Electronic invoicing applications have been widely used since July 1, 2022. Most businesses are familiar with using electronic invoices; however, many errors still occur during their use. This article provides guidance on handling incorrectly issued electronic invoices according to current regulations.
1. Instructions on handling incorrectly issued electronic invoices
When businesses implement electronic invoicing, various errors can occur, and each case requires different handling methods. Below are some common errors and their specific solutions:
Case 1: An electronic invoice that has been issued a tax authority code but has not yet been sent to the buyer contains errors.
- The seller notifies the tax authorities as follows: Form No. 04/SS-HĐĐT Appendix IA issued with Decree 123/2020/NĐ-CP Regarding the cancellation of invoices that have been issued with errors.
- Create a new invoice, digitally sign it, and send it to the tax authority to obtain a new invoice code to replace the previously issued invoice before sending it to the buyer.
Case 2: Electronic invoices, with or without tax authority codes, have been sent to buyers, and while the buyer's name and address are incorrect, the tax identification number and other details are correct.
- The seller informs the buyer that the invoice contains an error and does not need to issue a new invoice.
- The seller must notify the tax authorities about erroneous electronic invoices using form No. 04/SS-HĐĐT Appendix IA issued with Decree 123/2020/NĐ-CP.
- If a business uses electronic invoices without a tax authority code and has not yet submitted invoice data to the tax authority, it does not need to submit Form 04/SS-HĐĐT Appendix IA issued with Decree 123/2020/NĐ-CP.
Case 3: Electronic invoices, with or without tax authority codes, may contain errors regarding: tax identification number; amount stated on the invoice, tax rate, or goods; or goods listed on the invoice not conforming to specifications or quality standards.
Option 1: The seller issues an electronic invoice to correct an previously issued invoice that contained errors.
- Correction method: The seller makes a correction by reducing all incorrect product information and correspondingly increasing the correct product information (including: product/service name, unit of measurement, quantity, unit price, tax rate, and total amount before tax).
- Procedure: The seller issues a new invoice with the invoice number, invoice symbol, invoice form symbol, and all the content of the replacement invoice.
Case 4: A business issues an incorrect electronic invoice (referred to as invoice F0), then issues an adjustment or replacement invoice (referred to as adjustment/replacement invoice F1 for invoice F0) and discovers that invoice F1 is still incorrect.
- If the adjustment method is chosen: The business issues an adjustment invoice F2 for invoice F0 (at this point, invoice F0 has already been adjusted by invoice F1).
- If the alternative method is chosen: The business issues invoice F2 to replace invoice F1 (at this point, invoice F0 has been replaced by invoice F1).
2. Steps to create electronic invoices to minimize errors
To minimize errors when issuing electronic invoices, businesses should follow these steps:
- Step 1: Create an electronic invoice using the invoicing software.
- Step 2: Fill in all the information about the buyer, goods/services, quantity, unit price, VAT rate, tax amount, total value of goods/services, etc., and save the information.
- Step 3: Send a draft invoice to the customer for review and correction if necessary, based on the information verified by the customer.
- Step 4: Preview and sign the invoice.
- Step 5: Check if the invoice has been assigned a code by the tax authority.
- Step 6: Send the official invoice to the customer.
(to be continued)
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