The Business Registration Office must work overtime to support businesses.

Phu Xuan district and Nam Dong district (old) have not yet synchronized data.

After 12 days, Hue became a centrally-governed city, and the administrative boundary information in the area has changed. Therefore, most enterprises must adjust the administrative boundary information on their business registration certificates. However, in some areas, due to difficulties in synchronizing enterprise information with tax authorities due to data mismatch, some enterprises have not been able to complete the update of information related to changes in administrative boundaries on their business registration certificates.

During weekdays, including Saturdays and Sundays (January 11; January 12), outside of office hours, staff from the Business Registration Office, staff from the Department of Planning and Investment, and support staff from the Business Association still gather at the headquarters to reissue business registration information. The review of business records is assigned to each member so that the business support work can be completed soon.

In addition to the business records that meet the requirements, there are still some businesses that have not updated completely, so their records are returned. Currently, some businesses in Phu Xuan district and Nam Dong district (now merged into Phu Loc district) still face some obstacles due to the lack of information synchronization in the tax system of the General Department of Taxation. Meanwhile, to complete the procedure of updating business registration information in the areas that have been split or merged, the Business Registration Office must send a request and wait for the tax authority to confirm (due to the change of tax management agency). Most of these records are returned due to the lack of data synchronization in the tax system.

In fact, not only the business registration agency, the tax agency is also making efforts to speed up the progress of synchronizing enterprise information. The Hue City Tax Department has also worked continuously with the General Department of Taxation to soon synchronize tax management data. Up to now, enterprise data in Thuan Hoa district has been synchronized. Before January 1, 2025, the Tax Department also worked with invoice suppliers to ensure that changes in administrative boundaries do not affect the issuance of invoices by enterprises. However, up to now, enterprises in Phu Xuan district and the old Nam Dong district have not yet fully updated.

Business worries

Completing the update of administrative boundary information on business licenses causes many businesses to face difficulties. One business said that at the end of the year, the volume of goods transactions of the business is very large, the delay in updating business information causes business activities to face obstacles, especially in issuing invoices.

Specifically, when issuing invoices, sellers must create and record information on the sale of goods and provision of services according to the provisions of law with full contents: Name of invoice type; name, address, tax code of the seller; name, address, tax code of the buyer... However, currently, the administrative unit has changed but the business registration file has not been updated, so the enterprise cannot issue invoices; if the invoice is issued, the old address of the unit, Thua Thien Hue province, will still be displayed.

What businesses are worried about is whether issuing invoices based on the unchanged business registration information can ensure the validity and legality of the invoice information. Because according to Decree No. 123 of the Government regulating invoices and documents, it is required to ensure correct and complete form and content according to the provisions of this Decree...

Service providers also participate in supporting businesses in changing information on invoices.

A business said that to ensure that production and business activities are not interrupted when the new business registration certificate has not been changed, some businesses are still issuing invoices based on the information on the old business registration certificate, waiting for the new business registration information to be issued. This also causes many difficulties for businesses in production and business activities, especially for the business accounting team.

After being granted a new business registration certificate, the enterprise must adjust the issued invoices. Because according to regulations, the seller must issue a new electronic invoice to replace the erroneous electronic invoice, unless the seller and the buyer have agreed to make a written agreement beforehand. This incurs additional invoice costs and time costs for the enterprise's accounting department.

Although previously, the Hue City Tax Department affirmed: "The change of address information due to the change of administrative boundaries when Hue City is under the Central Government does not affect the process of using and issuing electronic invoices of enterprises. Enterprises can proactively update themselves or seek the support of electronic invoice solution providers to update address information on the electronic invoice system software to ensure that it matches the name prescribed in the above resolutions."

However, some enterprises still ask the question, if the enterprise has not updated the information on the business registration certificate and still issues invoices according to the old address information (not adjusting the new address on invoices issued from January 1, 2025 until the new address information is available), are these invoices legal? And can these invoices be deducted from Value Added Tax and accounted for as reasonable expenses when calculating Corporate Income Tax?

The representative of the City Tax Department shared that the unit is making great efforts to connect information with the General Department of Taxation; accompanying and coordinating with the Department of Planning and Investment in promoting the activities of changing administrative boundary information of enterprises. Regarding the issuance of invoices, enterprises that have completed or have not completed updating administrative boundary information still issue invoices as usual.

According to Clause 4, Article 10 of Decree 123, "the invoice must show the name, address, and tax code of the seller in accordance with the name, address, and tax code recorded on the business registration certificate, branch registration certificate, business household registration certificate, tax registration certificate, tax code notification, investment registration certificate, and cooperative registration certificate".

Therefore, if the enterprise has not completed updating the registration of enterprise information according to the address of the new administrative area due to the above reasons, the seller information on the invoice still matches the information on the current business license, so the invoice still complies with the provisions of Clause 4, Article 10 of Decree 123 and the enterprise does not need to adjust the invoice information in this case.

Hoang Loan