E-invoicing unquestionably plays an essential role in digitalising business operations in Vietnam. The use of e-invoice is very common all over the world and in an effort to attract more foreign investments, Vietnam has also adopted the system.
Read More About Cekindo’s E-invoicing Services
The government in Vietnam has issued Circular 68 to give guidance on Decree No.119/2018 ND-CP with regard to the use of e-invoices. According to Decree 119, for the sale of goods and services, all businesses in Vietnam except individuals or household businesses, are required to send an e-invoice to the buyer.
The effective date of Circular No.68/2019 TT-BTC was November 14, 2019. However, businesses in Vietnam are given a period until October 31, 2020 to fully comply with the new legislation.
With only less than a year left, businesses are encouraged to start adopting measures in order to be in compliant with the circular during the transition period.
In this article, Cekindo points out the major steps you should take to integrate this new requirement into your business properly.
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Transition Period for E-Invoice Implementation in Vietnam
If your business has already had the printed invoices or invoices from tax offices issued before November 1, 2018, you can still use them until October 31, 2020. [Update: according to the latest update, the deadline for mandatory e-invoicing in the country has been postponed. Due to several issues in implementation faced by local companies, the deadline has been extended to July 1, 2022. By this time, companies must have implemented e-invoices and e-documents for compliance.]
However, if the IT infrastructure of your business is not complete yet, you can extend your transition with the authority and keep sending invoices with Form 3 attached.
For businesses failing to meet the IT requirements for their e-invoicing, it is mandatory for them to submit their invoice data to the tax authorities. These invoices will be kept in the tax office’s database and posted on the information portal of Taxation General Department.
RELATED: Your Guide to Value Added Taxes (VAT) in Vietnam
Other things that you should pay attention to during the transition period include:
- Schools, medical institutions and other public organisations that use fee receipts shall switch to e-receipts or e-invoices in accordance to the Ministry of Finance’s roadmap
- Buyer’s e-signature on e-invoices is not required
- Export companies must issue e-sale invoices and e-VAT invoices upon the completion of the export transaction
Types of e-invoices
The adoption of e-invoices is to preclude invoice fraud and promote digitalisation in the country for efficiency. E-invoices are categorized into two types in Vietnam:
- With tax verification code
- Without tax verification code
E-invoices with a tax verification code are eligible for tax declarations. Only certain business sectors are permitted to use e-invoices without a tax verification code:
- Petroleum
- E-commerce
- Telecommunication
- Transportation
- Electricity
- Insurance
- Credit financing
- Supermarkets
- Trading
How to Register for E-invoice in Vietnam
Before companies can use either type of e-invoices in Vietnam, they have to register and get approval from the Vietnamese tax authorities via the website of Taxation General Department.
If you are in a business that makes use of the point-of-sale (POS) system, you will have to register for POS system-generated e-invoices. This is for the online data transfer with the tax department.
Please take note that although your e-invoices can include foreign languages, Vietnamese is the only one language that is compulsory and shall not be replaced by others
How Cekindo can Assist
Now that e-invoicing is compulsory for businesses in Vietnam, it’s time for you to enable this highly effective and legally-compliant electronic invoice implementation. This powerful e-invoicing system streamlines and enhances your billing and accounting processes to reduce costs and improve business efficiency.
Cekindo is a one-stop business consulting firm that can help you apply for your e-invoicing system, company setup, business license registration, accounting outsourcing, etc., all under one roof, CLICK here for all our Business Process Outsourcing services.
We are here to address the challenges you are facing in this ongoing digital transformation. Want a secure and highly efficient document exchange electronically with all of your clients and business partners now? Let’s keep in touch by filling in the form below and experience e-invoicing with Cekindo!
