Govt strengthens tax management systems
Govt strengthens tax management systems
The government will continue to roll out a n electronic tax collection system in a bid to modernise the country's tax administration.
The electronic system is in part a response to Laos' membership in the World Trade Organisation and the launch of the Asean Economic Community.
Director General of the Tax Department at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Phouthanouphet Saysombath, delivered a statement on the ministry's plans during a tax management seminar held in Vientiane yesterday.
Many countries in the region have modern systems in place and we need to do the same, said Dr Phouthanouphet, who led the meeting, which was co-chaired with IMF Senior Economist Ms Debra Adams.
He said modernisation through the use of an electronic system would drastically improve the country's revenue collection by reducing violations of the tax regulations and closing loopholes in procedures.
The objective of the meeting was to enable Lao and foreign economists, researchers and experts to discuss the features of modern tax administration in Laos.
Another goal was to identify priority areas to further improve tax administration.
During the meeting, participants heard about the current administration system, a medium term review strategy, gaps and challenges, and other issues.
The ministry has recently widened the availability of modern tax payment systems via private banks in Laos, seeking to make it easier for business operators to meet their tax obligations.
The ministry is now hoping to work with more banks on the service system cooperation project after it successfully introduced tax payments via banks.
The project has helped to prepare for the AEC while the tax and duty collection sector requires modern service systems to improve accountability and make payment easier for businesses.
The sector needs to encourage tax payments via banks because once the AEC comes into effect, import duties will start falling to zero percent by 2018.
This means the payment of taxes in full will become even more critical to generate more income and contribute to national revenue, Dr Phouthanouphet said.
The ministry works with many banks on tax payments via all service systems and encourages other banks and interested parties to cooperate in offering such services.
The ministry hopes to work in cooperation with all banks to initiate easy tax payment systems for the benefit of both businesspeople and personal banking customers.
It will help to eliminate the need for many documents and steps in the tax payment process. Most importantly, there is no need to carry cash, there is no need to recheck cash payments, and there are no risks involved in transporting large amounts of cash.
Such services will benefit business operators, the general public, and banks' customers and support the economic policy of the government by improving, developing, modernising and expanding its services.
