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E-invoicing depends entirely on the technical systems of the seller, the e-invoice service provider and the tax authority. When one of these systems fails, businesses are often unsure: may invoices be issued late, will there be penalties, and when must data be sent to the tax authority? Decree No. 254/2026/ND-CP of the Government dated 30 June 2026 (effective from 1 July 2026) answers these questions in Article 14 – Handling of incidents.

In addition, Article 41 of the Decree for the first time sets out specific rules on rewarding consumers who report sellers that fail to issue and deliver e-invoices, with a maximum reward of VND 10,000,000 per case. ATAX summarises these two sets of rules and what businesses should prepare.

1. Four incident scenarios and each party's responsibility (Article 14)

Article 14 allocates responsibility according to the source of the incident:

Key point: incidents on the tax authority's side are announced on the Tax Department's website. This is important evidence that late data transfer was not the business's fault, so the announcement should be kept with the accounting records.

2. Force majeure: 3 working days to issue and send invoices

Clause 5 of Article 14 refers to Clause 21, Article 4 of Law on Tax Administration No. 108/2025/QH15 on force majeure, including war, riots, strikes forcing suspension of production or business, or risks not caused by the seller's subjective fault, where the seller or the tax authority cannot issue, code or transmit e-invoice data on time. In such cases:

• Within 3 working days from the date the incident is resolved, the seller may issue and send e-invoices to the tax authority (point a, Clause 5);
• The seller must record the sale transactions in its accounting books and keep documents proving the force majeure event (point b, Clause 5).

Clause 6 of Article 14 confirms that issuing or sending invoices, or transferring invoice data, late for the above reasons is regarded as force majeure under tax administration law. In other words, if the business can prove an objective cause and meets the deadline after the incident is resolved, late invoicing is not treated as a violation due to its own fault.

3. Rewards for consumer reports: conditions and required information (Article 41)

Under Clause 1 of Article 41, a consumer who reports a seller for failing to issue and deliver e-invoices may be considered for a reward if all three conditions are met:

• The information is truthful, accurate and timely, with grounds to identify the time, place and person committing the violation;
• The information reflects actual facts and is sufficient for the tax authority to determine the nature and severity of the violation and to inspect and verify;
• Based on that information, the tax authority has issued a decision on administrative penalties for tax or invoice violations.

Report information (Clause 2) includes details of the seller (name, address or tax code) together with one of the following: information on the transaction; information on the failure to issue and deliver an invoice; related documents and evidence (if any). The reporting consumer provides their name, phone number and personal identification number.

Reports can be submitted conveniently (Clause 3): via the e-invoice system or the tax administration information system (such as eTax Mobile), via the National Public Service Portal, via the tax authority's official email or electronic information receiving system, or in person or in writing at the tax authority's office.

4. Principles and amount of rewards

Clause 4 of Article 41 sets out the principles: rewards are based on the tax authority's verification, handling and penalty decision; they must be public, transparent and correctly targeted, and the informant's information must be kept confidential; each case is rewarded only once. If several people report the same violation, the reward goes to the first informant or the one whose information is the most complete and valuable as confirmed by the tax authority.

As for the amount, Clause 5 of Article 41 provides that the reward for one case may not exceed 10% of the administrative fine, up to VND 10,000,000 per case. The Minister of Finance will specify the reward levels, forms, procedures and the management and use of funds.

With reporting possible via a mobile app, the risk of being detected for not issuing or delivering invoices to customers – especially retail customers – increases significantly for retailers, household businesses, restaurants and service providers.

Notes for businesses

• Set up an internal procedure for invoice incidents: who contacts the service provider and the tax authority; keep incident notices from the Tax Department or the provider; track the time of resolution.
• Fully record transactions arising during the incident in the accounting books and issue and send invoices within 3 working days (force majeure) or transfer data within 2 working days (the tax authority's receiving system fails) after the incident is resolved.
• Choose an e-invoice service provider with strong technical capacity and clear contractual commitments on incident resolution.
• Review that invoices are issued and delivered for every sale, including individual customers who do not ask for an invoice, as consumers may report and be rewarded.
• Follow Ministry of Finance guidance on reward procedures under Clause 5 of Article 41.

Frequently asked questions

The provider's invoicing software is down all day. Will the business be penalised for late invoicing?

Under Clause 3 of Article 14, the service provider must notify the seller, fix the incident as quickly as possible and help the seller issue invoices for coding in the shortest time. If the incident is a risk not caused by the seller's subjective fault, Clauses 5 and 6 of Article 14 allow invoices to be issued and sent within 3 working days after resolution and treat the case as force majeure. The business should keep documents proving the incident.

Is a reporting consumer rewarded immediately?

No. Under point c, Clause 1 and point a, Clause 4 of Article 41, a reward is only considered after the tax authority has verified the report and issued an administrative penalty decision based on it. The reward may not exceed 10% of the fine, up to VND 10 million per case.

Is the informant's information kept confidential?

Yes. Point b, Clause 4 of Article 41 requires the informant's information to be kept confidential.

Full text: Decree 254/2026/ND-CP guiding the Law on Tax Administration regarding e-invoices and e-documents (in Vietnamese).

For advice on handling e-invoice incidents and reviewing invoicing procedures under Decree 254/2026/ND-CP, please contact ATAX (atax.vn).