On the Ministry of Finance's Information Portal, readers reflect that the business of restaurant services and catering for group customers at fixed times is a common form.
However, when making electronic invoices, many businesses encounter obstacles in expressing food names and how to separate tax rates for items with different tax rates such as food (8%) and beer, soft drinks (10%).
The Ministry of Finance answers this question as follows:
Regarding regulations on how to display the name of a meal service according to the portion on the invoice.
Based on Clause 1, Article 10 of Decree No. 254. 2026. ND-CP dated June 30, 2026 of the Government stipulating the contents to be on invoices and Point 5 of the Appendix "Content of invoices" attached to this Decree:
Invoices must show the name of goods and services traded in Vietnamese in accordance with legal regulations.
In case of selling goods of many different types, the name of the goods shall be shown in detail to each type.
However, for food and beverage items, the law allows exceptions for calculating money per portion, per portion.
Regarding the processing of invoices when tourist groups use additional drinks such as soft drinks and beer with a VAT rate of 10%, different from the food tax rate of 8%, the implementation regulations are as follows:
The value-added tax rate shown on the invoice is the value-added tax rate corresponding to each type of goods and services according to the provisions of the law on value-added tax.
In case the invoice contains items with different tax rates, the seller expresses them as money without value-added tax, value-added tax rate, total value-added tax amount according to each type of tax rate, total value-added tax amount, total value-added tax payment amount on the same invoice.
This regulation complies with point d, clause 1, Article 10 of Decree No. 254/2026. ND-CP dated June 30, 2026 of the Government.
