Enterprises must issue invoices for export activities, however, there are points to note when issuing invoices.

Legal grounds:

• Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP;
• Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC, amended and supplemented by Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC;
• Official Dispatch No. 8404/BTC-TCT dated August 23, 2022 of the Ministry of Finance.

We receive the following questions:

When exporting goods abroad, what time do businesses issue invoices? Previously, there was a regulation that businesses issue commercial invoices when doing customs procedures, but Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP no longer stipulates this, so should I issue a VAT invoice instead of a commercial invoice?

Pursuant to Point b, Clause 1, Article 16 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC, amended and supplemented by Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC as follows:

Article 16. Customs documents when carrying out customs procedures

1. Customs documents for exported goods

…

b) Commercial invoice or document of equivalent value in case the buyer must pay the seller: 01 copy;

…

Pursuant to Point c, Clause 3, Article 13 of Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP as follows:

Article 13. Application of electronic invoices when selling goods and providing services

3. Regulations on the application of electronic invoices, warehouse delivery notes cum internal transportation, warehouse delivery notes consigned to agents for some specific cases according to management requirements as follows:

c) Businesses that declare and pay value-added tax using the deduction method have exported goods and services (including Businesses processing exported goods) when exporting goods and services use electronic value-added invoice.

When exporting goods for transport to the border gate or to the place where export procedures are carried out, the businesses uses the warehouse delivery note cum internal transport according to regulations as a document for circulation of goods on the market. After completing procedures for exported goods, the businesses issue value-added invoices for exported goods.

According to the above regulations, commercial invoices attached when exporting goods are not abolished. When exporting goods, enterprises do the following:

• Prepare commercial invoices according to international practices to carry out customs procedures;
• Prepare warehouse delivery notes cum internal transportation to transport goods to the border gate;
• After completing export procedures: the enterprise issues a VAT invoice for exported goods. This is the time to issue VAT invoices when exporting goods for businesses that calculate VAT using the deduction method.

Note: for businesses calculating VAT using the direct method, the time of issuing sales invoices remains the same as usual. That is the time when ownership or use of goods is transferred to the buyer.

Official Dispatch No. 8404/BTC-TCT dated August 23, 2022 of the Ministry of Finance also has the following instructions:

In the case of Samsung Electronics Vietnam Co., Ltd. (SEV) and Samsung Display Vietnam Co., Ltd. being export processing enterprises that export goods abroad, we agree with the handling proposal of the Tax Department of Bac Ninh province in Official Dispatch No. 1495/CTBNI-TTHT dated May 11, 2022: From July 1, 2022, the time to issue electronic invoices when export processing enterprises export products and in cases where enterprises export goods paying VAT by the direct method is the time of transferring ownership or use rights of goods to the buyer, regardless of whether money has been collected or not as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 123. /2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020.