Printing invoices must depend on tax officials.

Instead of being able to proactively order printed invoices as before, now newly established enterprises (DN) operating for less than 12 months must be inspected by the tax authority before being able to order printed invoices. This change is making many DN... cry!

Ms. Tran Ngoc Phuong - owner of a restaurant in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City - said that in early August 2013, as usual, she sent a notice of invoice issuance to the tax authority but it was returned. The tax officer said that according to the new regulations, businesses must wait for the tax authority to complete the inspection before issuing invoices. "The tax authority only said to wait but did not give a specific time. Because I really needed invoices to issue to customers, I had to go back and forth many times, until half a month later the tax officer came to inspect the business location and then approved the use of invoices" - Ms. Phuong said.

Similarly, Mr. TQN (Binh Tan District) was also refused to receive the invoice issuance notice. When he complained to the tax management officer, it was accepted. However, three days later, the tax authority sent a notice that the business did not accept the invoice because the tax officer who came to verify had not seen the signboard, warehouse, staff, or met the legal representative. "My business is small, the business owner also holds other positions, so where can we find employees, secretaries... as required by the tax authority?" - Mr. N. said.

Many other businesses also believe that tax authorities are increasingly tightening the use of invoices by businesses. Previously, businesses were allowed to print invoices themselves, and before using them, they only needed to send a notice of issuance to the tax authorities. However, after many agricultural businesses took advantage of this flexibility to use illegal invoices to appropriate VAT money, the Ministry of Finance has tightened regulations, affecting legitimate businesses. Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department continued to issue a document requiring printing houses to have confirmation from the tax authorities before printing invoices for businesses established less than 12 months.

Misunderstand?

Not only enterprises, many printers are also very upset about this regulation. Mr. Nguyen Thai Linh, General Director of Lien Son Printing Company, said that in the provinces, tax authorities do not require confirmation for printers to print invoices for enterprises established and operating for less than 12 months, but in Ho Chi Minh City, the tax authorities require it. Not to mention that the official dispatch of the Ministry of Finance only emphasizes high-risk enterprises, listed as enterprises trading and exporting agricultural, forestry, aquatic and seafood products using sales invoices of enterprises headquartered in localities without raw materials, newly established enterprises registering to do business in multiple industries but with low registered capital... But the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department lumps all newly established enterprises under 12 months, meaning that just because a few enterprises buy and sell invoices, the majority of the remaining enterprises must suffer the same fate.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Tuoi Tre, Ms. Le Thi Tam, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, said that businesses and printers had misunderstood the guidance of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department. According to Ms. Tam, the guidance document clearly stated that it was based on the guidance document of the Ministry of Finance, that is, only newly established and operating businesses that fall into four high-risk groups must have confirmation from the tax authority before printing invoices, not all businesses established and operating for less than 12 months. "The number of businesses that must verify before printing invoices is not large. Therefore, up to now, we have not received any feedback from businesses that this regulation causes difficulties for businesses," Ms. Tam said.

Regarding the reflection of enterprises that because the guidance document is not clear, many enterprises that came to request confirmation were rejected by the tax authority because they did not know what to confirm, according to Ms. Le Thi Tam, this is not a new thing because the tax authority has done it for many years. The current inspection has not changed, it is still verifying whether the enterprise is actually operating or not through checking the headquarters, signs, tables and chairs... "It is impossible to stipulate a specific time limit that the tax authority is required to verify because when the tax authority comes to the locality to verify, there must be a representative of the local government to confirm. But up to now, the tax authority has done it very quickly because the number of enterprises subject to verification is not large. Each branch only has about ten enterprises subject to verification in a month at most before printing invoices" - Ms. Tam said. In case the local tax branch makes it difficult, prolongs the verification time, causing difficulties for enterprises, enterprises can reflect on the hotline of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department.

According to tuoitreonline-PH