Require gas stations to issue electronic invoices for each sale
Regulations on issuing electronic invoices for each sale of gasoline and oil will be implemented from July 1, 2023. Decree 80 on gasoline and oil trading, which has just been issued and takes effect from November 18, also clearly states that retail stores of gasoline and oil traders: "Implement regulations on electronic invoices and provide electronic invoice data according to the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration, guiding documents of the Ministry of Finance and tax authorities".
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sau - owner of Sau Hang petrol and oil store in Dien Ngoc commune, Dien Chau district said: For a long time, most customers who refueled did not need to get invoices, except for a few companies and businesses that needed invoices for payment and settlement. In the past, petrol and oil business was ineffective, discounts were unstable, while having to spend a large amount of money to invest in infrastructure and equipment to serve the application of electronic invoices for each sale, it would be very difficult. State regulations must be followed, but there needs to be a suitable time and roadmap.
At a gas station in Cau Giat town, Quynh Luu district, it was found that most people who use motorbikes and cars have the habit of not taking receipts. Mr. Tran Van Tinh, in Cau Giat town, Quynh Luu district, shared: “For a long time, we have been buying gas for our personal cars but have no need to take receipts because we do not know what to do with it, while we do not want to waste time during rush hour waiting to fill up with gas and waiting for receipts…”.
Through research, it is known that the issuance of electronic invoices for each sale of gasoline and oil retail activities is currently only implemented by Nghe An Petroleum Company for 85 gasoline and oil stores in the province from July 1, 2022. Other stores have not yet posted this regulation.
Mr. Cao Viet Dong - Head of Sales Department, Nghe An Petroleum Company said: Applying electronic invoices for each sale is necessary, however, the implementation process has limitations, such as each time the pump stops, or there is a power outage, an invoice must be written, sometimes 2-3 times, even if the customer does not take the invoice, the store must also write an invoice (no invoice is taken), at the end of the day, summarize how much volume of gasoline and oil is not taken for an invoice. For the unit's franchise stores in the province, most of them have not yet applied for issuing electronic invoices for each sale.
Nghe An Petroleum Company is promoting and mobilizing stores to understand the regulations and strictly implement the application of electronic invoices for each sale as directed by the relevant authorities. To implement mandatory electronic invoices for each retail sale of gasoline and oil, businesses will have to invest in hardware and software systems, at a considerable cost. In Nghe An, many gasoline and oil stores are worried that they will not be able to meet the regulations in a short time.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14 stipulates the principles for creating, managing and using electronic invoices. Accordingly, when selling goods or providing services, the seller must create an electronic invoice to deliver to the buyer in a standard data format and must fully record the content according to the provisions of tax law and accounting law, regardless of the value of each sale of goods or provision of services.
In addition, Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP of the Government on invoices and documents (Decree 123) also clearly stipulates: "The time to issue an electronic invoice for the sale of gasoline and oil at retail stores to customers is the time when the sale of gasoline and oil ends for each sale. Sellers must ensure that they fully store electronic invoices for the sale of gasoline and oil to customers who are non-business individuals and business individuals and ensure that they can be looked up when requested by competent authorities".
To ensure compliance with legal regulations on invoice management and use; at the same time, prevent the act of selling without issuing invoices, the General Department of Taxation requests the Tax Departments to urgently strengthen management, inspection, supervision, and promote the issuance of electronic invoices for each sale for retail gasoline and oil activities in the locality; strictly handle acts of issuing and using invoices and documents that are not in accordance with regulations.
Businesses must invest more
According to the calculations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with the characteristics of the petroleum industry and the current status of the distribution system, businesses and stores when issuing electronic invoices will have to spend about 400 million VND to over 1 billion VND to equip software, replace pumps and hardware for measuring devices in each petroleum pump (not including transaction costs incurred for each invoice issuance). Up to this point, Nghe An province has 515 petroleum stores that have not yet applied electronic invoices for each sale.
A representative of Nghe An Tax Department said: The Tax sector is continuing to promote propaganda, direction, and implementation of the application of electronic invoices for each retail sale of gasoline and oil to help people and businesses understand the benefits, responsibilities, and effectiveness of using electronic invoices, and raise taxpayers' awareness of compliance with tax laws.
Experts also said that the application of electronic invoices is necessary, so businesses are obliged to comply when trading in gasoline and oil. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance needs to have specific guidelines for businesses to implement synchronously, and also to give businesses more time to prepare. The application of electronic invoices and data connection with tax authorities aims to prevent counterfeit goods and tax evasion; however, to achieve this goal, there needs to be a mechanism to encourage people to get invoices when filling up gas.
Time to issue electronic invoices for gasoline and oil
Point i, Clause 4, Article 9, Decree 123/2020/ND-CP stipulates the time of invoice issuance as follows: The time of invoice issuance for some specific cases is as follows: i) The time of electronic invoice issuance for the case of selling gasoline and oil at retail stores to customers is the time of completion of the sale of gasoline and oil for each sale. The seller must ensure that all electronic invoices for the case of selling gasoline and oil to customers who are non-business individuals or business individuals are fully stored and ensure that they can be looked up when requested by competent authorities.
Thus, the time of issuing an electronic invoice for retail sales of gasoline and oil is the time when the sale of gasoline and oil for each sale is completed. The time of invoice creation must be displayed in the format of day, month, year of the calendar year. The time of digital signature on the electronic invoice is the time when the seller or buyer uses a digital signature to sign the electronic invoice, displayed in the format of day, month, year of the calendar year. In case the electronic invoice has a digital signature time on the invoice that is different from the time of invoice creation, the time of tax declaration is the time of invoice creation. In addition, the seller must comply with the regulations on storing electronic invoices for reference and inspection upon request of competent authorities. This applies to both individual non-business customers and individual business customers.
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