Question:
Our company intends to store accounting documents by electronic means. Therefore, in order to achieve this objective, we kindly request SB Law to assess the potential advantages and risks that may arise from electronic storage of accounting records, as well as to advise us on the method of digital signing for each type of document (particularly documents related to revenue and expenses).
Answer:
The government has just issued Decree No. 23/2025/ND-CP on digital signatures and trust services. This Decree contains several notable provisions directly related to the decision to use electronic means for storing accounting documents and applying digital signatures to accounting documents. Specifically:
- Enterprises must use public digital signatures issued by a licensed trusted service provider;
- The signatory is obliged to check the status of their own digital certificate and that of the issuing organization before signing. If signed with a certificate that has been suspended or revoked, the digital signature is invalid;
- The recipient of the document must check the status of the signatory's digital certificate at the time of signing. Therefore, if a business receives an electronic invoice, contract, or document without performing this check, and later discovers that the signature is invalid, the business will be held responsible and the document may not be accepted;
- Enterprises must use digital signing and digital signature verification software that meets the technical requirements specified by the Ministry of Information and Communications (e.g., having a function to connect and check the validity of digital certificates).
Based on the new regulations mentioned above, along with current legal provisions on accounting law, invoices and documents, and storage and retention periods, SBLaw assess the risks as follows:
- 1. Errors occurring during the digital signature verification process will lead to the consequence of using documents with invalid digital signatures. The ramifications are that the document is invalid because it does not fully comply with the essential contents required by the Accounting Law or the digital signature is invalid, the document does not meet the 10-year or permanent retention period requirements, or the electronic document cannot be accessed, retrieved, and printed with confirmation when requested by a competent authority. The legal implications for tax purposes are that the document will be disallowed, not eligible for corporate income tax or value-added tax deductions, subject to administrative penalties for incorrect tax declarations, and even subject to tax arrears.
- Some electronic documents using digital signatures are only valid for a period of 03 years. However, some types of accounting documents require longer retention periods, 10 years or permanently. If electronic documents with digital signatures are used, it will be necessary to depend on the information technology infrastructure of a third party and there may be risks regarding the retention period as well as access rights in case of disputes or IT platform issues.
To mitigate these risks, businesses using electronic documents with digital signatures must ensure: (i) Use reputable and fully licensed service providers; (ii) Ensure the validity of digital certificates is checked when used; (iii) Decide to use the appropriate type of digital signature to ensure the retention period is consistent with accounting document retention regulations; and (iv) ensure regular and continuous data backup and recovery measures are in place to prevent data loss or corruption
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