Nghe An: Difficulty in collecting tax on transportation business
(Baonghean) - According to the Tax Department's report, in Nghe An province, the Tax Department manages and sets up more than 5,000 transportation business households with an average annual revenue of 60 billion VND. However, transportation business tax is still in deficit.
Long-term debt
Quynh Luu district currently has thousands of vehicles operating in the transport business. Although the local government and forces of Quynh Luu district have recently propagated and required vehicle owners to pay taxes in full, there are still many localities where tax debts have been outstanding for many years, and are even difficult to collect.
The most typical example is in Tan Son commune, where there are more than 150 vehicles, of which 55 are in arrears with transport business tax. As of the end of May 2019, transport business households in Tan Son commune still owe nearly 1 billion VND in tax, of which the amount of tax that is difficult to collect is nearly 300 million VND.
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| Despite tax arrears, dozens of transport vehicles in Tan Son commune still operate at night. (Photo taken early morning June 7, 2019). Photo. VH |
Some localities have large total transport business tax debts such as Quynh Chau commune 708 million VND, Tan Son commune 704 million VND, Quynh Minh commune 692 million VND, Quynh Van commune 658 million VND, Quynh Nghia commune 604 million VND...
For Dien Chau district, one of the localities with quite vibrant transportation business activities, up to this point the whole district has over 800 cars operating in the transportation business.
Since 2002, thanks to the tax inspection teams at the Motor Vehicle Inspection Center, the collection of transport business tax in Dien Chau has been quite favorable. However, since April 2016, when these organizations no longer operate, the collection of private transport tax has encountered many difficulties.
The department currently manages taxes for 450 vehicle owners/800 vehicles. Every year, the district only collects about 2 billion VND in transportation business tax. The remaining 350 vehicles cannot be managed.
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| The interdisciplinary team inspected vehicles in Tan Son commune and made records of tax arrears. Photo: Viet Hung - Le Nhung. |
Enforcing cases of transport business tax debt is very difficult, specifically enforcing tax debt by means of withdrawing money from accounts, deducting part of salary and income, enforcing by means of collecting money and other assets of the subject of enforcement held by other organizations and individuals. When sending documents to collect and verify information, these cases do not have accounts or have accounts but do not transact at commercial banks.
A synchronous solution is needed.
Since the beginning of June 2019, the interdisciplinary inspection team for tax arrears collection has coordinated with the Traffic Police Team of Quynh Luu District Police to arrange forces to guard at the intersection towards Tan Son and Quynh Tam communes to handle vehicles with tax arrears. On June 7 alone, the authorities continuously stopped vehicles at the checkpoint to check and required vehicle owners to pay over 100 million VND in transport business tax before being allowed to circulate.
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| The interdisciplinary inspection team of Quynh Luu district visited each household to request that they fulfill their tax obligations. Photo: Viet Hung |
There are many reasons for tax debt in transport business, including cases of business losses, authorized tax collectors not reporting tax debt in time; many cases of loss-making businesses selling vehicles but not sending documents to the Tax Department to temporarily stop paying taxes.
To strictly manage taxes in the transportation business sector, Dien Chau District Tax Department has established an interdisciplinary team to prevent budget loss and urge the collection of tax arrears in 2019.
The team is responsible for inspecting, urging, and supporting communes, towns, and inter-commune tax teams to handle and collect value added tax from households with outstanding debts, especially those in the transportation business.
The district requires the interdisciplinary team to resolutely handle the case by temporarily confiscating vehicle documents to handle tax evasion. The interdisciplinary team can inspect business establishments and business households in compliance with regulations on business registration, invoices, and documents for goods circulating in the district.
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| Many truck owners in Dien Chau district are in tax debt. Photo: Viet Hung |
To prevent loss of transport tax, the tax authority advised the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to establish an interdisciplinary team to collect tax debts. The interdisciplinary team has carried out many forms of propaganda and mobilization for business households that do not register, declare, or delay paying tax debts. It used loudspeakers to notify business households that still owe taxes, posted the list of business households that still owe taxes on the bulletin boards of communes and wards; invited business households to come directly to the People's Committees of communes and wards to work.
To prevent loss of transport business tax, it is necessary to have coordination and participation of relevant levels and sectors. In particular, the Provincial Tax Department needs to have regulations to coordinate with the Department of Transport on tax management for means of transport in granting circulation permits and technical safety inspections for vehicle owners, to facilitate the collection of transport tax.
