Tax debt management is increasingly clear and transparent.
Talking to reporters about the current tax debt situation, as well as the current tax debt management, Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc - President of the Vietnam Tax Consulting Association, former Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation said that the tax debt management work of the tax sector is currently becoming increasingly clear and transparent.
PV:The debt management and tax debt enforcement work has been carried out very vigorously by the Tax sector in recent times. From an expert's perspective, how do you evaluate the current debt management work of the Tax sector?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc:Debt collection is a very important task of the Tax Department. To ensure correct, full and timely collection to the state budget, while ensuring fairness between enterprises that comply with tax laws and policies and enterprises that are slow to pay taxes, the Tax Department has recently strengthened debt management and tax debt enforcement. The goal is to have the total amount of tax debt not exceed 5% of total budget revenue.
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Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc, Chairwoman of Vietnam Tax Consultants Association. Photo: Internet |
Currently, the amount of tax debt arising from the total budget revenue tends to increase. As explained by the General Department of Taxation, the reason is due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic causing difficulties for businesses. In addition, some taxpayers are eligible for an extension, but have not yet submitted an extension request, according to Decree 34/2022/ND-CP. Therefore, the total amount of tax debt is currently higher than the set target of 5% of the total state budget revenue.
It must be said that currently, the Tax sector has many measures to recover tax debts. One of the measures is to analyze the actual debt. When analyzing, we will know which debts are recoverable, which debts are disputed, complained about, which debts are irrecoverable, which debts are late payment, late penalties, etc.
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In the first 9 months of 2022, the tax authority has handled debt settlement and tax debt cancellation... estimated at 2,405 billion VND. Photo: Internet |
Through the classification of specific debts, the tax authority has taken measures to handle each debt. For example, if the debt is in dispute, there will be measures to notify and meet with the taxpayer so that both parties can review the debts to analyze the total amount of the disputed debt, how much is actually correct, how much is incorrect and how much data needs to be corrected so that both parties can agree.
As for debts that are allowed to be frozen or written off according to Resolution 94/2019/QH14 of the National Assembly, in 2022, the General Department of Taxation has directed localities to provide guidance on debt settlement; deployed to tax departments to handle debt collection...; at the same time, implemented training sessions, direct and online guidance on debt management, frozen and written off debts. I think that the Tax sector has made great efforts to reduce tax debt as set out in the target.
PV:According to you, are the solutions being implemented by the Tax sector scientific, clear and distinct?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc:To reduce tax debt, the General Department of Taxation continues to require tax departments to analyze actual tax debt. Debts are divided according to each revenue and tax type, such as land revenue, corporate income tax, value added tax, personal income tax, etc. At the same time, tax arrears are also divided according to economic sectors: state-owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises, enterprises of other economic sectors, individual business households to have appropriate measures and methods of handling each tax type, each type of enterprise, entrepreneur, etc. It can be seen that the debt handling measures of the tax sector are increasingly transparent and much better.
Public disclosure of tax arrears to the media
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc, currently, according to the debt reconciliation process based on the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration, debt collection management is closer and more rigorous; tax authorities review and compare outstanding debts with each enterprise, this is a step to manage tax debts more closely and closely with each type of outstanding tax, as well as each enterprise with tax debts in the area managed by the provincial and municipal tax authorities. In addition to honoring organizations and individuals who fulfill their tax obligations well, cases of law violations are strictly handled, including regulations for taxpayers who deliberately delay or owe taxes, the tax authorities are allowed to publicly announce tax debts on mass media.
PV:In order for the total tax debt by December 31, 2022 not to exceed 5% of the total budget revenue in 2022, what solutions does the Tax sector need to implement, Madam?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc:In my personal opinion, firstly, it is necessary to separate irrecoverable debt and debt being processed according to Resolution 94. Second, late payment penalties must be partially separated, because at the time the taxpayer was not subject to debt cancellation, but when the Covid-19 situation was difficult, even the enterprise was no longer operating, then that debt had to be frozen for processing, those amounts were also separated for consideration, proposed to freeze debt, and the debts that actually arose from January 1, 2022 to this point were also separated into bad debt due to difficulties of the enterprise due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and recoverable debt.
In addition to the subjects whose debts are deferred or written off, there are also subjects whose land rent and taxes are delayed according to the specific time of occurrence. Up to this point, how much tax has the enterprise paid, what amounts and taxes have not been collected...
Some other tax debts such as taxes on granting mining rights, resources, etc. are also suspended. Many projects have determined to notify the collection of mining rights, recording the debt to the State budget to be collected, but the project is shelved, cannot be exploited, so the tax debt for granting rights is still recorded as receivable, but in reality it has not arisen. In these cases, it is necessary to separate the specifics and in essence, there is no debt to the State budget. From there, the Tax sector proposes the possibility of debt recovery, making the picture of tax debt more specific and healthier in debt collection and tax debt management.
PV:Thank you!
