Gold Sale Invoices – Different Styles Everywhere
Mr. Le Tien (Long Bien, Hanoi) said that when he has spare money, he often chooses to buy and accumulate gold. When buying gold, each gold business has different forms of issuing invoices and gold guarantees.
Gold businesses provide gold guarantees without issuing invoices to customers when buying and selling gold. Photo: PV
“I buy gold at Doji store, the staff asks me to present personal documents, tax code, and send along with the invoice. However, many times when I buy and sell gold at Bao Tin Minh Chau store, I only receive the gold guarantee. This company also does not mention value-added tax invoices,” Mr. Tien said.
Many customers when buying gold at Bao Tin Minh Chau also said that they only received gold guarantees without invoices. Only when customers request an invoice and leave personal information and tax codes, Bao Tin Minh Chau’s staff would issue a gold purchase and sale invoice.
According to research, the issuance of invoices according to tax agency regulations at gold business facilities varies from place to place. Most people receive gold guarantees and buy gold based on the reputation of the business. Some gold businesses, when buying and selling with a value of VND 20 million or more, will make payments by transfer. However, some businesses buy and sell gold, making payments of VND 50-60 million per transaction in cash.
In an exchange with PV Tien Phong, a representative of the General Department of Taxation said that in addition to meeting business conditions, gold trading businesses are subject to 2 types of taxes, including value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax. As a special type of commodity, VAT on gold trading activities is calculated directly. Accordingly, the value-added tax of gold trading activities is determined by the selling price minus the buying price. In other words, VAT on gold trading activities applies to the price differential of buying and selling gold.
Contributing opinions on the draft VAT Law amendment, many localities proposed taxing VAT at a certain percentage for gold trading activities to avoid tax losses. Typical examples are Quang Nam Province proposing to draft a law stipulating the rate (%) on separate revenue for gold, silver, and gemstone trading activities (not applying the rate of business and service commercial activities).
Quang Nam Province believes that gold, silver, and gemstones are special goods (both goods and means of payment), which are difficult to control prices. Transactions of buying and selling gold, silver, and gemstones are usually small, without enough purchase invoices and documents. “The value added of gold, silver, and gemstone between the selling price and buying price at a point in time is not significantly different. Therefore, applying the direct method on the added value is difficult to manage, leading to tax losses for the state budget,” Quang Nam Province proposed.
In response to this proposal, the Ministry of Finance stated that there is no basis to provide a percentage for gold, silver, and gemstone trading activities. Besides, the revenue from this activity is very large, so it is proposed to keep it as a draft, unchanged.
Checking Tax on Gold Business Activities
The General Department of Taxation has sent a letter requesting local tax agencies to review and promptly detect undeclared tax-paying activities in gold, silver, and gemstone buying, selling, and processing activities, the difference between actual cost price, revenue and declared data.
Accordingly, the tax agency proactively prepares a plan, reports to the provincial People’s Committee, proposes solutions, and coordinates with relevant departments to strengthen the management of businesses, households, and individuals doing gold, silver, and gemstone business. In the inspection process, the tax agency closely coordinates with relevant units such as the police, market management, banks, and customs to minimize risks in tax management.
“Through inspections, if violations are detected in organizations and individuals doing gold, silver, and gemstone business with violations of tax laws and signs of crimes, the tax authority will transfer the dossier to the police. From there, the functional authorities will investigate and handle according to the provisions of the law,” the General Department of Taxation requested.
In an exchange with PV Tien Phong, a representative of the General Department of Taxation said that gold businesses must comply with the regulations on invoices and documents. When there is a gold buying and selling activity, businesses must issue invoices in accordance with the regulations in Decree 123/2020 on invoices and documents. In cases where the business does not issue invoices and makes large cash payments without complying with regulations, citizens and businesses detect this situation and report it, the tax authorities will inspect, check and penalize violations (if any).
“Gold and silver businesses self-declare invoices, documents, and tax obligations. At present, the General Department of Taxation requires its subordinate units to inspect gold business units nationwide. When detecting violations, the tax authorities will strictly handle according to regulations,” said the General Department of Taxation.
At 5:00 pm on March 14th, SJC gold price was at 79.7 – 81.7 million VND/tael, an increase of 1.5 million VND/tael compared to before. Plain round ring price was at 68.48 – 69.88 million VND/tael, an increase of 600,000 VND.
