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"When using electronic invoices, enterprises do not need to wait to receive bills via post as in the traditional way. In just a few clicks, shoppers will receive invoices wherever they are if they have internet," said VCCI President. Photo: Thuy Linh.

Enterprises are still afraid

Speaking at the forum, Mr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) stressed that small and medium enterprises and micro enterprises needed digital transformation. It is a revolution to digitize, including how to apply electronic invoices. It could be said that applying electronic invoices is an inevitable trend when enterprises implement digital transformation.

According to the General Department of Taxation, the use of electronic invoices helps enterprises save time (reducing up to 70% of process steps and 90% of disputes related to invoices, shortening 99% of payment time, invoice management and saving 80% of the cost for each invoice).

“This is really a significant number for enterprises. When using electronic invoices, enterprises do not need to wait for invoices to be sent via post as in the traditional way. In just a few clicks, shoppers will receive the bill wherever they are if they have internet,” said the VCCI President.

However, according to Mr. Loc, the application of electronic invoices required good technical infrastructure, but not all enterprises were ready to meet the requirements of information technology infrastructure and telecommunications. Besides, the habit of using cash of Vietnamese people was also the reason why electronic invoices were ‘slow’ to be applied and deployed on a large scale.

Also talking about the difficulties of implementing electronic invoices, Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy, General Director of Misa Joint Stock Company, said that at present, small and medium enterprises still faced difficulties in converting to electronic invoices. Because the enterprise was using paper invoices, there was not time to completely convert to electronic invoices. Moreover, enterprises were still concerned about the safety and security of electronic invoices.

Necessary to issue a circular

Speaking about the difficulties and obstacles faced by enterprises in the process of implementing electronic invoices, Mr. Nguyen Kho Din, Head of corporate customers, BKAV Technology Group, General Secretary of the Digital Signature and Electronic Transactions Club under the Vietnam Information Security Association, said enterprises' awareness of electronic invoices had also seen positive changes since Decree 119/2018/ND-CP stipulated electronic invoices to be used when selling goods or providing services.

However, besides the advantages, there are still challenges, such as legislation.

Specifically, despite Decree 119, there is no circular guiding this decree. Therefore, there are ‘gaps’ for regulations and evaluation on implementation of units, unclear regulations on signing date, date of invoice, and no guidance for special invoices.

“Because there is no guidance circulars, in the deployment process, enterprises are still concerned about whether they need the signatures of the sellers on invoices. Which independent unit will verify the capacity of the service providers of invoices, checking the safety and security of the service?” Mr. Nguyen Kho Din asked.

Facing these difficulties, Mr. Nguyen Khut Din proposed to implement synchronously among relevant agencies. The agencies need to sit back and offer solutions to remove problems to prevent difficulties for enterprises using electronic invoices.

In particular, it is necessary to issue a circular with more detailed instructions on electronic invoices soon, which specifies: selection of suppliers, issues related to signing date and date of invoice.

Speaking at the Forum, Mr. Hoang Quang Phong, Vice Chairman of VCCI, said that with Decree 119, management agencies wished to encourage agencies, organizations and individuals to apply regulations on electronic invoices and documents before July 1, 2022. Therefore, the pioneering enterprises in this field are very welcome, expressing the initiative in integration and determination together with State management agencies to implement tax tasks in a more standard way.

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"The transformation from using paper invoices to electronic invoices is an inevitable requirement a modern, transparent trading system needs to do, should do and must do. However, in order for electronic invoices to become popular, it requires a lot of effort from management agencies and enterprises providing services to change awareness and thinking of people and the business community in the field," the VCCI Vice Chairman said.