Prime Minister requires livestream sales to issue electronic invoices

The above content was stated by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the conference on connecting and sharing data to develop e-commerce and improve tax management efficiency on June 10.

The Prime Minister assessed that tax management, especially tax collection from livestream services and e-commerce, still suffers from losses. Therefore, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Finance to promptly complete the dossier to submit to the Government to amend Decree 123/2020 regulating the application of electronic invoices to these transactions.

Localities must allocate resources to deploy electronic invoices to consumers. For businesses that do not issue electronic invoices, the Prime Minister requested strict handling of violations.

Previously, the Prime Minister also assigned the Ministry of Finance to increase inspection and supervision of livestream sales activities. In case of detecting organizations or individuals selling goods, receiving commissions from advertising, or selling goods with signs of violating the law, the case file must be transferred to the competent authority for handling.

In fact, livestream sales bring in large revenues for sellers and those hired to livestream. At the National Assembly's question-and-answer session on the afternoon of June 4, delegates mentioned that recently social networks have been buzzing with livestream sales sessions on applications, with revenues reaching hundreds of billions a day.

The General Department of Taxation said that currently, some individuals with income of tens of billions of dong from livestream sales activities voluntarily registered, declared and paid taxes. Among them, some individuals have paid billions of dong in taxes to the budget.

Along with livestream sales, e-commerce activities have been growing strongly in recent years. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, e-commerce revenue will reach 30.5 billion USD by 2025. Vietnam is the country with the fastest growth in e-commerce in Southeast Asia.

At the conference, the Government leader assessed that the mechanisms and policies on e-commerce are still slow to change, not closely following reality and not in line with international practices. The management agency has also not developed a long-term development strategy.

The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to study and amend laws and guiding documents related to this field, especially the Law on Consumer Protection; E-commerce Development Strategy. This is to manage and sustainably develop domestic and cross-border e-commerce platforms, protect consumer rights, and prevent counterfeit goods, goods of unknown origin, and poor quality.

In 2023, tax management revenue through e-commerce channels will be VND3.5 trillion (about USD146 billion), with tax paid VND97 trillion, up 14% over the previous year. The tax sector also reviewed more than 31,000 subjects, handled more than 22,000 violations, and increased tax in this field by nearly VND3 trillion.

According to the tax authority, they are managing nearly 123,800 taxpayers operating in the e-commerce sector. Of these, there are more than 88,100 individuals, and 35,100 businesses selling goods via e-commerce platforms. In addition, there are more than 360 businesses that are platform owners, 24 large businesses advertising on the internet, and 96 foreign suppliers without a base in Vietnam.