Is tax evasion a criminal offense?

Reply:

According to Article 200 of the 2025 Penal Code, points a and b of Clause 47, Article 1 of the Law amending the 2017 Penal Code define the crime of tax evasion as follows:

- Any person who commits one of the tax evasion acts with an amount from VND 100,000,000 to less than VND 300,000,000, or less than VND 100,000,000 but has already been penalized for administrative violations related to tax evasion or has been convicted of this crime or one of the crimes stipulated in Articles 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 202, 250, 251, 253, 254, 304, 305, 306, 309 and 311 of this Code, and whose criminal record has not been expunged and who commits the violation again, shall be fined from VND 100,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 or sentenced to imprisonment from 3 months to 1 year. year:

+ Failure to submit tax registration documents; failure to submit tax returns; submitting tax returns more than 90 days after the deadline for submitting tax returns or after the extended deadline for submitting tax returns as prescribed by law;

+ Failure to record in the accounting books any income related to determining the amount of tax payable;

+ Failure to issue invoices when selling goods or services, or recording a value on sales invoices lower than the actual payment value of the goods or services sold;

+ Using illegal invoices and documents to account for goods and raw materials as input in activities that generate tax obligations, thereby reducing the amount of tax payable or increasing the amount of tax exempted, reduced, deductible, or refunded;

+ Using illegal documents or other materials to incorrectly determine the amount of tax payable or the amount of tax refundable;

+ Making false declarations regarding exported or imported goods without submitting supplementary tax declarations after the goods have been cleared through customs, unless it falls under the cases stipulated in Articles 188 and 189 of this Code;

+ Deliberately failing to declare or making false declarations regarding taxes on exported and imported goods, unless falling under the cases stipulated in Articles 188 and 189 of this Code;

+ Colluding with the consignor to import goods, unless it falls under the cases stipulated in Articles 188 and 189 of this Code;

+ Using goods that are exempt from tax, tax-exempt, or eligible for tax relief for purposes other than those specified, without declaring the change in purpose of use to the tax authorities.

- Committing an offense falling under one of the following circumstances shall be punishable by a fine of VND 500,000,000 to VND 1,500,000,000 or imprisonment from 1 to 3 years:

+ Organized;

+ Tax evasion amount from VND 300,000,000 to less than VND 1,000,000,000;

Abusing one's position and authority;

+ Committing the crime two or more times;

+ Dangerous recidivism.

- For tax evasion involving an amount of VND 1,000,000,000 or more, the penalty is a fine ranging from VND 1,500,000,000 to VND 4,500,000,000 or imprisonment from 2 to 7 years.

- Offenders may also be fined from VND 20,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, prohibited from holding office, prohibited from practicing a profession or performing a specific job for 1 to 5 years, or have part or all of their assets confiscated.

- Commercial legal entities that commit offenses stipulated in this Article shall be punished as follows:

+ Committing one of the acts specified in Clause 1 of this Article to evade taxes with an amount from VND 200,000,000 to less than VND 300,000,000, or from VND 100,000,000 to less than VND 200,000,000 but having already been penalized for administrative violations related to tax evasion or having been convicted of this crime or one of the crimes specified in Articles 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195 and 196 of this Code, and not yet having had the criminal record expunged, and committing the violation again, shall be punishable by a fine from VND 300,000,000 to VND 1,000,000,000;

+ Committing an offense falling under one of the cases specified in points a, b, d, and e of Clause 2 of this Article shall be punishable by a fine of VND 1,000,000,000 to VND 3,000,000,000;

+ If the offense falls under the circumstances stipulated in Clause 3 of this Article, the penalty shall be a fine of VND 3,000,000,000 to VND 10,000,000,000 or suspension of operations for a period of 6 months to 3 years;

+ If the offense falls under the circumstances stipulated in Article 79 of this Code, the business shall be permanently suspended;

+ Commercial legal entities may also be fined from VND 50,000,000 to VND 200,000,000, prohibited from doing business, prohibited from operating in certain fields, or prohibited from raising capital for a period of 1 to 3 years.

Therefore, depending on the amount of tax evaded, criminal prosecution may or may not be initiated immediately. In some cases, even if the amount of tax evaded is not high enough to warrant criminal prosecution, but falls under the category of administrative penalties for tax evasion as stipulated above, criminal liability may still be pursued.