Businesses must issue invoices to customers when they meet the conditions for recording revenue from the sale of goods and provision of services.

This article was consulted by Lawyer Nguyen Quang Trung

Legal ground:

• Circular No. 39/2014/TT-BTC amended and supplemented by Circular No. 26/2015/TT-BTC;
• Official Dispatch No. 53641/CT-HTr dated August 14, 2015 of the Hanoi Tax Department;
• Official Dispatch No. 1986/CTHN-TTHT dated January 15, 2021 of the Hanoi Tax Department.

We have received the following question:

Hello TLT Legal, my company specializes in retailing goods. The company gives discount vouchers to individual customers who are members who shop a lot, and sells discount vouchers to corporate customers to give to their customers. So when sell or give discount vouchers, do I have to issue invoices to customers?

Based on Point b, Clause 1, Article 16, Circular No. 39/2014/TT-BTC, amended and supplemented by Circular No. 26/2015/TT-BTC as follows:

Article 16. Invoice issuance

1. Invoice issuance principles

b) Sellers must issue invoices when selling goods and services, including cases of goods and services used for promotion, advertising, samples; goods and services used for giving, presenting, and donating; exchange, pay in lieu of salary to employees (except for goods circulated internally, consumed internally to continue the production process)…

According to the above regulations, in principle, enterprises must issue invoices when selling goods and providing services to customers.

However, in the case of issuing discount vouchers, the enterprise has not yet generated sales or provided services when delivering the voucher to customers, but only when customers use the voucher to purchase goods or use services will revenue be officially generated.

In addition, Official Letter No. 53641/CT-HTr dated August 14, 2015 of the Hanoi Tax Department has the following instructions:

When giving discount vouchers to customers, without generating service provision activities, the Company does not have to issue VAT invoices.

When providing services to customers, the Company must issue invoices and calculate VAT according to regulations, without deducting the payment due to customers using discount vouchers.

The Company is allowed to account for deductible expenses when calculating corporate income tax for the deduction for customers due to the use of discount coupons but is not allowed to deduct the corresponding input VAT.

The Company is responsible for implementing the promotion program and keeping all related records and documents as a basis for accounting for revenue and expenses according to regulations.

Official Letter No. 1986/CTHN-TTHT dated January 15, 2021 of the Hanoi Tax Department also provides the following instructions:

In case an organization has activities of selling cards/vouchers to customers who are businesses that need to use or give, donate, or present cards/vouchers, when collecting money from selling cards/vouchers, it is not necessary to issue an invoice but to issue a receipt, and customers who buy cards/vouchers must issue a payment receipt according to regulations.

Thus, according to the above regulations and instructions:

• When a business gives or sells discount vouchers to customers, it does not have to issue an invoice, but only issue a receipt (if money is collected).
• If giving away vouchers, the business must ensure that it notifies the promotional program in accordance with the provisions of commercial law and organizes the implementation of that program.
• The business officially issues an invoice when a customer uses the voucher to purchase goods or use services.