Mr. Chau asked, is it illegal for the company to issue an invoice at the end of the day? Does he have the right to request the company to print a paper invoice immediately, otherwise he will not pay the VAT?

Regarding this issue, the Phu Nhuan District Tax Team (previously) has the following opinion:

Pursuant to Clause 2, Point g, Clause 4, Article 9 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 of the Government regulating invoices and documents:

"Time of invoice issuance

... 2. The time of invoice issuance for service provision is the time of completion of service provision regardless of whether the payment has been collected or not. In case the service provider collects money before or during the provision of the service, the time of invoice issuance is the time of payment collection (excluding the case of deposit or advance payment collection to ensure the performance of the contract for the provision of services: accounting, auditing, financial consulting, tax; valuation; survey, technical design; supervision consulting; construction investment project preparation).

… 4. Time of invoice issuance for some specific cases such as as follows:

… g) For retail business establishments, food service businesses following the model of a system of stores selling directly to consumers but the accounting of all business activities is carried out at the head office (the head office directly signs contracts for the purchase and sale of goods and services; invoices for the sale of goods and services issued by each store to customers are issued through the cash register system of each store under the name of the head office), the cash register system is connected to a computer that does not meet the conditions for connecting to transfer data to the tax authority, each transaction of selling goods and providing food and beverages has a printed bill for customers, the data of the bill is saved on the system and customers do not need to receive electronic invoices, at the end of the day, the business establishment will base on the information from the bill to synthesize and create electronic invoices for the transactions of selling goods and providing food and beverages during the day, in case the customer requests to create an electronic invoice, the business establishment will create an electronic invoice and deliver it to the customer".

Pursuant to Clause 8, Article 1 of Decree No. 70/2025/ND-CP dated June 1, 2025 of the Government stipulating amendments and supplements to a number of articles of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 of the Government stipulating invoices and vouchers:

"Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 of the Government stipulating invoices and vouchers

... 8. Amending the name of Article 11 and amending and supplementing Article 11 as follows:

"Article 11. Electronic invoices generated from cash registers

1. Business households and business individuals as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 51 with annual revenue of VND 1 billion or more, Clause 2, Article 90, Clause 3, Article 11. 91 Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14 and enterprises with activities of selling goods and providing services, including selling goods and providing services directly to consumers (commercial centers; supermarkets; retail (except for cars, motorbikes, motorcycles and other motor vehicles); food and beverage; restaurants; hotels; passenger transport services, direct support services for road transport, art services, entertainment, film screening activities, other personal services according to regulations on the Vietnamese Economic Sector System) use electronic invoices generated from cash registers connected to transfer electronic data to tax authorities...".

Based on the above regulations, the Phu Nhuan District Tax Team answers in principle as follows:

The time of issuing electronic invoices for food and beverage service establishments is the time of completing the provision of food and beverage services regardless of whether the money has been collected or not.

For food and beverage service establishments Food and beverage services follow the model of a system of stores selling directly to consumers, but the accounting of all business activities is carried out at the head office, the cash register system connected to the computer does not meet the conditions for connecting to transfer data with the tax authority, in case the customer does not need to receive an electronic invoice, at the end of the day, the business establishment will base on the information from the Bill to summarize and create an electronic invoice for the transactions of selling goods and providing food and beverage during the day; in case the customer requests to create an electronic invoice, the business establishment will create an electronic invoice and deliver it to the customer.

From June 1, 2025, food and beverage service establishments must use electronic invoices initiated from cash registers that are connected and transfer electronic data to the tax authority.