Proposal to cancel tax debt

(Baonghean.vn) - On August 11, the General Department of Taxation informed about debt cancellation, tax debt relief, late payment fees, and fines for taxpayers. This is an important content in the draft Resolution on a number of tax solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles, and promote business development of the Ministry of Finance.

Accordingly, the General Department of Taxation said that it has proposed to cancel tax debts, late payment fees, and fines for enterprises and organizations that were actually dissolved, bankrupt, or ceased business before January 1, 2014; and to freeze tax debts, late payment fees, and fines for enterprises and organizations that were actually dissolved, bankrupt, or ceased business during the period from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015.

At the same time, cancel tax debts, late payment fees, and fines of business households and individuals who stopped doing business before January 1, 2014, and freeze tax debts, late payment fees, and fines of business households and individuals who stopped doing business during the period from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015.

The General Department of Taxation proposes to erase tax debts, late payment fees, and fines for businesses and organizations that have actually dissolved, gone bankrupt, or stopped doing business (Illustration photo)

Explaining the reason for the proposal to cancel tax debts, the General Department of Taxation said that the proposal and selection of subjects for debt cancellation and tax debt settlement to remove difficulties for businesses and business individuals is based on the summary and assessment of the implementation of tax debt cancellation in the past and the practical situation. The tax authority has carefully reviewed the subjects to propose in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration.

The reality of tax debt settlement in recent times shows that the legal provisions on tax debt cancellation for the three above-mentioned cases have not covered all business situations and have not resolved the existence of irrecoverable tax debts; especially in the period when the economy had many adverse fluctuations from December 31, 2013 and before.

Specifically, many taxpayers provide goods and services that are paid for by the state budget or have sources from the state budget but have not been paid, so they do not have a source to pay on time. In these cases, late payment fees are still charged. This leads to unfairness between enterprises and the state when enterprises owe taxes and are charged late payment fees, but the state budget does not charge interest when enterprises are late in paying them.

Or many taxpayers have lost money in business, many cases have become insolvent, had to stop operations or even dissolve or go bankrupt but did not follow the correct procedures for dissolution or bankruptcy. The tax debt that arose before the time of insolvency, dissolution or bankruptcy (although the Tax Authority has applied all the coercive measures as prescribed but has not been collected) is charged late payment at the rate of 0.05%/day (18.3%/year) continuously increasing while the taxpayer has ceased production or business activities, or has dissolved or gone bankrupt.

Confiscation of assets of tax-indebted enterprises in Vinh City (Illustration photo)

According to Mr. Bui Van Nam - General Director of the General Department of Taxation, there is no such thing as debt cancellation and tax debt forgiveness only targeting state-owned enterprises, not affecting enterprises, not ensuring fairness. Because, all subjects of debt cancellation and debt forgiveness this time are treated equally, according to the principle of ensuring equality between economic sectors; ensuring the principle of non-discrimination, in accordance with international practices and international commitments that Vietnam has signed and participated in. Accordingly, subjects of debt cancellation and debt forgiveness include all enterprises of all economic sectors, state-owned enterprises, enterprises with foreign investment capital, non-state enterprises, individual business households, not just state-owned enterprises.

Red River