I. REGULATIONS ON THE TIME OF ISSUING INVOICE BY TYPE OF BUSINESS

• Sale of goods:

Based on Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP, Invoices for sale of goods (including the sale of state-owned property, property confiscated and put into state fund, and the sale of national reserve goods) shall be issued when the right to own or use goods is transferred to buys, whether the payment of the invoiced amount is made or not.

• Provision of services:

Based on Clause 2&3, Article 9 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP, Invoices for provision of services shall be issued upon completion of the provision of services, whether the payment of the invoiced amount is made or not. In case a service is provided with payments collected in advanced or during the provision of that service, an invoice shall be issued when each payment is collected (excluding payments of deposited amounts or advance payments which are made to ensure the execution of contracts for provision of accounting, audit, financial consulting or taxation services; valuation services; technical survey and design services; supervision consulting services; investment construction project formulation services).

In case where multiple deliveries are required, or each goods item or service phase is accepted, it shall be mandatory to issue an invoice showing quantity, value of goods or service for each respective delivery or acceptance.

II. REGULATIONS ON THE TIME OF SIGNNING E-INVOICES

Based on Clause 9, Article 10 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP, The date of the digital signature on an e-invoice is the date on which the seller or buyer adds his/her digital signature to that e-invoice and expressed in “ngày, tháng, năm” (day/month/year) format of the calendar year

III. ARE DIFFERENT TIME OF ISSUING AND SIGNING OF E-INVOICES ILLEGAL??

Official Dispatch 1586/TCT-CS of 2023 about declaring VAT according to the seller’s e-invoice has the following instructions:

“Based on Clause 7, Article 3 and Article 10 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 of the Government regulating invoices and documents;

provisions of Decision No. 1450/QD-TCT dated October 7, 2021 of the Director of the General Department of Taxation regulating the components containing e-invoice data and methods of transmission and reception with tax authorities;

Based on above regulations, in case  e-invoice has been issued with signing time on the invoice that is different from time of issuing invoice, this issued e-invoice is still determined to be a valid invoice:

– The seller declares and pays VAT at the time of issuing e-invoice;

– The buyer shall declare tax at the time of receipt of the e-invoice, must ensure the correct and complete  form and content as prescribed in Article 10 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP of the Government..”