On December 26, the Dialogue Conference between the Ministry of Finance and taxpayers on tax and customs administrative policies and procedures in 2025, chaired by the Ministry of Finance in coordination with the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), took place in person and online.
In addition to direct recommendations and proposals, many businesses and business owners have sent questions to the online hotline.
Mr. Mac Quoc Anh - Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises raised questions related to the time of issuing invoices for the tourism - travel industry.
Mr. Quoc Anh proposed to adjust the regulations on the time of issuing invoices for the tourism - travel industry, in the direction of adding this industry to the group applying the mechanism of issuing invoices according to the counter-match method. At the same time, it allows tourism businesses to prepare invoices within 7 days from the end of the tour or termination of the contract.
The representative of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises proposed that the Ministry of Finance issue unified guidelines for the entire tourism - travel industry, to avoid differences in understanding and application between localities, while minimizing risks and burdens of compliance and operating costs for businesses.
Responding to the above issue, the Organizing Committee of the Conference gave specific responses as follows:
Pursuant to Articles 4 and 9 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP of the Government amended and supplemented by Decree No. 70/2025/ND-CP), stipulating the principles of establishing, managing, and using invoices and documents and the time of establishing invoices:
"Article 4. Principles of establishing, managing, and using invoices and documents
1. When selling goods or providing services, sellers must prepare invoices to deliver to buyers (including cases of goods and services used for promotion, advertising, samples; goods and services used for giving, giving, donating, exchanging, paying wages to employees and domestic consumption (except for domestically circulating goods to continue the production process); export goods in the form of lending, lending or returning goods) and cases of making invoices according to the provisions of Article 19 of this Decree. The invoice must include all the contents as prescribed in Article 10 of this Decree. In case of using electronic invoices, the data standard format of the tax authority must comply with the provisions of Article 12 of this Decree.
Article 9. Time of issuing invoices
2. The time of making invoices for service provision is the time of completing the provision of services (including the provision of services to foreign organizations and individuals) regardless of whether the money has been collected or not. In case the service provider collects money before or during the provision of services, the time of issuing the invoice is the time of collecting the fee (excluding the case of collecting a deposit or advance payment to ensure the implementation of the service contract: Accounting, auditing, financial consulting, tax; price appraisal; survey, technical design; supervision consulting; construction investment project establishment)".
In fact, for tours with listed prices and agreed with buyers when signing contracts, they must pay before the service is provided, so the invoice making is implemented according to the principle in Article 4 above.
For the above presentations related to the collection of input costs of enterprises, it is recommended that the Companies comply with the regulations on invoices.
