The greater acceptance of QR payments will also have the effect of standardizing and clarifying digital cash flows.

The strong growth of the digital economy and e-commerce over recent years has
fundamentally changed the way goods and services are transacted. Instead of direct,
in-person contact, transactions now mostly take place on digital platforms, where
buyers and sellers do not meet and payments are made through cashless methods such
as bank transfers, e-wallets, online payment gateways, or QR code scanning.

Experts and regulators expect that upgrading from QR bank transfer codes to
QR payment codes will help commercial transactions be fully recorded according to
the “goods – invoice – cash flow” cycle. Every step is connected online, ensuring
transparency and a closed loop. Such an ecosystem not only helps increase government
revenue but also promotes the digital economy, supports enterprises, and enhances
the consumer experience.

Redefining the money flow

The push to upgrade from QR bank transfer codes to QR code payment, aimed at
separating personal and commercial cash flows, emerged as the defining theme of
the “QR Code Payments: Transparency and Unlimited Experience” conference held on
November 19. According to Mr. Mai Son, Deputy Director General of the General Department
of Taxation at the Ministry of Finance, the shift is essential to clearly distinguish
regular money transfers from payments for goods and services. Such differentiation,
he noted, not only improves the transparency of cash flows but also enhances the
overall management of financial transactions.

Cash flow management goes beyond monitoring the movement of funds. It is central
to identifying the correct taxpayers, determining actual revenue, and assessing
tax liabilities. It is also a critical tool in detecting tax evasion, revenue under-reporting,
and money laundering through electronic channels. Transparent financial flows, Mr.
Son emphasized, help ensure more accurate and equitable tax compliance while building
a reliable data foundation for policy design and tax system modernization.

In practice, cash flow data serves as the backbone for reconciling declared
figures with real revenue. Payment records allow tax authorities to detect the actual
earnings of individuals who conduct business without registration yet generate steady
income on digital platforms. Monitoring these flows also helps expose unusual patterns,
from circular transfers and disguised sales to anonymous payments used to conceal
revenue.

This is why transparent electronic cash flows are seen as a prerequisite for
rolling out modern tools such as electronic tax filing, e-invoicing, and building
the sector’s digital databases.

A representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade at the conference
proposed that, from 2026 to 2030, e-commerce oversight should be grounded in a tightly-linked
framework of three elements: goods, invoices, and cash flow. Goods circulating in
the market must be accompanied by invoices; invoices must accurately reflect tax
obligations; and resulting payments must be processed through banks or financial
institutions. When these components operate in sync, regulators can ensure transparency
and effectiveness regardless of how buyers and sellers choose to transact.

Smarter fiscal backbone

On the tax authority’s side, Mr. Son said regulators are rolling out a series
of measures to support enterprises and household businesses, especially during the
transition from fixed presumptive taxation to declaration-based taxation. Initiatives
such as e-invoicing and the promotion of cashless payments, particularly QR payment,
not only help reduce compliance costs but also enable small business owners to better
manage cash flows by eliminating most manual book-keeping. Once all transactions
are properly recorded, the tax authority gains a reliable data set for analysis,
forecasting, and early detection of fraudulent behavior.

A modern payment system allows the tax authority to collect real-time data,
thereby identifying early signs of irregularities such as opaque trading or the
use of fake invoices. “This is a key factor in improving risk management, while
protecting supply chains and consumer rights,” he stressed. “However, for cash flow
management to be truly effective, close data connectivity and information sharing
are required between tax authorities, banks, payment intermediaries, and other relevant
entities.”

However, he also recommended that the banking sector provide technological
and cost-related support to merchants and service providers, enabling them to adopt
VietQRPay more easily in their daily business operations. He also noted that data
sharing between tax authorities, banks, and payment intermediaries remains limited
due to the absence of a unified legal framework. The lack of clear regulations on
responsibilities, frequency, formats, and mechanisms for data exchange has hindered
the effectiveness of inter-agency coordination.

Therefore, the tax authority hopes to soon establish an online data-connection
system between banks and the tax administration, with synchronized data updates
on a periodic basis – daily, weekly, or monthly. Such a system would help both sides
access timely information and make better use of available data for tax management.
In particular, for transactions showing unusual patterns or suspected links to money
laundering, there must be mechanisms for periodic, automatic, or flexible information
exchange between banks and tax authorities to ensure swift action.

VET-Hoang Lan