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As of November 1, a series of businesses will have to replace paper invoices with electronic invoices. Photo: T.L.

Two types of invoices will be applied until the end of October 2020

According to Decree 119/2018 / ND-CP on electronic invoices for purchase and sale of goods and services promulgated by the Government, from 1 November 2018, enterprises dealing in the fields of: Electricity; Petroleum; post and telecommunication; air transport, road, rail, sea, water; clean water; credit financing; insurance; medical; e-commerce business; supermarket business; official e-invoice application.

In addition, the following enterprises and economic organizations operating under the following three conditions are also required to use electronic invoices, including: Transactions with tax authorities by electronic means (submit reports monthly, quarterly); have accounting software system; electronic invoice software is available to make, look up electronic invoices, store electronic invoice data in accordance with regulations. Besides, other enterprises and economic organizations and organizations which are high-risk tax cases shall use electronic invoices with tax codes, irrespective of the value of each sale of goods or provision of service level.

Decree 119 also stipulates that business households and individuals that keep accounting books, regularly use 10 or more laborers and have a turnover in the previous year of VND 3 billion or more in the agricultural sector. , forestry, fisheries, industry, construction will also have to use electronic invoices ...

With concerns about e-invoicing that will make it difficult for business households, Mrs. Thi Phuong Lan, deputy head of Personal Income Tax Management Department at the General Department of Taxation, said that they should not be too worried by the imposition of the electronic bill. The use of electronic invoices in Decree 119 does not imply that the tax administration is aimed at small business households that have only enough income to support their families, but focuses on large business households. These are the households that will have to use the investment certificate, accounting books, tax declaration. This is to promote business households and avoid the current situation of business households.

Representative of the General Department of Taxation also informs, Decree 119 takes effect from 01/11/2018. However, in order to facilitate the conversion from traditional paper invoices to electronic invoices when selling goods or providing services, Decree 119 provides a 24-month period (from 1 November 2018 to November 1, 2020) for businesses to prepare conditions for facilities and people to apply electronic invoices. "In the period from 1 / 11/2018 to 31/10/2020, Decree 51/2010 / ND-CP and Decree 04/2014 / ND-CP of the Government still valid," Mrs. Thi Lan asserted.

During the period from 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2020, the tax office shall notify the transformed business establishment to apply electronic invoices with codes, if the business establishments fail to satisfy the following conditions: As for the information technology infrastructure which continues to use paper invoices in the form of printed and self-printed forms, the business establishments shall send invoice data to the tax office together with the submission of the value added tax (VAT) declaration form. For public non-business organizations (educational establishments and public health establishments) which have used receipts, they shall continue using the receipts and gradually convert them into electronic ones (or receipts of electronic money) according to the roadmap of the Ministry of Finance.

Saving billions

Sharing the benefits of electronic invoicing, Mr. Luu Duc Huy, Director General of the Policy Department, General Department of Taxation, said that the policy amendment mandated the use of electronic invoices instead of paper bills to give many benefits for the business.

"The first is to reduce costs. If using paper invoices, businesses have to pay for printing paper, ink, and in the case of invoicing costs to long distance customers, the seller must pay for express delivery. Secondly, because the electronic invoices can be stored in the electronic database, the company does not lose storage space as with paper bills, reducing the cost of maintaining invoices. There are also the benefits of: Reduced invoice search time, enhanced invoice security, and help to store and manage invoices permanently with no risk of loss or crumpled as when storing paper invoices. It improves billing management efficiency by gathering electronic information quickly, saving costs in a timely and effective manner," Mr. Luu Duc Huy informed.

According to survey data of the General Department of Taxation, the highest cost to enterprises’ using self-printed invoices is about 2,500 VND / receipt, equivalent to VND 125,000 / 50 invoices. Statistics from the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) show that the average number of bills used per month is 23.6 million, equivalent to about VND 283 million billions / year. The cost of self-printed invoices (excluding management and storage) is about VND 420 / bill; The cost of electronic invoices (calculated management costs, storage) is only about 292 VND / bill. With the use of e-invoices, EVN saves about VND 130 / bill compared to paper invoices and helps EVN save about VND 36 billion / year.

Many experts say that e-invoicing not only helps businesses get tangible value, but can also receive other intangible values that can not be converted into money as an opportunity value, providing customers with modern, convenient and fast service, contributing to raising the brand value of enterprises as well as increasing productivity and efficiency.

Not be worried about security

One of the issues that businesses and business households are most concerned about when making electronic invoices, is the invoice when the goods are circulating on the road. In response to taxpayers, Mr. Luu Duc Huy said that Decree 119 stipulates that when inspecting goods circulated on the market, in the case of electronic invoices, state agencies or juristic persons assess the General Department of Taxation's website which provides information on electronic invoices for management purposes, and the supply of paper invoices are not required.

According to the Director of the Department of Policy, relevant agencies are responsible for using the equipment to access and look up electronic bill data. In the event of force majeure due to natural disasters affecting the access to the Internet leading to a failure to look up the invoice data, if the carrier has the paper documents transferred from the electronic invoice, he/she will present to the state agency who is conducting goods inspection. Accordingly, state agencies and competent persons that are examining on the basis of a paper invoice transferred from electronic invoices for circulation of goods, can then continue to look up electronic invoice data (at the point registered with the General Department of Taxation) to serve the inspection work according to regulations.

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In cases where the carrier does not have the paper voucher transferred from the electronic invoice, the State agency or competent person shall inspect and access the electronic information gate of the General Department of Taxation for inspection and certification, to receive the electronic invoice of the business.