Circular 31/2025/TT-BTC amend Circular 23/2021/TT-BTC guiding the printing, issuance, management and use of e-stamps for liquor and tobacco products

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC dated March 30, 2021, guiding the printing, issuance, management and use of e-stamps for liquor and tobacco products

Pursuant to the Law on Tax Administration dated June 13, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on E-Transactions dated June 22, 2023;

Pursuant to the Law on Information Technology dated June 29, 2006;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 67/2013/ND-CP dated June 27, 2013, detailing some articles and implementation measures of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms regarding tobacco business and the Government’s Decree No. 106/2017/ND-CP dated September 14, 2017, amending, supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 67/2013/ND-CP dated June 27, 2013;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 105/2017/ND-CP dated September 14, 2017, on liquor business;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 17/2020/ND-CP dated February 05, 2020, amending and supplementing a number of Articles of Decrees concerning business investment conditions under the state management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated June 19, 2014, on invoices and documents, and the Government’s Decree No. 70/2025/ND-CP dated March 20, 2025, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020, on invoices and documents;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 29/2025/ND-CP dated February 24, 2025, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

At the proposal of the General Director of Taxation and the Director of the Customs Department;

The Minister of Finance hereby promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC dated March 30, 2021, guiding the printing, issuance, management and use of e-stamps for liquor and tobacco products.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC dated March 30, 2021, as follows:

1. To amend and supplement Points a and b, Clause 4, Article 3 as follows:

“4. Units conducting the affixture of e-stamps

a) Enterprises and organizations importing bottled liquor products, finished liquor products in barrels or tanks for bottling, or tobacco products that wish to affix e-stamps during the process of carrying out import procedures, or after completing import procedures, must affix e-stamps in strict accordance with this Circular and shall take full responsibility for the affixture of e-stamps before putting them into the market for consumption.

b) In case enterprises and organizations importing bottled liquor products or tobacco products wish to affix e-stamps at overseas production establishments, they must ensure the affixture of e-stamps in accordance with this Circular prior to the importation of such products into the territory of Vietnam.”

2. To amend and supplement Article 5 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Clause 2, Article 5 as follows:

“2. Printing and issuance of e-stamps

a) The Customs Department shall print and issue e-stamps for Customs Branches in the region for use according to the demand of units that have made registration on an annual basis.

b) Regional Customs Branches shall sell e-stamps to enterprises and organizations that have fulfilled their obligations as prescribed at Point b, Clause 3 of this Article.

c) All e-stamps shall be notified for issuance by the Customs Department on its e-portal (at https://customs.gov.vn) before being put into use. An e-stamp issuance notice contains: Name of e-stamp, stamp specimen/code, quantity, serial number, date of commencement of use, and sale price.”

b) To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 5 as follows:

“3. Purchase and sale of cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps

a) Responsibilities of customs offices

The Customs Department shall announce and update changes of e-stamp price on its e-portal (at https://customs.gov.vn).

The Regional Customs Branches shall sell e-stamps for enterprises and organizations at the requests of enterprises and organizations that have sufficient dossiers of e-stamp purchase as prescribed and the cumulative number of sold e-stamps (of the whole industry) must not exceed the number of e-stamps approved by the customs offices.

b) Responsibilities of organizations and enterprises purchasing cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps

- To submit an application for purchasing e-stamps of imported liquor/cigarettes, made according to Form No. 09/TEM provided in Appendix 6 to this Circular to the Customs e-Data Processing System, or submit a hard copy in case of system malfunction;

- To make a payment for e-stamp purchase and receipt, manage and use e-stamps in accordance with this Circular.”

c) To amend and supplement Clause 4, Article 5 as follows:

“4. Report on the use of e-stamps

Enterprises and organizations purchasing e-stamps shall declare and transmit data and information on e-stamps, including total number of e-stamps to be affixed, the number of e-stamps successfully affixed, number of damaged stamps, name of e-stamp, e-stamp specimen code and serial number, name and tax identification number of the importer, name of the manufacturer, date of manufacture, etc. to the Customs e-Data Processing System, using Form No. 12/TEM provided in Appendix 6 to this Circular.

a) Time limit for transmission of e-stamp data and information is prescribed as follows:

Within five (05) days from the date of completion of affixture of e-stamps for the shipment and before selling products to the market, for imported liquor or tobacco products; or after the customs clearance and before selling products to the market, for imported liquor or tobacco products that are affixed with e-stamps at overseas production establishments.

b) If the e-stamp data sheet sent to the customs office has errors or needs to be supplemented, immediately after detecting the error or contents to be supplemented (no more than five (05) days from the date of completion of submission of the e-stamp information and data) the customs declarant shall send the replacing e-stamp data sheet according to Form No.12/TEM provided in Appendix 6 to this Circular.

With regard to damage e-stamps among the e-stamps declared by organizations and enterprises, upon searching the Customs Department’s system, such e-stamps shall be regarded as invalid ones.

c) In case the Customs e-Data Processing System encounters a malfunction, after completing the affixture of e-stamps to goods, enterprises and organizations shall prepare a report on the use of e-stamps using Form No. 12/TEM provided in Appendix 6 to this Circular, and submit it to the regional Customs Branch that issued the e-stamps.

Within five (05) days from the date on which the customs office notifies that the system has been restored, the enterprises and organizations shall declare and transmit the e-stamp information and data to the Customs e-Data Processing System in accordance with regulations.”

d) To amend and supplement Clause 5, Article 5 as follows:

“5. Searching for e-stamp information

If tobacco product or liquor product users or relevant agencies wish to search for information of cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps that have been affixed to imported tobacco products or imported liquor products, they shall scan QR code, or access the Customs Department’s e-portal (address: https://customs.gov.vn).

Information of imported-cigarette e-stamps and imported-liquor e-stamps embedded in the QR code affixed to imported tobacco or liquor products includes: Serial number of the e-stamp; name of the e-stamp; specimen code; e-stamp serial number; name of the manufacturer; date of manufacture; name and tax identification number of the importer; product name; packaging specifications; customs declaration number/Decision number; date of registration of the declaration/Decision date.”

dd) To add Clause 7, Article 5 as follows:

“7. Procedures for purchasing e-stamps for affixture at overseas production establishments before import into the Vietnamese market

When transporting e-stamps to overseas production establishments for affixture onto goods, based on the delivery deadline specified in the purchase and sale contract, enterprises and organizations shall declare the temporary export and re-import period on the customs declaration and carry out temporary export customs procedures at a customs office of convenience.

Upon import of goods that have been affixed with e-stamps, in addition to carrying out import procedures for the products and goods under the corresponding form, the enterprise shall declare a customs declaration and carry out re-import procedures for the quantity of e-stamps corresponding to the quantity of products and goods that have been affixed with stamps. In cases where the e-stamps temporarily exported have not yet been used or have not been fully used, the enterprise shall be responsible for storing such stamps for use on the remaining quantity of products and goods under the same purchase and sale contract; if such stamps are to be transferred to another purchase and sale contract, the enterprise must notify the customs office that sold the stamps and adjust the stamp purchase information on the System accordingly.”

3. To amend and supplement Article 6 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Point a 4, Clause 1, Article 6 as follows:

“a4. To announce cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps that are invalid due to change of the e-stamp management policy or such e-stamps are lost, burnt or damaged at the General Department of Taxation's storage facility.”

b) To amend and supplement Point b3, Clause 1, Article 6 as follows:

“b3. Regarding the receipt of organizations’ and individuals’ dossiers of registration and use of e-stamps

- Within one working day from the date on which the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System successfully receives the dossier for registration and use of e-stamps by the organization or individual as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, the tax office shall send a notice of acceptance/non-acceptance of the dossier for registration and use of e-stamps, using Form No. 02/TB/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular, to the organization or individual via the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System (for Forms No. 04/TEM and 07/TEM, the System shall automatically issue the notice).

- In case of non-acceptance, the tax office shall notify the reason and guide the organization or individual to supplement the dossier as prescribed.”

c) To amend and supplement Point b5, Clause 1, Article 6 as follows:

“b5. Tax offices shall announce invalid cigarette e-stamps and invalid liquor e-stamps in the following cases

- Cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps are no longer valid for use due to loss, fire, or damage occurring at the tax office’s storage facility;

In respect of cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps that are lost, burnt, or damaged and therefore no longer valid for use due to causes attributable to organizations or individuals, such organizations or individuals must report and notify the tax office via the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System in the cases specified at Point e, Clause 2 of this Article; in such cases, the tax office is not required to issue a notice that the cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps are no longer valid for use.

- Cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps of organizations and individuals whose tax identification numbers are invalidated;

- Cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps of organizations and individuals falling into the cases in which the tax office verifies and notifies that they are not operating at the registered addresses;

- Organizations and individuals use their cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps during the period of suspension of production and business operations as notified to competent state management agencies;

- Acts of affixing e-stamps on smuggled goods, prohibited goods, counterfeit goods, and goods infringing intellectual property rights, which are detected and notified to the tax office by functional agencies;

- The cases in which business registration agencies or competent state agencies requests organizations or individuals to terminate their conditional business lines when detecting that they fail to meet conditions for the production or trading of liquor or tobacco products as specified by law;

- Cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps that are given or re-sold by the owning organizations and individuals;

- Cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps of organizations and individuals that are used contrary to regulations as notified by state management agencies.”

d) To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 2, Article 6 as follows:

“c) Purchase of cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps

c1. Based on the plan on purchase or additional purchase of e-stamps of the planning year as registered with the direct tax administration agencies, organizations and individuals shall use their valid electronic trading accounts granted by the tax offices to access to the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System to register for purchasing e-stamps according to Form No. 02/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular.

c2. Within one working day, organizations and individuals shall receive the tax offices’ notices by electronic methods according to Form No. 02/TB/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular, of the approval or disapproval of the request for purchase of cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps.

- In case of approval, when visiting the tax offices to purchase and receive cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps, the organizations and individuals shall make payment for the purchase of e-stamps, receive the e-stamps, and manage and use them in accordance with this Circular.

- In case of disapproval, organizations and individuals shall supplement their dossiers according to the tax offices’ notices before carrying out procedures for purchase and receipt of e-stamps as prescribed.

c3. When the organization or individual issues e-stamps to the production unit, it shall scan the QR code affixed on the stamp box, stamp block, or stamp, and at the same time input the following data: name of the goods, production time, unit of measurement (liter for liquor, cigarette for tobacco), and unit selling price of the product, to ensure the connection and transmission of e-stamp data to the e-stamp management system.

c4. If the planning year ends but the organizations and individuals does not use all of the purchased cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps, the remaining e-stamps shall continue to be used for the next year.”

dd) To amend and supplement Point d1, Clause 2, Article 6 as follows:

“d1. Within 20 days of the next month, organizations and individuals shall use their valid electronic trading accounts granted by the tax offices to access the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System to transmit information of the e-stamps already affixed, using Form No. 07/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular, to the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System. In case the final day of the deadline falls on a statutory holiday, the final day of the time limit shall be the next working day immediately following such holiday. If there is any error or deficiency that needs to be supplemented in the e-stamp data transmitted to the tax office, organizations and individuals shall re-transmit the replacing data.”

e) To amend and supplement Points dd1 and dd2, Clause 2, Article 6 as follows:

“dd1. Enterprises manufacturing tobacco products or organizations and individuals producing liquor that terminate production, undergo dissolution, bankruptcy, or merger shall finalize accounts and destroy the remaining quantity of purchased e-stamps within five (05) working days from the date on which the organizations or individuals notify the cessation of production or the date of the decision on dissolution, bankruptcy, or merger, and shall submit a notice of e-stamp destruction result using Form No. 04/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular to the tax office.

dd2. Organizations and individuals that are divided, split, merged, or transferred to another managing tax office and wish to continue using the remaining e-stamps shall use their valid electronic trading accounts issued by the tax office to access the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System to register for adjustment of the remaining e-stamps in their stocks to the name and tax identification number of the organization or individual formed after the division, split, or merger, using Form No. 06/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular. If there is no need to continue using the remaining e-stamps, the organization or individual shall carry out finalization and destruction of the remaining stamps as prescribed in Point dd1 above.”

g) To amend and supplement Points e1, e2 and e3, Clause 2, Article 6 as follows:

“e1. In case of loss or fire of cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps: The organization or individual that detects the loss or fire of e-stamps, shall use its valid electronic trading account granted by the tax office, to access the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System to make a report on such loss or fire on the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System within five (05) working days, from the date of detecting such loss or fire, according to Form No. 04/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular. In case the lost e-stamp is found again, the organization or individual must destroy the e-stamp within five (05) working days from the date of founding such e-stamp.

e2. In case cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps affixed to products for domestic consumption are damaged (stamps damaged in storage or during the production process, still physically present but no longer intact as per the specimen prescribed in Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC, torn stamps, blurred characters, etc., or stamps that no longer physically exist: fragmented into pieces or no longer displaying identifiable features such as serial number and QR code): Enterprises manufacturing tobacco products or organizations and individuals producing liquor for domestic consumption shall destroy the damaged cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps that are no longer usable (except in cases where the stamps no longer physically exist, in which case destruction is not required). In cases where the e-stamps have already been affixed to products and reported as used but are subsequently damaged during circulation or when the product becomes unusable and is destroyed by the manufacturer, enterprises manufacturing tobacco products or organizations and individuals producing liquor for domestic consumption shall carry out destruction of the respective cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps. Organizations and individuals shall use their valid electronic trading accounts issued by the tax office to access the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System to submit a notice of e-stamp destruction result for liquor e-stamps via the System, no later than five (05) working days from the date of destruction of the damaged e-stamps, using Form No. 04/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular.

e3. Organizations and individuals shall receive the tax offices’ notices by electronic method according to Form No. 02/TB/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular, of the approval or disapproval of the notice of e-stamp destruction result and report on the loss of e-stamps.

In case of disapproval, the organizations and individuals shall supplement their dossiers as instructed by tax office’ notice, and re-submit Form No. 04/TEM provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular by electronic method.”

h) To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 6 as follows:

“3. Searching and verifying information of cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps affixed to cigarette packets or liquor bottles produced for domestic consumption

If tobacco product or liquor product users or relevant agencies wish to search and verify information of cigarette e-stamps or liquor e-stamps on the QR code that has been affixed to tobacco products or liquor products, such search and verification shall be conducted on the e-portal of the tax sector. Information of cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps embedded in the QR code affixed to tobacco or liquor products includes: Name of the e-stamp type, e-stamp code and number; name and tax identification number of the agency manufacturing tobacco products or producing liquor; name of the tax office selling e-stamps and date of selling; name of the goods; production time; unit of measurement (liter for liquor, cigarette for tobacco); unit selling price of the product.”

4. To amend and supplement Article 7 as follows:

“Article 7. Funds for printing stamps

Customs offices shall sell imported-cigarette e-stamps and imported-liquor e-stamps for enterprises importing tobacco and liquor products. Tax offices shall sell e-stamps of cigarette and liquor produced for domestic consumption to organizations and individuals having liquor production licenses and permits for the manufacture of tobacco products (including licenses for manual production of liquor for commercial purposes and licenses for industrial production of liquor).

The e-stamp price shall be determined according to the principle of covering all expenses, including expenses for e-stamp printing, and payment of tax as prescribed; excluding expenses for investment and application of information technology, management technology for the receipt and search of data, e-stamp management, these expenses shall be guaranteed by the State budget in accordance with applicable laws.

The Director General of Taxation and Director of Customs Department shall decide on the e-stamp price, ensuring the above-mentioned principle is satisfied, according to actual situation of each period; each e-stamp issuance must meet the use plan and registration of organizations and individuals permitted to use e-stamps as prescribed.

The General Department of Taxation and the Customs Department shall be allocated funds for printing e-stamps by the State budget; proceeds from the sale of e-stamps (after paying tax as prescribed) shall be fully remitted into the State budget.”

Article 2. Replacing and repealing a number of phrases, points, clauses and forms of Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC

1. To replace the phrase “General Department of Taxation (Tổng cục Thuế)” with “General Department of Taxation (Cục Thuế)” at Point b, Clause 1, Article 4; Points a and b, Clause 1, Article 6, and other Forms.

To replace the phrase “Tax Departments of provinces and centrally-run cities”, “Tax Department of province or centrally-run city”, “Tax Departments of provinces and cities” with the phrase “Regional Tax Branches” at Points a and b, Clause 1, Article 6.

To replace the phrase “tax offices of provinces and centrally-run cities” with the phrase “tax offices at all levels” at Point b, Clause 1, Article 6.

To replace the phrase “Tax Branch” with the phrase “District-level Tax Team” at Point b, Clause 1, Article 6.

To replace the phrase “the General Department of Taxation's website” and “the General Department of Taxation’s e-portal” with the phrase “the e-portal of the tax sector” at Point a1, Clause 1, Article 6.

To replace the phrase “the General Department of Taxation’s e-portal” with the phrase “the Tax Administrative Procedure Processing Information System” in Clause 1, Article 3; Point a3, Clause 1, Article 6; Points a and b, Clause 2, Article 6; Appendices 1 and 2.

2. To replace the phrase “the General Department of Customs” with the phrase “the Customs Department” in Clause 1, Article 3; Point a, Clause 1, Article 4; Appendix 5.

3. To replace the List of forms related to the printing, issuance, management, and use of cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps for products manufactured for domestic consumption provided in Appendix 3 to Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC with the List of forms related to the printing, issuance, management, and use of cigarette e-stamps and liquor e-stamps for products manufactured for domestic consumption provided in Appendix 3 to this Circular.

4. To replace Form No. 02/TEM, Form No. 04/TEM, Form No. 07/TEM and Form No. 09/TEM to Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC with Form No. 02/TEM, Form No. 04/TEM, Form No. 07/TEM and Form No. 09/TEM to this Circular.

5. To repeal Clause 1, Article 5.

6. To repeal Form No. 03/TEM and Form No. 05/TEM to Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC.

Article 3. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect from June 1, 2025.

Organizations and individuals shall input the following data: name of the goods; production time; unit of measurement (liter for liquor, cigarette for tobacco); unit selling price of the product, in order to ensure the connection and transmission of e-stamp data to the e-stamp management system as prescribed at Point d, Clause 3, Article 1 of this Circular, from January 1, 2026.

2. Any difficulties arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance for settlement./.

* All Appendices are not translated herein.