It was heard at an online discussion with the theme ‘Implementing electronic invoices in petroleum retail - Current status and solutions’ organized by Tien Phong Newspaper.
According to the tax authority's assessment, the deployment of electronic invoices with the tax authority's code generated from cash registers for petroleum retail businesses positively contributes to the process of digital transformation and prevents loss in collecting state budget revenue; hence, it will help increase the state budget.
Participants said that organizations, businesses and individuals when buying gasoline and oil at retail stores require sellers to issue invoices according to the exact quantity of goods purchased is also a solution to help strengthen tax management, forming habits of civilized consumption, buying and selling goods with legal invoices and documents.
Previously, on December 1, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Official Dispatch No. 1284/CD-TTg on strengthening the management and use of electronic invoices for petroleum business and retail activities. The General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance also has had two official dispatches related to the implementation of electronic invoices for gasoline and oil business and retail activities.
The regulations on issuance of electronic invoices for each sale of gasoline and oil indeed started from July 1, 2022 and this is a major policy of the gasoline and oil industry.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s statistics show that the country has about 17,000 petrol stations, of which state-owned enterprises have nearly 6,000 stores and retailers while there are more than privately-owned 10,000 stations.
The data also shows that, on average, the country consumes approximately 20.5 - 21 million tons of gasoline and oil each year. Thus, if the quantity of petrol is multiplied by the number of invoices that will have to be issued each retail sale according to the new policy, it will amount to tens of millions of invoices, even hundreds of millions of new invoices issued each month.
However, the authorities disclosed that there are currently only two enterprises, Saigon Petro and Petrolimex, issued invoices at their 3,000 existing stores accounting for about 16 percent of the country.
According to Mr. Mai Son, Deputy Director of the General Department of Taxation, the process of making laws is not immediately promulgated but it should go step by step.
Specifically, when the law was promulgated, the General Department of Taxation had 2 years of legal preparation from July 1, 2022. Previously, the General Department of Taxation posted information on the website, seminars to ask for opinions from ministries, agencies, people's committees in provinces and cities, and those businesses directly impacted by the regulatory change.
From the beginning of 2023 until now, the General Department of Taxation continues to deploy electronic invoices connected to cash registers at restaurants, supermarkets, and shopping centers in localities. Along with that, the deployment of electronic invoices is applicable in petroleum retail stores. As per the latest update, over 3,000 stores have been deploying e-invoices. Electronic invoices issued each time bring many benefits.
For instance, e-invoice will help businesses change management and administration technology, and enhance brand and reputation when managing with technology. More importantly, not only gasoline buyers but all goods customers will enjoy many benefits when using electronic invoices. Gradually, all goods will have their origin and standards determined as announced by the manufacturing unit.
