A gas station in Hà Nội. The finance ministry calls for the formation of intersectoral groups at localities to work directly with petroleum retailers and gas stations to speed up the implementation of invoice issuance. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Finance has asked provinces and cities across the county to increase the effort to speed up the issuance of electronic invoices for each sale of petrol stations in order to remove bottlenecks during implementation.

The ministry’s statistics showed that currently, only two retailers, namely Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) and the One – Member Limited Liability Oil and Gas Company of HCM City, with a total of 2,700 stations, issue invoices for each sale, or just 16 per cent of the total number of petrol stations nationwide.

The rest are all issuing electronic invoices but not for each sale, the ministry said.

The General Department of Taxation said petroleum retailers often issue a total sales invoice at the end of the day or an invoice for a week or a month. Some even do not issue invoices or declare taxes, causing losses to the State budget.

The ministry calls for the formation of intersectoral groups to work directly with retailers and gas stations to speed up the process.

Recently, petroleum retailers sent petitions to the National Assembly and the Government about difficulties, including human resources and costs, when implementing electronic invoices for each sale. It is estimated it would cost around VNĐ300-400 million for each dispenser to upgrade the infrastructure for the implementation of electronic invoice issuance.

In response, the finance ministry said that electronic invoice issuance for each sale will enhance tax management and prevent evasions, helping to increase budget revenue.

The ministry added that at petrol stations that have already implemented the electronic invoice issuance for each sale, there has been no congestion.

On December 1, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Official Dispatch No 1284/CD-TTg on strengthening the management and use of electronic invoices of retail petroleum business, which requires retailers to issue electronic invoices for each sale and connect the data with the tax management agencies this month.

To achieve the goal that all petrol stations issue electronic invoices for each sale, it is necessary to have coordination by local authorities and agencies to make a change, the finance ministry said. — VNS