Mandatory E-Invoicing: Business Households Not Complying Face Heavy Penalties From June 1, 2025

On March 20, 2025, the Government issued Decree No. 70/2025/ND-CP, amending and supplementing several articles of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP on invoices and documents. The main objective is to enhance the efficiency of invoice supervision, especially for e-invoices with tax authority codes generated from cash registers, which are being widely implemented in retail, food and beverage, and service sectors. Decree 70/2025/ND-CP will officially take effect from June 1, 2025.

The Regional Tax Department I confirmed that business households and individual businesses that have received support and notifications from the tax authorities regarding the transition but fail to comply will be subject to penalties. Specifically, the entities mandated to apply e-invoices generated from cash registers include:

• Business households engaged in direct sales of goods or provision of services to consumers, including:
  1. Shopping centers, supermarkets.
  2. Retail (excluding automobiles, motorcycles, motorbikes, and other motor vehicles).
  3. Food and beverage establishments, restaurants, hotels.
  4. Passenger transport services, direct support services for road transport.
  5. Art, entertainment, recreation services, film screening activities.
  6. Other personal services as regulated by the Vietnam Standard Industrial Classification System.
• And meeting ONE of the following THREE criteria:
  1. Business households paying presumptive tax methods with annual revenue exceeding 1 billion VND.
  2. Business households using cash registers.
  3. Business households with revenue and labor scale meeting the criteria for micro-enterprises as stipulated by law on support for small and medium-sized enterprises (must comply with accounting regulations and pay taxes by declaration method).

Additionally, business households that have registered to use e-invoices from cash registers (HĐĐT from MTT) but lack connectivity, fail to transfer electronic data to the tax authorities, have not used, or have not fully used HĐĐT from MTT from 2024 onwards, are also subject to mandatory application.

Penalties And Guidelines For E-Invoice Transition From Cash Registers

Severe Penalties for Non-Compliance

The Regional Tax Department I emphasized that for business households that have received support and notifications from tax authorities but deliberately fail to transition, this will be considered a violation of invoice usage regulations.

According to Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, business households may face penalties:

• Fines from 2 million VND to 4 million VND for the act of issuing the wrong type of invoice (stipulated in Point d, Clause 4, Article 24).
• Fines from 5 million VND to 10 million VND for the act of not issuing an invoice when selling goods or providing services to buyers as required (stipulated in Clause 5, Article 24).

Mr. Hoa advised: “Decree 70 takes effect from June 1, 2025. Therefore, no later than May 30, 2025, business households and individual businesses should contact e-invoice software solution providers to promptly register, change, and switch to using e-invoices generated from cash registers, ensuring timely and compliant use of e-invoices when selling goods or providing services.”

Simple E-Invoice Transition Procedures From Cash Registers

Mr. Phan Tien Hoa – Deputy Head of Regional Tax Department I stated: “To use e-invoices generated from cash registers, business households only need to meet the conditions of internet connectivity and a computer, smartphone, or iPad. Simultaneously, business households must register to use e-invoices generated from cash registers (using the prescribed form) with the tax authorities and receive their acceptance.”

Tax Authority Support And Commitment To Collaboration

To facilitate taxpayers, the Regional Tax Department I is actively coordinating with local authorities to promote and support the installation of the eTax Mobile application for taxpayers, especially business households. With eTax Mobile, you can easily look up tax declaration records, tax obligations, make electronic tax payments, and store tax payment documents anytime, anywhere on your smartphone. The Regional Tax Department I aims to install the eTax Mobile application for 100% of business households and individual businesses in the area in the near future.

Tax authorities are committed to continuing to support business households and individuals in complying with the law, while resolutely addressing cases of intentional violations. The implementation of the Government’s Project 06 and Prime Minister’s Directive 18/CT-TTg is also helping to expand the tax base, identify, and manage hundreds of thousands of online individual businesses.