority.

Article 12. Selling invoices ordered by Provincial Departments of Taxation

1. Invoices ordered by Provincial Departments of Taxation shall be sold at prices sufficient to cover the cost, including printing cost and publication cost. Directors of Provincial Departments of Taxation shall impose invoice prices as stated above. Tax authorities must not collect any amount in addition to the imposed price.

Tax authorities shall sell invoices to the entities under their management in accordance with Clause 1 Article 11 of this Circular.

2. Selling invoices at tax authorities

a) Responsibilities of buyers:

Any business entity (a company, business person, household, or organization) that buys invoices published by tax authorities must submit an application for invoice purchase (template 3.3 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith) and the following papers:

- The invoice buyer (the person that undersigns the application or authorized in writing by an organization, company, or business household) must present his/her unexpired ID card.

- Any entity that buys invoices for the first time must make a written statement (template 3.16 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith) that the business location is consistent with the Certificate of Business Registration or investment license (practice certificate) or Decision on Establishment issued by a competent authority.

When buying invoices published by a tax authority, the buyer must write or stamp their name, address, TIN on the second copy of each invoice number before invoices are taken out of the tax authority that sells them.

b) Responsibilities of tax authorities

Tax authorities shall sell business entities monthly.

Not more than 50 invoices of a type shall be sold to an entity for the first time. In case all of them are used up within less than a month, the tax authority shall decide the quantity of invoices to be sold next time based on the time and quantity of used invoices.

For next purchases of invoices, after examining the use of invoices, declaration and payment of tax, and the request for invoice purchase, the tax authority shall consider selling invoices to the buying entity within the day. The quantity of invoices sold to an entity must not exceed the quantity of invoices used last month.

In case a business household or business person wishes to use separate invoices instead of booked invoices, the tax authority shall sell separate invoices free of charge whenever they are needed (one by one).

When an organization/company switches over from buying invoices published by a tax authority to using ordered invoices, self-printed invoices, or electronic invoices, it must stop using invoices purchased from the tax authority from the first day on which their own invoices are used according to Article 21 of this Circular.

Article 13. Issuing invoices ordered by Provincial Departments of Taxation

1. Tax authorities shall issue invoices to organizations other than companies, non-business households and individuals that irregularly sell goods or services and need to give invoices to their customers.

Tax authorities shall not issue invoices if goods and services sold by the said entities are not subject to VAT or exempt from VAT declaration and VAT payment.

2. Invoices issued separately by tax authorities one by one at the request of the said entities are called separate invoices.

Invoices provided by tax authorities for organizations other than companies, non-business households and individuals that irregularly sell goods or services and need to give invoices to their customers are sale invoices.

When company is dissolved or goes bankrupt, after the final tax statement is submitted and TIN is closed, if the company needs to give invoices to buyers of their liquidated assets, separate sale invoices shall be provided by the tax authority.

When an organization or regulatory agency that does not pay VAT using credit-invoice method sells its assets at an auction, VAT invoices shall be provided to be given to buyers if the winning prices are inclusive of VAT mentioned in the auction documents approved by competent authorities.

3. Separate invoices for sale of goods and services shall be provided by:

- The local tax authority of the administrative division where the organization’s TIN is registered or where the organization is situated.

- The tax authority of the administrative division where the TIN is issued or the permanent residence of the non-business household or individual is registered according to the family register or unexpired ID card (or passport) declared by the household or individual (authentication by local authority is not required).

Where a non-business organization, household, or individual leases out real estate, the tax authority in the administrative division where the real estate is situated shall provide separate invoices.

Any entity that wishes to use separate invoices shall submit an application for separate invoices (template 3.4 Appendix 3 enclosed herewith). According to the request for separate invoices and proof of transactions enclosed thereto, the tax authority shall instruct the taxpayer to determine the tax payable in accordance with regulations of law on taxation  When a separate VAT invoice is issued, the VAT payable is the amount of VAT written on that separate VAT invoice.

Any person that request a separate invoice shall issue an invoice with 3 copies of the invoice at the tax authority and pay tax in full before receiving the separate invoice. After the taxpayer submits a certificate of tax payment, the tax authority shall append its seal on the upper left corner of copy 1 and copy 2, give them to the taxpayer, and keep copy 3 at the tax authority.

Article 14. Invoices directly printed from cash registers

When using cash registers to print and issue invoices to customers, the invoices printed directly from the cash register must have the following information and satisfy the following requirements:

- Name, address, TIN of the seller;

- Name of the kiosk or stall of the seller (in case the seller has multiple kiosks or stalls);

- Names, unit prices, quantity of the goods/services, and the amount payable. In case the organization or company pays tax using credit-invoice method, the price exclusive of VAT, VAT rate, VAT amount, and total amount inclusive of VAT must be specified;

- Name of the cashier, ordinal number, date, and time of the invoice.

- Invoices printed from the cash register must be given to customers.

- Data from the cash register must be accurately and sufficiently recorded into accounting books in order to declare revenue and VAT as prescribed. If the taxpayer fails to transfer all data from the invoice printing software to accounting books to declare tax (which means revenue is not sufficiently declared for the purpose of tax evasion), the taxpayer shall incur penalties in accordance with regulations of law on taxation.

Any organization or company that uses cash registers when selling goods or services must send the notice of invoice publication enclosed with a sample invoice to the supervisory tax authority. The quantity of published invoices might not be registered.

Article 15. Symbols for invoice identification

1. When printing, publishing invoices, every organization must decide on the identification symbol on their invoices.

Depending on the scale, characteristics of the business, and requirements for management, an organization may choose one or some of the following methods to create their identification symbols, such as: anti-counterfeit stamps, special printing techniques, special papers, special inks; using a separate symbol for each printing batch or publication of invoices; print fixed items on the invoice such as the seller’s name, TIN, address; type of goods/services; unit prices, etc.), signature and seal of the seller when issuing invoices.

2. Any organization that recognize a sign of violations pertaining to printing, publication, management, and use of invoices must immediately report it to a tax authority. When a tax authority and other competent authorities makes a request for certification of published invoices, the organization that prints, publishes such invoices must respond in writing within 10 days from the receipt of such request.

Chapter III

USE OF INVOICES

Article 16. Issuing invoices

1. Rules for issuing invoices

a) Only the invoices regulated in this Circular may be issued and given to buyers of goods and services.

b) When selling goods and services, including those used for trade promotion, advertising, samples, goods and services used for donation, exchange, or paid as salary, and those that are used internally (except for goods circulated internally to proceed production), when delivering goods in the form of a loan, lending goods, or returning goods, every seller must issue invoices.

Information on invoices must matches the actual transactions; no erasure and change may be made; the ink used must be consistent in color and indelible ink; do not use red ink; numbers and text must be written continuously without interruption. Do not write on printed text. Any blank space shall be crossed out. It is not required to cross out blank space on self-printed invoices or ordered invoice issued by computers.

c) An invoice consists of multiple copies. Information on copies of the same invoice number must be consistent.

d) Invoices shall be numbered in ascending order.

In case a business organization has multiple affiliated units that directly sell goods, or multiple authorized establishments that use ordered invoices with the same symbol in the form of distribution to each establishment in the system, the business organization must keep a log of distribution of invoices to every of its affiliated units and authorized establishments. Affiliated units and authorized establishments must use invoices in numerical order and within the quantity of invoices each of them receive.

In case a business organization has multiple outlets or authorized establishment that use self-printed invoices or electronic invoices with the same symbol in the form of random access from a server, the business organization must have a specific plan for random access by its outlets and authorized units. Invoices shall be issued in numerical order in the whole system of the business organizations.

2. Filling some specific items on an invoice

a) Item “Ngày tháng năm” (Date of invoice):

Date of a goods sale invoice is the day on which the right to ownership or the right to enjoyment is transferred to the buyer whether money is paid or not.

Date of a service provision invoice is the day on which the service provision is finished whether money is paid or not. In case services are prepaid or money is paid during service provision, the date of invoice is the payment date.

The date of an invoice for supply of domestic electricity, tap water, telecommunications services, television services is within the next 7 days from the day on which the electricity or water meter is recorded, or the ending date of an agreed period (applied to television, telecommunications services). The agreed period is an agreement between the provider of television or telecommunications services and the buyer.

Date of an invoice for construction and installation is the day on which the finished work or item is accepted and transferred, whether money is paid or not.

In case goods are delivered several times or a completed item or stage is transferred at a time, an invoice shall be issued for each time.

In case of an organization that sells real estate or builds infrastructure, houses for sale and collects money according to the project progress or payment schedule in the contract, the date of the invoice is the payment date.

Date of an invoice for exported goods/services shall be determined by the exporter as long as it is conformable with the agreement between the exporter and the importer. The date of revenue from export is the day on which customs procedure completion is certified according to the customs declaration.

When selling oil and gas at retail outlets to regular buyers being business organizations and businesspeople; providing securities, banking services, the date of the invoice depends on the contract between both parties enclosed with a manifest or documents certified by both parties, but such date shall not be later than the last day of the month in which goods are sold or services are provided.

Date of an invoice for sale of crude oil, natural gas, processed petroleum, and in some special cases shall comply with separate instructions of the Ministry of Finance.

b) Item “Tên, Dịa chỉ, mã số thuế của người bán” (name, address, TIN of the seller), “tên, Dịa chỉ, mã số thuế của người mua” (name, address, TIN of the buyer): write the full name or abbreviated name according to the Certificate of Business Registration or Tax registration.

In case goods are sold by an affiliated unit of the organization using a separate TIN, the name, address, and TIN of such affiliated unit must be written. If the affiliated unit does not have a TIN, the TIN of the headquarter shall be written.

When a buyer of goods or services worth VND 200,000 or more does not take the invoice or provide his/her name, address, and TIN, an invoice shall still be issued and say “người mua không lấy hóa Dơn" (the buyer refuses to take this invoice) or “người mua không cung cấp tên, Dịa chỉ, mã số thuế" (the buyer refuses to provide his/her name, address, TIN).

If buyers refuse to take invoices at an oil/gas retail outlet, an invoice for total revenue from buyers that refuse to take invoices in the day shall be issued.

If the name or address of the buyer is too long, the seller may shorten some common nouns (P instead of Phường (ward), Q instead of Quận (district), TP instead of Thành Phố (city), etc.) as long as the house number, names of the street, ward, district, city, name of the company are written and conformable with business registration or tax registration of the company.

c) Item “Số thứ tự, tên hàng hóa, dịch vụ, Dơn vị tính, số lượng, Dơn