At a meeting held on May 16 to discuss the coordination of fiscal and monetary policies aimed at maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation and promoting growth, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh decided that e-invoice must be compulsory for every gold transaction from June 15, according to a report from the Government News.

Accordingly, gold businesses shall have to implement e-invoces connected to tax authorities before June 15, or else their licenses will be revoked.

The move aims to narrow gold price gap between domestic and international markets and to enhance gold market transparency.

The Government leader also urged the State Bank of Vietnam to strengthen inspection and strictly handle violations in gold business, and continue to review the implementation of Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP of the Government on gold trading.

Under the Law on tax management, enterprises and business households shall be required to use e-invoices from July 1, 2022.

To date, according to General Department of Taxation, almost all gold businesses use e-invoices. However, in some localities, customers buy gold without invoices, thus causing difficulties for tax authorities to keep tabs on the market, and leading to tax revenue losses.

Gold price has soared in recent weeks and repeatedly reached new historic peaks. It soared to VND92.4 million (more than $3,630)  per tael on May 10, as shops ran out of inventory.

With domestic gold prices skyrocketing in recent weeks, the central bank resumed gold bar auctions in late April, after a pause of 13 years, in a bid to rebalance the market through increasing supply.

SJC gold bars hit a record of VND92.5 million (more than $3,635)  per tael in early week starting from May 13,  and then cooled a little to be at VND90 million (more than $3,537) at 1pm on May 15. However, the difference between the domestic and world prices remains huge at VND17 million (over $668) per tael.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, it has released a total of 27,200 taels of SJC-branded gold to the market through seven auction sessions  since April 19.

In the latest session held on May 16, eleven winning bidders bought a total of 12,300 out of the 16,800 taels of SJC-branded gold bullion put up for sale. The highest winning price was VND88.92 million ($3,500) and the lowest VND88.89 million per tael.