Difficulty in collecting mineral resource tax

(Baonghean) - Mineral exploitation activities in Nghe An are quite active, bringing in large revenues for businesses and contributing to the state budget. However, many difficulties in management have limited revenue sources. Minerals are still "flowing" away, and tax and resource fee losses have been and are occurring.

Debt and tax loss

Quy Hop district has over 240 enterprises, most of which are engaged in mineral exploitation and processing. For many years, the field of mineral resource tax collection has been very difficult. Mr. Tran Minh Duc - Head of Quy Hop Tax Department said: The total mineral resource tax debt of enterprises in Quy Hop from 2005 to October 2016 is over 29 billion VND. In 2016, the district handled and collected over 10 billion VND.

For example, some enterprises have long-standing debts such as: An Thai Minerals Company Limited (Chau Hong Commune) owes over 9 billion VND, Dat Viet Mineral Exploitation Company owes over 1.4 billion VND, Pha Le Minerals Joint Stock Company owes 400 million VND... The reason for the high arrears of resource tax in Quy Hop, according to the District Tax Department, is that in recent years, due to the impact of the world economic crisis, many stone products cannot be sold, leading to the situation that many enterprises have to close down, stop operating, and owe taxes. Up to this point, there are 10 enterprises waiting for bankruptcy and are unable to pay tax debts, and 40 enterprises have stopped operating due to difficulties. Besides, there are some enterprises that deliberately delay paying taxes, or pay late.

Revenue from mineral exploitation licensing fees often accounts for a high proportion of budget revenue.

Nam Dan district currently has 8 mines, including 6 sand mines and 2 soil mines, and the collection of environmental resource tax is also facing many difficulties. Mr. Tran Dinh Thanh - Head of Nam Dan Tax Department added: The situation of tax loss in sand mining in the area is not small. Some enterprises when importing into warehouses declare less than the actual mining and selling... Up to this point, Nam Dan has only collected more than 7 billion VND in mineral tax, and owes more than 800 million VND in mineral tax.

Improve management and control capabilities

To gradually improve the collection of mineral resource tax, Quy Hop tax authority is coordinating with relevant agencies to implement many measures to collect outstanding mineral resource tax. Specifically, the tax authority coordinates with commercial banks and credit institutions to provide and exchange information on account balances; coordinates with the Finance Department and the Natural Resources and Environment Department to determine the amount of debt for mining rights and land rent of enterprises, reports to the District People's Committee for handling and making decisions to stop mining and reclaim land in cases of tax arrears, and publicly discloses tax-debt enterprises.

In 2016, Quy Hop Tax Department coordinated to enforce invalid invoices for 7 enterprises (1.6 billion VND), enforced withdrawal of money from accounts of 147 cases (more than 15 billion VND), and proposed to recover mines of 6 enterprises.

Nam Dan Tax Department has implemented solutions to reduce mineral tax losses such as: Conducting on-site inspections (electronic tax declarations of enterprises at tax offices) to determine quarterly mining output, collecting daily retail sales lists, and dialogue with enterprises. Sending official dispatches to management units to urge tax arrears. Since the beginning of 2016, the department has coordinated with functional forces to enforce invoices for 6 cases of tax arrears...

Stone processing in Chau Cuong commune (Quy Hop).

To enhance the effectiveness of resource tax management, the Tax sector has proposed many solutions such as strengthening propaganda and dissemination of tax law education; providing many forms of support and creating favorable conditions for taxpayers to declare and pay taxes; closely checking and reviewing tax declaration dossiers, thereby accurately assessing the information declared in tax dossiers such as mining output, consumption output, cost price, selling price... helping tax authorities grasp the volume and types of minerals related to determining tax obligations of enterprises; actively coordinating with relevant agencies in tax management.

At the same time, the industry requested the competent authorities of districts and cities to inspect and strictly handle mineral exploitation projects and enterprises in the area that do not declare and pay taxes and fees as prescribed. In case of non-compliance, the license will be strictly enforced, suspended or revoked.

At the same time, improve the quality of taxpayer support services so that taxpayers can access regularly, quickly, and promptly to changes in resource tax policies at each point in time, promptly resolving problems during the implementation process. Strengthen education on citizens' awareness in the economical use of natural resources, especially non-renewable resources. Improving tax control on resource exploitation will contribute to encouraging establishments and enterprises to choose appropriate investment methods in exploitation and processing technology, suitable to local conditions, limit raw exports, and increase resource value.

Van Truong