Ho Chi Minh City is implementing the application of electronics initiated from cash registers connected to tax authorities to help taxpayers proactively issue invoices, not requiring a digital signature of the seller…

On December 23rd 2022, the Investment and Trade Promotion Center of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC) in collaboration with the City Tax Department held a conference “Dialogue between businesses and city government”, to solve business problems in the tax field.

CONTROL OF REVENUE DECLARATION

At the conference, the Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh City informed the business community about the implementation of e-invoices created from cash registers with an electronic data transfer connection to the tax authorities. This is a new content being applied by the tax authorities of Ho Chi Minh City from mid-December 2022.

Ms. Ha Thai Hanh, Deputy Head of Taxpayer Propaganda and Support Department, Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, said that the objects of implementation are businesses, business households and individuals paying tax according to the declaration method (collectively referred to as taxpayers) in Ho Chi Minh City have activities of providing goods and services under the business model directly to consumers. These subjects are selected to use e-invoices with the tax authority’s code generated from the cash register connected to transfer data to the tax authority.

Specifically, there are 4 target groups including: Group of catering businesses, restaurants, hotels; Group of retail goods (commercial centers, supermarkets, retail consumer goods); Group of retail modern drugs; Group of other services (entertainment services, road and bridge tickets, bus tickets, sightseeing tickets, travel…).

The tax authority will exploit the database of electronic invoices with the tax authority’s code generated from the cash register to control the revenue declaration of business households and individuals to ensure compliance with cost factors in the tax period.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, the application of electronic chemistry initiated from cash registers brings many benefits to taxpayers, such as: 24/7 proactive in making invoices when arising from the sale of goods and services, thoroughly handling the delay between the time of payment and the time of invoicing.

At the same time, helping taxpayers be proactive 24/7 in handling errors arising right on the taxpayer’s device if the electronic invoice software has been installed from the cash register according to the tax authorities’ standards; seller’s digital signature is not required on each invoice; Expenses for purchase of goods and services using invoices generated from cash registers shall be determined as expenses with sufficient legal invoices and documents when determining tax obligations…

Conditions for deploying e-invoices generated from cash registers: Transactions with tax authorities can be performed by electronic means (such as having a digital signature and registering to be granted an electronic tax transaction account by the tax authorities); have information technology infrastructure (such as computers or electronic devices with internet connection, email); use e-invoicing software – this is software that can create e-invoices and can also transmit e-invoice data to buyers and to tax authorities.

In case the taxpayer chooses an e-invoice with the tax authority’s code generated from the cash register, in addition to the above basic conditions, it is only necessary to change the e-invoice software to meet the standard of invoice data format as prescribed in Decision 1510 (September 21st, 2022) of the General Department of Taxation.

Regarding the implementation roadmap, the Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh City conducts the implementation of electronic invoices with the tax authority’s code generated from the cash register phase 1 starting from December 15th, 2022 to the end of March 2023, ensure to support and create the most favorable conditions for taxpayers, without disrupting production and business activities of the unit. Phase 2 is expected to continue from April 1st, 2023.

VAT REFUND OVER 1 YEAR

As reflected by rubber businesses, from 2021 to now, the Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh City has not yet received a refund of value added tax (VAT). There are businesses that have not been refunded VAT 20-30 billion VND, even businesses up to 100 billion VND.

The reason businesses are owed VAT refund is that the tax authorities require the payment documents for export goods to show the information of the payer or the money remitter.

In addition, some businesses believe that they have been affected by the story that Thuduc House appropriated VAT money, thus leading to a “blockage” of VAT refunds for a year.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh City, in the past, during the review process, the tax authorities have discovered that many businesses have illegally used invoices. Tax authorities are still continuing to review, with businesses after reviewing and following regulations, they will conduct tax refund.

Regarding the delay in VAT refund in the past, it originates from Official Letter No. 5018 (December 13th, 2018) of the General Department of Taxation, which requires tax units to refund tax only when they have complete information about bank accounts of foreign customers in accordance with the information on the sales contract (including the contract appendix) according to current regulations…

According to statistics of the General Department of Taxation, in 2022, the whole tax industry will carry out 6,265 inspections and audits after VAT refund (equivalent to 174.6 % compared to the same period in 2021). Total tax refund and penalty is 630.8 billion VND. Notably, the General Department of Taxation evaluated the data of 11,829 businesses that had requests for export VAT refund from January 1st, 2018 to the end of August 30th, 2021 and identified 70 enterprises that have high risk of tax refund.

Official Dispatch No. 5018, December 13th, 2018 of the General Department of Taxation stipulates:

The case on the bank payment voucher issued by the exporter’s bank does not show the foreign customer’s bank account information consistent with the information on the goods and service purchase and sale contract (including contract appendix) signed between a foreign customer and a Vietnamese enterprise, this payment document is not eligible for deduction or refund of value added tax (VAT) related to exported goods and services.

Tax authorities only consider tax deduction and refund for exported goods and services that have met the conditions and cases for tax deduction and refund, including information on foreign customers’ bank accounts in accordance with the information on the sale and purchase contract (including the contract appendix) according to current regulations.

For exported goods and services for which payment documents do not have sufficient information on the payment account, they are temporarily not considered for tax refund, waiting for taxpayers to provide additional information.

Source: VnEconomy