Official Dispatch 2054/TCHQ-GSQL 2022 regarding the use of e-invoices for exported goods

To: The General Department of Taxation

In response to the General Department of Taxation’s opinion poll No. 1759/TCT-CS, regarding the use of e-invoices for exported goods as prescribed in the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 and the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 78/2021/TT-BTC dated September 17, 2021, the General Department of Customs has the following opinions:

1. Regulations on invoices in export customs dossiers

According to international practices, an enterprise, when carrying out procedures for exporting goods, shall use commercial invoices to carry out the customs procedures and export goods to foreign countries. Commercial invoices shall be created and used under the UCP 600 uniform customs and practices for documentary credits and ensured to fully meet the content according to international practices.

According to Article 24 of the Law on Customs and Point b Clause 1 Article 16 of the Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015, amended and supplemented in Clause 5 Article 1 of the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018, customs dossiers for exported goods shall include commercial invoices or equivalent documents; in case the buyer has to pay the seller, the issuance an additional electronic VAT invoice to carry out export procedures is not required.

2. Time to issue e-invoices for exported goods under the Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020.

According to Points b, c Clause 3 Article 13 of the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020, VAT invoices for exported goods shall be made after the goods have been actually exported and certified by the customs agency in the case of entrusting to export goods and after completing the procedures for exported goods in case the customs declarant, that has exported goods and services, declares and pays value-added tax by credit method.

According to the above regulations, the time to issue VAT invoices for exported goods is after the customs declarant completes export customs procedures. Therefore, when carrying out customs procedures for exported goods, the customs declarant cannot issue a VAT invoice to submit in the customs dossier.

3. Thus, the making of e-invoices must comply with Vietnamese law, while the making of international commercial invoices must comply with international practices. The time of issuing these two types of invoices is different: commercial invoices shall be issued before carrying out customs procedures, and e-invoices shall be issued after carrying out customs procedures. Therefore, the General Department of Customs cannot guide customs declarants to submit electronic VAT invoices in export customs dossiers for carrying out customs procedures.

The General Department of Taxations is required to record inquiries of enterprises and refer to the international experience and give appropriate solutions.

The General Department of Customs hereby informs the General Department of Taxation for summarization./.

For the Director General

The Deputy Director General

Mai Xuan Thanh