Key changes in tax and invoice penalties under Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP

Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP has officially been promulgated and took effect on January 16, 2026. This document marks an important step in improving the legal framework on administrative penalties in the field of taxation and invoicing, with several adjustments aimed at resolving practical difficulties, particularly regarding scope of regulation, principles of sanctioning, determination of violations, and legal responsibilities of relevant parties.

In the following article, TNTP’s lawyer will analyze and highlight notable amendments and supplements introduced by Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP compared to Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP, thereby clarifying the interpretation and application of the new provisions in practice.

1.Supplementing and clarifying the scope of regulation in tax and invoice penalties

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 2 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP, administrative violations in the field of taxation are defined as acts that violate laws on tax administration, tax laws, and other revenues. However, this provision does not clearly specify the scope of other revenues in connection with the tax authorities’ revenue administration and sanctioning competence, leading to inconsistent interpretation and application in practice.

To address the above issues, at Point a, Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP (amending Clause 1, Article 2 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP), the Government has supplemented a criterion for clearly identifying “other revenues belonging to the state budget that are managed by the tax authorities”, thereby specifically delineating the scope of administrative penalties for tax-related violations.

Although this adjustment is consistent with the revenue management orientation established under the Law on Tax Administration 2025 (effective from July 1, 2026), it should be noted that not all other state budget revenues organized for collection or jointly collected by the tax authorities under the Law on Tax Administration 2025 fall within the scope of administrative penalties for violations relating to tax and invoices as prescribed in Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP and Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP. Accordingly, revenues such as fees and charges; marine area usage fees; proceeds from the conversion of ownership of state-owned enterprises and public service units; and proceeds from the transfer of state capital in enterprises, although organized for collection or coordinated by tax authorities in accordance with specialized laws, in principle do not fall within the scope of administrative penalties for violations relating to tax and invoices, but are instead subject to corresponding sector-specific sanctioning regimes.

Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP clearly distinguishes between tax administration and the administration of fees, charges, and other state budget revenues, while avoiding overlap with sanctioning mechanisms in the field of fees and charges under Decree No. 02/2026/ND-CP, thereby ensuring consistency and transparency in the application of the law on administrative sanctions.

2.Amending and supplementing principles of tax and invoice penalties

Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP does not alter the fundamental sanctioning principles of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP but focuses on clarifying violations within the same case to ensure consistency in application.

Accordingly, Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP revises Points a, b, c, Clause 3, Article 5 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP to uniformly apply the criterion of “within the same day” to determine consolidation of violations, replacing the previously unclear concept of “at the same time”. Thus, if within the same day a taxpayer makes multiple errors in tax declarations, submits multiple late tax filings of the same tax type, or submits multiple late notifications/reports of the same invoice type, only one violation is penalized, applying the highest fine bracket.

Additionally, Point b, Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP supplements cases eligible for consolidation, such as multiple instances of issuing invoices at incorrect times, multiple failures to issue invoices, or multiple errors in the same tax declaration. These amendments help limit cumulative penalties and provide a clearer legal basis for both tax authorities and taxpayers.

3.Quantifying the aggravating element of “large-scale administrative violation”

Clause 4, Article 1 of Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP (amending Clause 2, Article 6 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP) refines the criteria for determining “large-scale administrative violations” by linking them strictly to a specific violation, rather than aggregating multiple violations. This aligns with the sanctioning principles of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations and practical guidance from tax authorities.

• Tax violations: An act is considered large-scale only when it involves tax evasion under Article 17 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP, with evaded tax amount is VND 100,000,000 or more, and subject to transfer for administrative sanctioning under Article 63 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations. Compared to previous regulations, Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP removes the criterion based on goods/services value of VND 500,000,000 or more, thereby narrowing the scope of aggravating circumstances and ensuring sanctions reflect the essence of tax evasion.
• Invoice violations: Only when a single administrative violation involves 10 or more invoices is it considered large-scale.

Previously, Official Letter No. 216/TCT-PC from the General Department of Taxation clarified that if a taxpayer committed multiple invoice violations and was penalized separately for each, the “large-scale” aggravating circumstance did not apply, even if the total exceeded 10 invoices. Instead, penalties were applied per violation, and from the second violation onward, the aggravating circumstance of “repeated violations” could be considered.

Thus, Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP does not change the basic quantitative thresholds but clarifies that “large-scale” applies only to a single violation, ending the practice of aggregating multiple violations to apply aggravating circumstances.

4.Clarifying responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals

Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP further refines provisions on subjects liable for tax and invoice administrative penalties, thereby delineating legal responsibilities between taxpayers and related organizations/individuals, particularly in authorization relationships and in the context of Global Minimum Tax. According to Clause 2, Article 1 of Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP (amending Point a, Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP):

• Authorization relationships: If a taxpayer authorizes another organization/individual to perform tax obligations, and the law assigns responsibility to the authorized party, when the authorized party commits a violation, that organization/individual is penalized, not the taxpayer. This ensures sanctions target the correct party and enhances professionalism and accountability of tax service providers.
• Global Minimum Tax: Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP specifies that the liable subject is the constituent unit responsible for declaring and paying the supplementary corporate income tax or submitting notifications under global anti-base erosion rules. Clarifying the responsible subject ensures the feasibility of implementing the Global Minimum Tax regime in practice.

Overall, these amendments clarify boundaries of legal responsibility among related parties, reduce overlapping sanctions, and provide a transparent legal basis for applying penalties in taxation and invoicing.

Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP does not fundamentally change tax and invoice penalty policies but clarifies and refines their application to address practical difficulties arising from implementation of Decree No. 125/2020/ND-CP. The amendments focus on delineating scope of regulation, clarifying consolidation principles, quantifying “large-scale” aggravating circumstances, and defining responsibilities of relevant parties. Through these changes, Decree No. 310/2025/ND-CP provides a more transparent and consistent legal basis for tax authorities in applying sanctions, while helping enterprises proactively identify and manage legal risks in tax and invoice administration.

This article, “Key changes in tax and invoice penalties under decree no. 310/2025/ND-CP” was prepared by TNTP’s lawyer. TNTP hopes the analysis in this article will assist readers in identifying risks and correctly applying tax and invoice regulations in practice.