2303 ta

Vietnam’s tax authority has announced a plan to inspect at least 18 percent of businesses around the country this year, a move that is expected to uncover violations and arrears and may bring more than VND10 trillion (US$441.32 million) to the state budget.

Companies which claim massive tax refunds and those which operate in the sectors of e-commerce and multi-level marketing will be among the main targets of the General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance.

Last year the department inspected nearly 79,300 businesses and collected more than VND12.35 trillion ($545 million), according to official figures.

Vietnam had more than 400,000 businesses last year, according to local media reports.

Now that its main income from crude exports has been sharply reduced by the world oil price slump, Vietnam’s government has been offsetting the losses by tightening the collection of taxes and fees.

At a meeting at the end of last month, Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Tuan Anh asked local tax offices to boost their collections so taxes and fees will attribute to more than 80 percent of the state revenue in 2016-20, instead of 70 percent like before.

The tax department is expected to collect VND809.5 trillion ($35.72 billion) this year, slightly bigger than the estimate of VND806.37 trillion last year, Bui Van Nam, chief of the department, cited a government plan as saying at the meeting.

Vietnam’s state budget deficit was capped at 4.95 percent of GDP this year, almost equal to last year’s estimate of 5 percent.

Source thanhniennews.com