Tax debts, tax evasion remain rampant: deputy minister
Tax debts, tax evasion remain rampant: deputy minister
Despite the tax offices’ efforts with tax collection management, tax evasion and tax debts among enterprises remain rampant, stated Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha.
At a conference held today, July 15, on the performance of the General Department of Taxation in the first half of the year and plans for the rest of the year, Ha pointed out shortcomings in tax collection management, noting that tax arrears totaled VND83.4 trillion (US$3.6 billion) as of June 30, up 9.3% over the end of last year, according to the Vietnam News Agency.
Many regulations are overlapping and vague, complicating enforcement. In addition, complaints and lawsuits against tax offices were recorded in many localities, mainly due to the shortcomings of these offices.
As such, Deputy Minister Ha asked the tax agencies to be proactive in collecting taxes to exceed the target for the whole year by 5% and to build an appropriate tax collection plan for next year.
The General Department of Taxation must coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to prepare decrees guiding the deployment of the Law on Tax Management and circulars on tax collection management from the Ministry of Finance.
In addition, tax agencies were assigned to enhance their supervision and inspections of the tax collection process to prevent losses for the State budget.
According to Phi Van Tuan, deputy general director of the General Department of Taxation, in the first six months of the year, tax agencies inspected more than 35,300 enterprises, or 40.5% of the full-year plan.
Total tax revenue collected was VND597.8 trillion, reaching more than half of the target and increasing 12.5% over the figure recorded in the same period last year, Tuan added.
Of the total, the revenue from domestic production and business activities hit VND567.4 trillion, marking a year-on-year increase of 13.2%.
Up to 50 out of 63 localities across the country achieved more than half of their targeted revenues from domestic production and business activities.
