Decree 70/2025: e-invoices from cash registers — what retailers and household businesses must do now

If you run a retail shop, a restaurant, a pharmacy, a spa or a mini-hotel in Vietnam and still track sales in a notebook, read this to the end. Decree 70/2025/ND-CP (amending Decree 123/2020/ND-CP on invoices and documents) took effect on 1 June 2025, and tax authorities are running broad enforcement campaigns throughout 2026.

Who is covered?

The rule targets businesses that sell goods or services directly to consumers:

• Household businesses and individual traders with annual revenue of VND 1 billion or more;
• Companies in retail, F&B, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, passenger transport, entertainment and personal services.

These sellers must use e-invoices generated from cash registers that transmit data electronically to the tax authority. In plain terms: every sale prints a receipt for the customer and simultaneously reports itself to the tax office. The era of "estimating" monthly revenue is over.

One more thing: from 1 January 2026, with presumptive (lump-sum) tax abolished, your cash-register data becomes the basis of your tax declarations. A gap between register revenue and declared revenue invites assessed tax, back-collection and penalties.

A 6-step checklist, in priority order

1. Work out whether you are in scope

Add up the last 12 months of revenue across every channel: walk-in, delivery, ShopeeFood, GrabFood, e-commerce marketplaces. VND 1 billion a year is only about VND 2.8 million a day — a busy breakfast noodle shop clears that bar.

2. Choose a compliant cash-register solution

Not every POS app qualifies. The solution must issue e-invoices with the tax authority's code generated from a cash register and transmit data in the format required by the Tax Department. Realistic cost: VND 200,000–500,000 per month for software, plus a printer if you need one.

3. Register with the tax authority

Register through the tax portal (Form 01/DKTD-HDDT, selecting the cash-register invoice option). Processing normally takes one working day.

4. Clean up your product catalogue

Cash-register invoices need clear item names, unit prices and VAT rates. Review which items carry 8% VAT, which carry 10%, and which are exempt. Wrong VAT rates applied across thousands of receipts is the single most common error we find in compliance reviews.

5. Train your cashiers

The new rule of thumb: every sale gets an invoice, even if the customer does not ask for one. Failing to issue an invoice can draw fines of VND 10–20 million per violation, on top of back taxes on concealed revenue.

6. Reconcile revenue monthly

From now on, your cash-register total, your bank statements and your tax declaration must tell the same story. Someone should reconcile the three sources every month — do not wait for finalization season.

Is compliance expensive?

Less than you fear. A typical household business spends roughly VND 3–6 million a year on cash-register software and a digital signature. Compared with a single penalty plus the risk of assessed tax, it is cheap insurance. The genuinely expensive part is time and accuracy — and that part can be outsourced.

3M's household business accounting service includes cash-register e-invoice setup, monthly three-way revenue reconciliation and on-time filings — AI on our Practica platform reads your sales data automatically, and a senior accountant reviews everything before submission. If you are weighing incorporation, see our household-to-company conversion service.

Not sure which category you fall into, or already invited "for a chat" by the tax office? Book a free compliance review with us — 30 minutes to know exactly where you stand.