E-invoicing in Vietnam: automating it end to end

The rules in force in October 2026

E-invoices have been mandatory for all businesses in Vietnam since July 1, 2022. The framework has changed a lot since then, and it was completely rewritten this year: Decree 254/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on June 30, 2026, has applied since July 1, 2026. It replaces Decree 123/2020 and Decree 70/2025, which had amended it (MISA meInvoice). Circular 91/2026/TT-BTC sets out the details.

This article summarizes the regulations as of October 16, 2026, based on the sources cited at the bottom of the page. It does not replace advice from your accountant or a lawyer.

Who must use which type of invoice?

• Businesses issue e-invoices, with or without a tax authority code.
• Direct sales to consumers (retail chains, restaurants, hotels, passenger transport, leisure, cinemas) use invoices generated by a cash register connected to the tax authority (hóa đơn khởi tạo từ máy tính tiền), unless the business is already registered for standard e-invoices (Article 6 of Decree 254/2026).
• Households and individuals in business (hộ kinh doanh, cá nhân kinh doanh) whose annual revenue reaches 1 billion VND must use an e-invoice with a tax authority code, or an invoice from a connected cash register. Between 500 million and 1 billion, it is optional. Below 500 million, they pay neither VAT nor income tax, but they declare their revenue (Decree 68/2026, Article 8).

A household or individual can also hand over invoice issuance to a service provider, through a written authorization. The invoice then states the identity of both the principal and the agent (LuatVietnam).

When to issue the invoice?

• Sale of goods: when ownership or the right of use passes to the buyer, whether or not payment has been received.
• Services: when the service is completed. If the client pays before or during, the invoice is issued when payment is received.
• Advance payment for goods: no invoice when the money comes in, only on delivery. A security deposit (đặt cọc) does not trigger an invoice.
• Night sales: without software that invoices automatically, the invoice must be issued no later than the next business day.

The decree also sets specific rules for certain high-volume services (online advertising, insurance, security guarding…), invoiced after reconciliation with the client (Thư Viện Pháp Luật).

Correcting an error: cancellation no longer exists

You can no longer cancel an incorrect e-invoice: Decree 254/2026 removed that option (MISA AMIS). Everything now goes one of two ways, depending on the error:

Before adjusting or replacing an invoice issued to a business, you need a written agreement with the buyer, which you must keep. For an individual, informing them directly or on the seller’s website is enough (Kế toán Lê Ánh, based on Circular 91/2026).

What a missed invoice costs

Since January 16, 2026, Decree 310/2025 has toughened fines, which now depend on the number of invoices involved (Luật Việt An):

For a few missed invoices, the fine starts at 1 million VND. The risk comes from accumulation: a setup error in a cash register or invoicing software repeats across hundreds of sales before anyone notices.

A goldmine of data nobody uses

Every e-invoice is an XML file: a structured, machine-readable format containing the seller and its tax code, each item, its quantity, its unit price and the VAT. The PDF is only a rendering of it.

An SME receives dozens or hundreds of them a month. Most sit in an inbox, or are re-entered by hand into the accounts. That is a shame, because without any data entry, they let you:

1. Collect every invoice automatically wherever it arrives, without missing any.
2. Read the XML file line by line. No character recognition, no reading errors.
3. Check: supplier tax code, duplicates, amounts against purchase orders, VAT.
4. Reconcile with bank statements and, depending on the business, with cash register sales.
5. Send to your accounting software (MISA or other) and to a dashboard.
6. Alert: a supplier price increase, the same product bought at different prices, an unpaid invoice.

All of this connects to the tools you already use. No need to change your invoicing or accounting software.

Real example: a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

At Baieta, a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, supplier invoices, payments and sales were tracked separately. The manager knew neither the real margin per dish nor the losses. We built a tool that reads the XML invoices, reconciles them with the bank and the cash register, and tracks every price.

Over the period, 4.95 billion VND in purchases were screened and 350 items tracked price by price. The result: 65.9 million VND at stake over 11 months, or about 71.9 million a year. Most of it comes from clear price increases (63.6 million), the rest from the same product bought at different prices from several suppliers (2.3 million).

A few examples: seedless limes went up 57.9%, and beef cube roll rose from 637,000 to 770,000 VND per kilo. Without automatic invoice reading, none of these increases were visible. The tool also calculates the cost of each of the 199 items on the menu, and compares purchases with sales to spot losses.

Where to start

1. Centralize: have all supplier invoices sent to a single email address.
2. Collect the XML files for the last three months, not just the PDFs.
3. Check the 2026 rules with your accountant: invoice type, when to issue, how to make corrections.
4. Connect to the bank: a monthly export of your statements is enough to start reconciling.
5. Pick three numbers to track every month: purchase cost per supplier, price increases, unpaid invoices.

To go further, our guide Automating an SME in Vietnam: where to start explains how to choose the first tasks to automate.

Sources

• MISA meInvoice – Nghị định 254/2026/NĐ-CP thay thế Nghị định 123 (signing, effective date, superseded texts, connected cash registers)
• LuatVietnam – 6 điểm mới Nghị định 254/2026/NĐ-CP về hóa đơn điện tử (July 4, 2026)
• Thư Viện Pháp Luật – Thời điểm xuất hóa đơn từ 01/7/2026 theo Nghị định 254/2026
• Kế toán Lê Ánh – Xử lý hóa đơn điện tử viết sai theo Thông tư 91/2026/TT-BTC và Nghị định 254/2026
• MISA AMIS – Bãi bỏ quy định về việc hủy hóa đơn điện tử theo Nghị định 254/2026
• Thư Viện Pháp Luật – Nghị định 68/2026/NĐ-CP on taxation of household businesses and individuals
• Ascentium – Vietnam’s E-Invoice Regulations Update: Decree 70/2025/ND-CP
• Luật Việt An – Nghị định 310/2025/NĐ-CP sửa đổi quy định xử phạt vi phạm hành chính về thuế, hóa đơn