PRACTICAL experiences and based on the regulations in Circular 10/2014/TT-BTC guiding the handling of administrative violations regarding invoices and Circular 176/2016/TT-BTC have been summarized and clearly stated each case of handling issues of lost or damaged invoices.
1. In case of loss of printed value added invoice but no notification of invoice issuance has been made.
- From 1 to 5 days: no penalty if the loss, burning or damage of the invoice before the invoice issuance notice is declared to the tax authority within 5 days from the date of the loss, burning or damage of the invoice.
- From 6 to 10 days: Warning penalty if the loss, burning or damage of the invoice occurs before the notification of invoice issuance to the tax authority from the 6th day to the end of the 10th day from the date of the loss, burning or damage of the invoice and there are mitigating circumstances or the penalty is at the minimum level of the penalty framework.
- After the 10th day: Fine from VND 6,000,000 to VND 18,000,000 if the invoice is lost, burned or damaged before notifying the tax authority of invoice issuance after the 10th day from the date of loss, burning or damage of the invoice.
2. In case of loss of value added invoice after notification of invoice issuance
- In case of losing copies of invoices that have been incorrectly created and deleted (and replaced with invoices), only a warning will be imposed.
- If an invoice is lost, burned, or damaged when the invoice notification has been issued to the tax authority but has not been created yet, or the invoice has been created (copy for the customer) but the customer has not received the invoice when the invoice has not yet arrived at the storage location, in case of loss, burning, or damage of the invoice due to natural disasters, fires, or other unexpected or force majeure events, there will be no fine.
- If an invoice that has been created and delivered to a customer is lost, burned, or damaged, the seller has declared and paid taxes, a contract has been signed between the seller and the buyer, and documents proving that there is a transaction of goods and services between the two parties, and there is one mitigating circumstance, the minimum fine is from VND 4,000,000 to VND 8,000,000. In the same case, if there are two mitigating circumstances, only a warning will be imposed.
- In case of loss, burning or damage of an invoice but the copy given to the customer is still available (meaning the loss of copy 1 and 3 kept at the enterprise), the fine will be imposed according to the Accounting Law at a level of 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND.
- In case the seller finds the lost invoice before the tax authority issues a penalty decision, the seller will no longer be fined.
- In case an organization or individual reports multiple lost invoices to the tax authority but the tax authority determines that the organization or individual has combined multiple lost invoices to report to the tax authority, they will be fined for each lost invoice according to the Law on Accounting.
3. In case of loss of sales invoice purchased from tax authority
- From 1 to 5 days: If the lost, burned, or damaged invoice has been purchased but has not been declared to the tax authority since the date of the incident, there will be no penalty.
- From 6 to 10 days: If the loss, burning or damage of a purchased invoice has not been declared to the tax authority since the date of the incident and there are mitigating circumstances, the penalty will only be a warning or if there are no mitigating circumstances, the minimum fine will be 6,000,000 VND.
- After the 10th day: If the loss, burning or damage of a purchased invoice has not been declared to the tax authority since the date of the incident, a fine of 6,000,000 VND to 8,000,000 VND will be imposed.
For example : Company A purchased an invoice on January 10 without notifying the tax authority of the invoice issuance, but on January 11 the invoice was lost for unknown reasons. On January 13, Company A declared to the tax authority that the invoice was lost and would not be fined.
In the same case as above, if company A declares the lost invoice on January 17, it will be subject to a minimum administrative fine of VND 6,000,000.