The Ministry of Finance proposes to amend and supplement regulations on invoices and documents to facilitate taxpayers.

Edit signature rules

In the report to the Government, the Ministry of Finance said that the issuance of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP, stipulating invoices and documents to implement the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019. /QH14, has created a legal basis for managing invoices, especially electronic invoices in a modern direction and facilitated people and businesses.

On the basis of the Government's decrees, the Ministry of Finance has issued guiding documents and directed the tax authorities to implement them uniformly. State budget revenue from taxes and fees in 2021 was quite good, contributing to the completion of the state budget financial task in 2021. In particular, at present, the electronic invoice system has been deployed nationwide.

However, the Ministry of Finance said that in the process of implementing Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP, there are some unclear provisions that need to be amended and supplemented to create a unified and favorable legal basis and make it beneficial for taxpayers and the inspection and control of the tax authorities.

Specifically, Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP stipulating invoices and documents takes effect from July 1, 2022. The Decree also encourages agencies, organizations and individuals that meet the conditions on information technology infrastructure to apply regulations on electronic invoices and documents before July 1, 2022.

In particular, there is an error in Appendix IB issued together with Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP with form No. 01/TB-SSĐT on the receipt and handling of the e-invoices made. This form is sent by the Tax authority to the taxpayer in response to the receipt of the error message sent by the taxpayer in both cases of errors discovered by the taxpayer and detected by tax authorities to request taxpayers to review. In Form No. 01/TB-SSDT, there is a provision "Digital signature of the head of the tax office".

The Ministry of Finance said that through the practice of implementing e-invoices in six provinces and cities, the volume of erroneous invoices reported by taxpayers to the tax office is quite large.

In the case of errors discovered by the taxpayer themselves, the head of the tax office must personally sign the feedback on the fact that the tax office has received the error notice of the e-invoice for each case which hinders the and increases the workload for tax authorities but cannot create favorable conditions for taxpayers.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance believes that it is necessary to amend the regulations on signatures in Form No. 01/TB-SSĐT issued together with Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP.

Amendment of regulations on invoicing

Also in the Report, the Ministry of Finance proposed to amend and supplement Decree No. 15/2022/ND-CP.

On January 28, 2022, the Government issued Decree No. 15/2022/ND-CP stipulating tax exemption and reduction policies according to Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15. Accordingly, reducing the VAT rate by 2% from February 1, 2022 to the end of December 31, 2022 for groups of goods and services currently applying the 10% value-added tax rate (remaining 8 months) except for some goods and services.

However, during the implementation of Decree No. 15/2022/ND-CP, the Ministry of Finance received a number of official dispatches from tax departments, businesses and some press agencies reporting problems with regulations in Clause 4, Article 1 on making separate invoices for goods and services subject to value-added tax reduction.

Specifically, Clause 4, Article 1 stipulates that business establishments must make separate invoices for goods and services eligible for value-added tax reduction. According to the regulations, if there is no separate invoice for goods and services eligible for tax reduction, the value-added tax will not be reduced. This regulation aims to facilitate the classification and management of invoices for goods and services eligible for tax reduction, but wastes time in business accounting and the cost of using invoices, especially for those who use many invoices per day.

As for regulations, in case businesses find it difficult to separate invoices for tax-reduced goods and services, so they don't issue separate invoices, consumers will not be able to benefit from the policy which directly affects the interests of consumers.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance said that it is necessary to amend the regulations on invoicing in Clause 4, Article 1 of Decree No. 15/2022/ND-CP.