Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (middle) at the launch ceremony of the national e-invoicing system, Ha Noi, April 21, 2022 - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

This is a step forward to the deadline fixed by the Government to make e-invoicing mandatory from July 7, 2022.

E-invoices, first introduced in Viet Nam in 2010, have been welcomed by business community as it helps save time and expenses.

From November 21, 2021, the provincial departments of taxation of six cities and provinces namely Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Binh Dinh, and Phu Tho started to issue e-invoices before expanding to 57 other localities.

The e-invoicing system is part of the taxation sector's effort to digitalize tax management. Last month, the country's tax authority launched a web portal (etaxvn.gdt.gov.vn) so that foreign suppliers can fulfill their tax obligations in Viet Nam. Addressing the ceremony, Prime Minister Pham emphasized the Party and State attach great importance to and consider digitalization one of the central tasks. Pham said digitalization will be carried out across fields, with first priority given to public administration and provision of online services. From that perspective, the tax authority must be one of the pioneers in this digitalization process, he added. The Government chief said e-invoicing is indicative of the taxation sector's effort in reforming and modernizing tax management in a more transparent manner. The system will be integrated into other national data systems on population, businesses, social insurance, land, etc, thus contributing to accelerate the development of digital government, digital economy, and digital society. Pham urged the sector to further enhance application of technologies so that tax registration and payment would be easy and strive to carry out all administrative tax procedures electronically by the end of this year. 

Statistics showed that in Viet Nam the rates of online tax registration, online tax declaration, online tax payments and online tax refunds respectively reached 100 percent, 99.9 percent, 99 percent, and nearly 98 percent.