Vietnam moving ahead with roadmap to mandatory e-invoicing in 2022

Vietnam is moving forward with its e-invoicing project (Hóa Đơn Điện Tử or “HĐĐT”). The mandatory requirement for businesses to issue electronic invoices was pushed back to July 1, 2022. However, in the meantime, the Vietnamese General Department of Taxation has developed a roadmap for implementing e-invoicing with a nationwide pilot program across two phases and new legislation which has been approved by the Minister of Finance who signed and issued “Circular 78/2021/TT-BTC guiding Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP on e-invoices”.

E-invoicing to be implemented in six provinces and cities:

• Hanoi;
• Ho Chi Minh City;
• Quang Ninh;
• Hai Phong;
• Phu Tho; and
• Binh Dinh.

E-invoicing to be implemented in the remaining 57 provinces and cities across Vietnam.

Phase 1 of the pilot already appears to be gathering momentum. On December 1, 2021, Mr. Liu Duc Huy, Director of The Department of Policy (General Department of Taxation) said on an online seminar on the "Benefits of e-invoices" that since the announcement of the roadmap and pilot in November 2021, around 40,000 businesses had already registered for e-invoicing and more than 81,000 e-invoices had been issued. Despite some initial problems relating to the availability of software solutions and connections and transmission, more businesses are providing solutions and connections and the tax authority has been providing responses to questions from businesses and issuing unique government tax codes on a timely basis.

Vietnam will make electronic invoicing mandatory for all B2B sales from July 1, 2022. There is a prescribed XML format with a unique government tax code. Businesses using paper invoices currently must purchase them from the GDT with pre-stamped unique identification numbers. However when paper moves to digital with effect July 1, 2022, this unique code will be provided for inclusion on the e-invoice. E-invoices must also have a secure digital signature. 

Vietnam joins a growing list of countries which have introduced mandatory e-invoicing, or will do in the near future, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Saudi Arabia. As a result, businesses trading across territories are starting to think strategically rather than tactically and seeking to implement an e-invoicing solution that is scalable across countries and regions rather than purchase multiple individual local solutions as and when new mandates appear.

Find out more about Avalara’s e-invoicing solution.