According to the petition, Ms. M.T.M. said that in 2019, she bought a plot of land in the planning area to build a house of a company in Nam Tu Liem district (Hanoi). The company has collected 95% of the land value under the capital contribution contract and issued a receipt.
On May 30, 2023, the company signed a house sale contract, transferred land use rights and recorded the amount of money she had contributed to the value of land use rights. After that, the company continued to collect construction fees, including 131.67 million VND for the forced deposit item (July 9, 2023) and by January 2, 2025, had collected 100% of the house price value (1.161 billion VND). However, the company has not yet issued any value-added tax (VAT) invoices for these revenues.
Ms. M.T.M. asked: Is the company only issuing receipts without issuing invoices in accordance with regulations? If there is a violation, this is an act of delaying issuance of invoices or tax evasion, and what is the penalty?
Responding to this issue, the Hanoi Tax Department cited Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree No. 70/2025/ND-CP dated March 20, 2025 amending and supplementing Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP:
When selling goods or providing services, sellers must make an invoice to deliver to the buyer... The invoice must record all the contents according to the provisions of Article 10 of this Decree and must be made immediately at the time of transferring ownership or use of goods and services to the buyer, regardless of whether the money has been collected or not.
For construction and installation activities, the time of issuing invoices is the time of acceptance and handover of works and construction items. In the case of transferring ownership and land use rights, the time of making the invoice is the time of handing over the rights according to the agreement in the contract.
In case the seller does not make an invoice according to regulations, depending on the level, this behavior can be punished according to Article 24 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP with a fine of VND 500,000 to VND 20,000,000. In addition, if it is determined to be a tax evasion, a fine of 1 to 3 times the tax evasion rate may be applied, according to Article 17 of this Decree.
The Hanoi Tax Department emphasized: "In case the violation is determined to be a tax evasion, the penalty shall be implemented according to the instructions in Article 17 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP."
According to the Tax Department, buyers have the right to request businesses to issue invoices according to regulations. If the business does not comply, the buyer can send a petition to the tax authority to protect their rights.
