On The Legal Nature Of Invoice Obligation

Invoices play an indispensable role in commercial activities for a long time.In the civil transaction,how to solve disputes caused by not issuing invoices has become a legal problem that can not be ignored.By collecting and sorting out the existing cases,it is found that the courts have different practices in whether to accept the disputes over invoice obligations.In the same case,there are both cases that the disputes over invoice obligations are accepted as civil disputes and cases that the disputes over invoice obligations are not accepted as civil disputes.The reason for this phenomenon is that the courts have different opinions on the legal nature of invoice obligations,mainly in two aspects: first,whether invoice obligation is statutory obligation or conventional obligation,or both.Second,on the premise that the invoice obligation is a contractual obligation,whether it is a kind of the accessory obligation or the subsidiary obligation.The reason why there is different understanding of the nature of invoice obligation is that the court does not have a thorough understanding of the connotation of invoice obligation and the role of invoice obligation.Unclear understanding of the connotation of invoice obligations mainly includes two aspects: one is unclear understanding of invoice obligations;the other is what is the difference between invoice obligations and the specific contents of invoice obligations in the civil law;and the second is how to determine whether certain acts involving invoices are adjustments to tax laws or to civil law.The incomplete understanding of the invoice function is reflected in the court’s failure to recognize the difference in the tax control function of different types of invoices,and the strength and weakness of the tax control function will affect the nature of the interests infringed upon by the non-performance of invoice obligations,thereby affecting the determination of the nature of invoice obligations.The acts of invoice obligation contain obtaining invoices,issuing invoices and delivering invoices.Issuing invoices is statutory obligation.Disputes arising from the failure to issue invoices belong to tax administrative disputes,and the drawees have to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests through tax administrative channels.Delivering invoices is not only statutory obligation,but also conventional obligation.The drawee can also maintain the right of invoice through tax administration.In addition,when there is relevant agreement in the contract,the obligation of delivering invoices is accessory obligation,and the dispute over the performance of the obligation to deliver an invoice falls under the scope of civil litigation acceptance,and the drawee may protect its legitimate rights and interests through civil litigation;where there is no relevant agreement,the obligation to deliver an invoice is classified into the obligation to deliver a deductible invoice and the obligation to deliver a non-deductible invoice according to the different tax control functions of the invoice.The obligation to deliver a deductible invoice is accessory obligation,and the drawee can also choose the civil litigation channel to require the drawer to deliver an invoice;the obligation to deliver the non-deductible invoices is a supplementary obligation,and the court shall not support the drawee that the drawee separately petitions the drawee to perform the obligation to deliver invoices.