What are the acts of violating invoice and documents regulations and how will they be penalized?

Invoices and documents are crucial parts of any enterprise and are thoroughly inspected by tax authorities. Therefore, pursuant to Article 4, Decree 125/2020/ND-CP of the Government, the use of illegal invoices or evidencing documents; acts of illegally using invoices or evidencing documents will be penalized as follows:

1. Using the invoices or evidencing documents mentioned hereunder constitutes the act of using illegal invoices or evidencing documents:

a) Counterfeit invoices and evidencing documents;

b) Invoices and evidencing documents not yet valid or expired;

c) Invoices suspended during the period of enforcement of the invoice suspension penalty, except those permitted for use according to a tax authority’s notice;

d) E-invoices which are not registered with any tax authority;

dd) E-invoices of which tax authority’s codes have not yet been granted if they are subject to the regulation under which e-invoices with tax authority’s codes are required;

e) Invoices for purchase of goods or services with the invoicing date specified thereon which falls within the period from the date on which a tax authority determines that the seller is not doing business at the address registered with a competent regulatory authority;

g) Invoices or evidencing documents for purchase of goods or services with the invoicing date before the date on which it is determined that the invoicing party are not doing business at the address registered with a competent regulatory authorities or, though the invoicing party’s notification of the closing of their business at the address already registered with the competent regulatory authority has not been sent to the tax authority, the tax authority or the police authority or other regulatory agency establishes that they are illegal.

2. Using the invoices or evidencing documents in the following cases constitutes the act of illegally using invoices or evidencing documents:

a) Invoices or evidencing documents that do not contain all compulsory contents as prescribed; invoices on which information is erased or corrected in breach of regulations;

b) Fraudulent invoices or evidencing documents (i.e. invoices or evidencing documents containing details about goods and services which are not partially or entirely rendered); invoices incorrectly reflecting amounts due, or invoices issued as fraudulent, false or fake ones;

c) Invoices with discrepancies in amounts paid for goods or services rendered, or discrepancies in required data fields between an invoice’s copies;

d) Issued invoices reused with fictitious information for the purpose of transporting goods at the circulation stage or invoices for goods or services which are used for evidencing the rendering of the other goods or services;

dd) Invoices or evidencing documents of other entities or persons (except if invoices are received from tax authorities and issued under trust) used for certifying the purchased goods or services or the sold goods or services;

e) Invoices or evidencing documents in the case where the tax, police or other regulatory authority concludes that they are used illegally.

As an established company in the field of tax and legal consulting, Vinasc hopes to adequately inform our customers to help them mitigate the risk during operation in Vietnam. Should there be any further concern, please contact Vinasc’s Customer Care department for timely support.