Nghe An: Strengthening tax management of e-commerce business
(Baonghean.vn) - Identified by the Ministry of Industry and Trade as one of the eight key provinces for e-commerce, in recent times, along with actively inspecting inspection activities and fighting against commercial fraud, Nghe An has been proactively implementing solutions to strengthen tax management for this activity.
TAKE ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT
As early as July 2020, when Decree No. 126/2020 dated October 19, 2020 was issued (effective from December 5, 2020), Nghe An province issued Document No. 4232/UBND-KT on strengthening tax management for e-commerce business activities.
Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Information and Communications, Tax Department, Provincial Police, Market Management Department and State Bank of Vietnam, Nghe An branch, to survey and grasp the e-commerce business situation to have solutions for coordination, propaganda, direction and inspection to rectify unfair commercial activities.
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| Market management forces inspect a stall doing e-commerce business via social networks in Do Luong. |
In fact, after the above Directive, the Department of Industry and Trade coordinated with the Department of E-commerce - Ministry of Industry and Trade to grasp the situation and provide the Tax Department with information on the e-commerce situation. Accordingly, the whole province currently has 438 e-commerce websites for sale, 6 e-commerce trading floor websites, 1 mobile application of legal organizations and individuals registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade according to regulations.
Recently, right after Decree 126 on strengthening tax management took effect from December 5, 2020, based on reviewing data on enterprises managed by the Tax Department, the Tax Department's specialized department sent to the businesses' emails information related to the new points of Decree 126, especially tax management activities for e-commerce, revenue generated through online trading on social networking platforms such as YouTube, Facebook or Zalo... can all be subject to tax. Notably, among the new points of Decree 126, there is a provision allowing the Tax sector to monitor if it is discovered that the account owner has online sales revenue but does nottax returnthen ask the bank to provide information.
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| Traditional shopping at supermarkets and markets has decreased as online shopping gradually replaces it. Photo: NH |
Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang - Head of General Affairs and Budgeting Department, Nghe An Provincial Tax Department said: In the immediate future, the Tax Department has sent an email about the spirit of Decree 126 to all businesses generating tax revenue and e-commerce sites and trading floors provided by the Department of Industry and Trade. In the near future, the Tax Department will organize training conferences and periodic tax policy dialogues with businesses and assign branches to organize the integration of Decree 126 and the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Taxation on this content.
CHALLENGES
E-commerce business, online buying and selling has become a popular trend of modern commodity trading. Not only that, e-commerce has the advantage of not having to pay too much for renting premises, warehouses, the cost of sales management is light to the minimum, sellers only use social network space as their own booth, flexible space and can even avoid taxes and fees, so the selling price is cheap and very competitive compared to traditional commercial goods.
However, as Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hieu - Head of Financial Planning Department (Department of Industry and Trade) said: The key point of e-commerce is mainly payment through bank applications, it is not possible to pay directly so both parties must open an account (the delivery stage is usually done by a third party), so the Tax industry can get information from the credit channel.
Mr. Vuong Dinh Chinh - Head of Propaganda Support Department, Nghe An Tax Department said: It is extremely necessary for localities to propose and the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Government a draft to amend and supplement the tax management policy according to Decree 126/2020. The problem is to have effective implementation solutions, accordingly, on the one hand, when the Tax Department has a basis to request, the banks must provide information on account numbers and transaction quantities so that the Tax Department can grasp the situation as a basis for tax management.
To implement this regulation, the General Department of Taxation has committed to keeping information confidential and only responsible and authorized persons will be requested and only customer accounts with unusual revenue transactions will be considered. In addition to the above content, to manage taxes on e-commerce activities, another channel that authorities need a legal corridor to manage is the delivery stage.
Currently, the number of counterfeit, fake and poor quality goods of unknown origin delivered through express delivery channels is quite large, when packaged, they are protected by the Law on Post and Telecommunications, so it is difficult for authorities to check and detect (except for prohibited goods). Therefore, the market management sector needs to develop regulations and mechanisms to check and monitor goods right from the packaging stage at the trading floor to detect tax-evading goods early.
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| Nghe An Tax Department trains tax professionals. Photo: Lam Tung |
The Provincial People's Committee's directive on strengthening tax management has just been implemented, so it will take some time to evaluate the results. However, Decree 126 allowing the Tax sector the right to request banks to provide information about e-commerce business account holders is a big step forward, creating a legal basis for tax authorities to have solutions to limit tax losses.
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