Preventing loss of gasoline tax revenue: Need to get involved soon!

(Baonghean) - Petroleum smuggling is a hot issue across the country. In Nghe An, the amount of tax collected from petroleum trading activities is not commensurate with reality. Preventing tax losses in the petroleum trading sector is currently a problem for the tax sector.

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Currently, there are 631 petrol stations in the province, with sales of about 400,000 m3/year. If we only calculate the value added tax, the amount of petrol consumed is equivalent to about 300 billion VND. However, in reality, Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company has paid over 150 billion VND, while the market share of this unit accounts for over 52% of petrol consumed in Nghe An. Although the sectors have implemented many management measures for petrol trading activities, such as sealing lead-stamped meters, inventorying petrol when there is a decision to increase prices by the government, building a retail ratio on total revenue... the tax revenue from petrol trading activities is not commensurate with actual sales.

Hung Dung Gas Station (Vinh City) (Photo for illustration purposes only)

Mr. Phan Ba ​​Toan - Deputy Head of the General Budget Department - Tax Department said that tax losses in the petroleum sector are shown in the following forms: Not declaring the actual sales, very large retail sales but not issuing invoices, because in reality, people rarely get invoices when buying gasoline every day;... Meanwhile, buying and selling, giving invoices in the petroleum business is currently quite common.

Tax evasion also occurs when gasoline prices increase but tax authorities have not yet inspected the actual warehouses of enterprises, have not yet finalized invoices, and have not yet compared actual inventories with inventories according to books. This is also a loophole for gasoline fraud tricks by attaching electronic chips to reduce the quantity sold to consumers, causing a stir in public opinion recently. According to the Tax Department, selling a lot and declaring little is still difficult to manage, let alone high-tech theft, causing damage to consumers and tax losses. This is an issue that the Tax Department needs to continue calculating to collect, contributing to transparency in tax collection for the budget.

Which industry?in charge of?

Currently, the petroleum business unit with the largest tax payment rate is Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company. In 2013, this enterprise paid 157 billion VND in VAT with a total output of 179.3 million liters of petroleum; in the first 10 months of 2014, it paid 148 billion VND in tax, with 181.7 million liters of petroleum. In addition, it paid nearly 300 billion VND in import tax in 2013, and is expected to pay about 450 billion VND in 2014. Currently, Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company has 71 affiliated stores, accounting for 52% of the provincial market share. According to the assessment of the Tax Department, Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company is an enterprise that seriously fulfills its budget payment obligations thanks to a standard management system.

Mr. Cao Viet Dong - Head of Sales Department of Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company said: "The company proactively applies information technology in the management and trading of petroleum. Currently, the unit is applying 2 management programs, Sap and Egas. The Sap management software program at the company is equipped with a computer system connecting from the office to the stores, and connecting with the company and the corporation to transparently manage exported goods on social media networks. For the Egas program, retail petroleum stores are managed in issuing invoices and the amount of goods sold during the day. For customers who do not receive invoices at the stores, at the end of the day, the company will compile and issue retail invoices for the day."

The current issue is how to manage the number of private enterprises trading in gasoline and oil? To overcome the limitation of tax loss, the Provincial Tax Department has met with relevant agencies to discuss and propose many solutions. That is to manage the lead clamping of the total meter to control the amount of gasoline consumed monthly; control the amount of gasoline purchased and sold each period or prevent illegal invoices and prevent loss of revenue. However, the Nghe An Department of Standards - Measurement - Quality said that the department only manages the accuracy of the meter, the total meter is currently installed by only a few enterprises but there are no mandatory regulations, this is managed internally by the enterprise when handing over the sales shift... The Department of Industry and Trade said that it does not manage the meter, if the enterprise is wrong, the competent authority will handle it. In fact, there is no department that manages the meter measuring the amount of gasoline sold at the district level.

According to the Tax Department, for cash meters, when the sales shift is handed over to the statistical and accounting staff, the meter can be rewinded, so the meter reading has no basis to ensure the accuracy of the amount of gasoline consumed. On that basis, the tax authority has proposed a solution to install a total meter, but is facing difficulties because there is no sanction requiring businesses to install it. Regarding this issue, according to our research, currently the pumps are only fitted with lead clamps for the measuring unit, not the meter (except for Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company). Therefore, if the authorities proceed to clamp the meter and record the index, they can manage the amount of gasoline consumed monthly.

If the above solution is implemented well, the Tax sector will monitor the amount of gasoline sold at gas stations well, without having to apply the form of tax determination, which many opinions say is both non-transparent and inaccurate. This is a solution to greatly limit the practice of retail without invoices to take advantage of illegal invoice sales, causing loss of state budget revenue. However, the effectiveness of this field requires the participation and serious work of functional agencies. It is thought that, because there are no sanctions, we should not relax the management of tax loss in the field of gasoline trading. On the other hand, consumers should practice the habit of getting invoices when making purchases, both to ensure their rights when there is an incident and to help limit tax evasion by businesses.

At the end of this article, we would like to quote the opinion of Mr. Cao Viet Dong - Head of Business Department, Nghe Tinh Petroleum Company, who said: "Currently, in the province, there are 631 petrol stations with about 2,000 fuel pumps; Meanwhile, the Electricity industry has more than 1 million electricity meters but still manages them well. If the authorities manage petrol through accumulation at the fuel pump as the Electricity industry is doing, it will prevent tax losses. It is not too difficult, but the problem is which agency is responsible for recording the monthly meter readings?"

Article and photos:Thu Huyen