Nghe An leads in the implementation of electronic tax payment.

(Baonghean) - On March 12, 2015, the Government issued Resolution 19/NQ-CP on the main tasks and solutions to further improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness for two years (2015-2016). Accordingly, the directive for the Tax Department in 2015 was to implement electronic tax payment in all 63 provinces and cities, with the goal of having 90% of businesses paying taxes electronically by the end of 2015. In just the first five months of the year, the Nghe An Tax Department successfully passed the deadline, becoming the first unit nationwide to gradually reach the finish line.

In an interview with reporters from central and local media outlets, Mr. Vo Duy Duc, Deputy Head of the Vinh City Tax Department, stated that Vinh City manages 4,000 businesses, but all are small businesses, with 90% having actual transactions, and many others being inactive. He added that the online tax declaration process had been implemented early on, so immediately after Circular 156 stipulated online tax filing, Vinh City, taking advantage of favorable geographical conditions, implemented it even before Circular 156 came into effect. To achieve this, the Vinh City Tax Department developed a specific roadmap, setting a target of completion by July. All three inspection teams followed the roadmap and provided regular reports. The Tax Department also focused on providing guidance, especially in resolving difficulties and obstacles. "With newly established commercial bank branches and newly launched services, we provide guidance gradually. However, banks with high professionalism like Vietinbank, BIDV, and MB are much easier to manage. Therefore, we have 70% of businesses registered with the five major banks, and the remaining 30% were recently connected with seven more banks thanks to the IT Department's assistance. When businesses pay taxes, but the money transfer service to the budget is slow, it results in late payment. If the tax authorities handle this unfairly, and it's not the business's fault, businesses react negatively, significantly impacting the morale of businesses when implementing this service. Therefore, submitting a proposal to waive penalties for late payments has resolved both the psychological and practical issues," said Deputy Head of the Tax Department Vo Duy Duc.

Instructions for filing taxes electronically for businesses.

Promotetransparency

According to Deputy Director of the Nghe An Tax Department Nguyen Hong Hai, electronic tax payment not only benefits businesses but is also an important step in modernizing tax collection and payment, contributing to the goal of administrative reform in the tax sector. The tax authorities can support the processing of tax payment information quickly and accurately, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of tax management, saving human resources for banks or the State Treasury, and reducing the pressure of direct tax payment transactions at the counter – Deputy Director Nguyen Hong Hai stated.

Furthermore, the application connection program between credit institutions (especially large banks like BIDV and VietinBank) and the Tax Department is a modern program, regularly improved and upgraded, creating favorable conditions for taxpayers. In Nghe An, the provincial People's Committee has given decisive direction, in which banks must actively participate in coordinating the implementation of electronic tax payment. Deputy Director of BIDV Nghe An, Tran Minh Tinh, stated: In reality, for a bank's operations, service fees or tax payments transferred through the banking system do not bring significant immediate benefits. However, in the long run, participating in the electronic tax collection system gives banks the opportunity to expand their customer base (through account opening). Furthermore, BIDV also leverages opportunities to cross-sell banking products and services such as Business Online, payments, credit, deposits, etc. Based on this understanding, to implement the electronic tax payment service, the leadership of BIDV Nghe An issued written guidelines, organized training for staff, and directed BIDV branches with their extensive network throughout the province, staffed by professional personnel, to readily meet taxpayers' needs. BIDV offers completely free electronic tax payment services, along with other policies such as free account opening and waiver of minimum account balance requirements. BIDV also charges more favorable fees compared to regular money transfer transactions. With these efforts, after more than 9 months of coordinated implementation of electronic tax payment, BIDV Nghe An has successfully registered 670 businesses. In the first 5 months of 2015 alone, it paid taxes using the new method totaling 215 billion VND (making it the bank with the highest electronic tax payment volume in the province).

Sharing the same view, Bui Xuan Dong, Director of VietinBank Nghe An, affirmed that the implementation of electronic tax payment through banks aims not only to reduce the time and cost of procedures but also to increase transparency. The electronic tax declaration and payment system makes it more difficult for businesses to falsify documents. Regular verification between tax authorities, the State Treasury, banks, and businesses helps to enhance information transparency and improve the tax management capabilities of relevant agencies. VietinBank also pays close attention to the small and micro-enterprise segment, not just large and medium-sized enterprises. Customers who implement electronic tax payment at VietinBank will benefit from many preferential policies such as product and service packages, reduced transfer fees, and lower loan interest rates. Conversely, this service also attracts a large number of participants to use various banking services. Through businesses paying taxes electronically, the bank also gains a channel to assess the financial capacity of businesses for credit relationships or other transactions.

Importantthat's the way to do it

Sharing his experience of success, Deputy Director of the Nghe An Tax Department, Nguyen Hong Hai, stated that one of the key factors contributing to Nghe An's high achievements is the decisive leadership of the Provincial People's Committee and relevant departments in implementing Government Resolution 19 in general and improving the province's Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in particular. Tax branches with low results were required to submit explanatory reports and propose corrective measures, while the Nghe An Tax Department established a steering committee headed by a Deputy Director to aggressively implement electronic tax payment and closely monitor progress. In addition, other functional agencies such as banks and information technology agencies also coordinated seamlessly. Currently, the Nghe An Tax Department has coordinated with BIDV, VietinBank, Military Commercial Bank (MB), Agribank, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), HDBank, Vietnam International Bank (VIB), Sacombank, Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank… Deputy Director Nguyen Hong Hai said.

Hong Ha