OFFICIAL LETTER 216/TCT-PC FROM THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION REGARDING PENALTIES FOR ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS RELATED TO TAXATION AND INVOICES
On January 15, 2025, the General Department of Taxation issued Official Letter No. 216/TCT-PC to provide guidance on penalties for administrative violations related to taxation and invoices as follows:
Penalties:
Tax and invoice violations are handled in accordance with Decree No. 125/2020/NĐ-CP dated October 19, 2020 (amended and supplemented by Decree No. 102/2021/NĐ-CP dated November 16, 2021). In cases where the taxpayer is penalized for multiple administrative violations related to tax procedures and invoices in a single penalty instance, only one penalty decision is issued to determine the form and level of penalty for each specific violation committed by the individual or organization. The total penalty amount in the administrative penalty decision is the sum of the specific penalties for each violation and is not limited by the maximum penalty amount stipulated in Points c and d, Clause 1, Article 24 of the 2012 Law on Handling Administrative Violations (amended and supplemented in 2020).
Aggravating circumstances “large-scale administrative violation”
In cases where, in the same instance of administrative penalty, the taxpayer commits multiple administrative violations related to invoices and is penalized for each violation according to regulations, the aggravating circumstance of “large-scale administrative violation” is not applied. In cases where the taxpayer commits a single administrative violation related to invoices (with a violation count of 10 or more invoices), the taxpayer is penalized for a single violation and the aggravating circumstance of “large-scale administrative violation” is applied.
Aggravating circumstances “repeated administrative violations”
In cases where the taxpayer commits multiple similar administrative violations and is penalized for each violation, from the second violation onwards, it is considered an administrative violation with the aggravating circumstance of “repeated administrative violations” according to Point b, Clause 1, Article 10 of the 2012 Law on Handling Administrative Violations (amended and supplemented in 2020).
