Strengthening tax debt collection

(Baonghean) -Although the budget revenue in the first 9 months of 2013 increased compared to the same period last year, reaching 80% of the estimate assigned by the Provincial People's Council, the revenue source is still unstable. Therefore, the task of collecting the budget at the end of the year is still heavy...

In recent years, although there has been a certain development in trade and services, Yen Thanh is still a poor district, the agricultural front is still the main force, so budget collection in the area faces many difficulties. However, in the first 9 months of 2013, budget collection in Yen Thanh reached 98,997 million VND, equal to 152% of the estimate assigned by the Provincial People's Council and 94% of the estimate assigned by the District People's Council, an increase of 27% over the same period. To achieve that result, according to Mr. Phan Anh Duong - Head of Yen Thanh Tax Department, from the beginning of the year, the Department advised the District People's Committee to issue Directive No. 35/CT-UBND on strengthening budget collection in 2013, Directive No. 21 on strengthening debt collection, and official dispatches on urging budget collection. Yen Thanh has applied many measures to prevent revenue loss, inspect, and promptly detect signs of violations; Adjusting the increase, decrease, and checking construction units outside the province, and enterprises using illegal invoices. In the last 3 months of 2013, Yen Thanh still had to collect 20.5 billion VND, of which non-state industrial, commercial and service tax was 3.5 billion VND.

Officers of Vinh City Tax Department inspect a business on Le Hong Phong Street. Photo: Huu Nghia

Discussing the solutions to collect and achieve the plan assigned by the District People's Council, Mr. Phan Anh Duong added: We have prepared and assigned the budget collection estimate for the fourth quarter of 2013 so that units can proactively collect and pay the budget effectively right from the first month of the quarter; Promote debt collection and tax debt enforcement, fulfill debt collection targets, assign debt collection targets to each officer and each tax team, and combine with competitive evaluation and review. In addition, the Department closely coordinates with relevant agencies such as banks, treasury, police... to collect tax debts. We will also strengthen tax declaration inspection, focusing on large enterprises with signs of violations.

In Nam Dan district, the economic recession in recent years has deeply affected local enterprises, mainly those operating in the construction sector (nearly 40 construction enterprises). The tax arrears of both enterprises and business households are still high. In addition, the authorities of some communes have not really paid attention to their commune's revenue sources, leading to limited budget collection results.

In that situation, Nam Dan Tax Department organized "Taxpayer Listening Week" (June 2013) and received more than 70 opinions from taxpayers; many enterprises have committed to pay tax debts. Mr. Vuong Dinh Chinh - Head of Nam Dan Tax Department said: In addition to organizing dialogues with taxpayers, the Department also coordinates with departments, branches and People's Committees of communes and towns to manage enterprises from other provinces and districts constructing works in the area. Advise the District People's Committee to strictly manage households exploiting sand and gravel on Lam River, and put them under management to collect natural resource tax and environmental protection fees. However, the budget revenue in the first 9 months of the year only reached 28.7 billion VND, equal to 66% of the plan. Tax inspection and examination work in Nam Dan also only reached 52%.

In Vinh City, budget collection is also facing difficulties. Even in Hong Son Ward - a ward that is proactive in revenue sources, budget collection consultation still takes place every year with households, but with the economic downturn, budget collection is not easy. Mr. Trinh Viet Tinh - Head of the Inter-ward Tax Team, Hong Son Commune - Vinh Tan - Doi Cung said: In 2012, Hong Son Ward collected more than 7 billion VND in budget, in the first 8 months of 2013, it collected 4.3 billion VND. The ward has 600 business households, many of which pay high taxes such as those trading in gold, silver, and construction materials. To collect taxes, from the beginning of the year, the team must negotiate with each business household.

According to the statistics, as of early October 2013, the whole province had 818 enterprises closing their tax codes; more than 1,179 enterprises that had stopped operating were in the process of closing their tax codes and had not made any declarations (accounting for nearly 15% of the total number of operating enterprises and 42% of the enterprises that had to submit monthly VAT declarations). In addition, each month, 10% - 15% of enterprises declaring taxes had tax declarations of zero (no revenue, expenses, or taxes). Some branches had to send official dispatches to enterprises requesting quarterly declarations, because every month they saw tax declarations of zero.

To overcome these difficulties, Nghe An Tax Department has implemented many synchronous solutions to achieve the highest revenue results. In the first 9 months of the year, the whole province collected 3,994.4 billion VND, equal to 86% of the ordinance estimate, 80% of the People's Council estimate and increased by 23% compared to the same period; Domestic revenue minus land use fees reached 3,652 billion VND, increased by 26% compared to the same period in 2012.

The main reason for the tax increase in the first 9 months of 2013 was due to the revenue from VAT in June 2012 and corporate income tax which were extended for payment in 2013; some construction projects from previous years were disbursed in 2013; some new companies came into operation such as Hua Na Hydropower Company, Khe Bo Hydropower Company... The most encouraging thing was that the revenue from non-state industry, trade and services in the first 9 months reached 1,773.9 billion VND, reaching 81% of the People's Council's estimate, up 28% over the same period.

The Tax Department's leaders said: To exceed the 2013 budget collection plan, the Tax sector has strengthened measures to urge debt collection and enforce tax debt collection to limit new large debts, collect over 80% of recoverable debts; Issue 100% of tax payment notices, tax arrears, fines for debts from 31-90 days...; Strictly implement penalties for late payment, enforce debt collection; Coordinate with the State Treasury when paying for construction investment capital; Conduct review, verification, and inspection of enterprises exporting to Laos with tax refunds...

In the coming time, it is forecasted that the economic situation will continue to be difficult, inventories will increase; revenue collection in key areas of the province such as Vinh City, Quy Hop... will still be difficult, and revenue from industry and construction will decrease. Therefore, in addition to strictly managing revenue sources, it is still necessary to correctly assess revenue to find solutions to nurture revenue sources in the coming year.

Chau Lan