10 outstanding events of Vietnam Tax industry in 2023

Thanks to the determination and concerted efforts of the entire political system, the Tax sector successfully completed its assigned tasks, effectively supporting production and business activities, curbing inflation, and stabilizing the macroeconomy in 2023.

1. Complete the 2023 budget revenue collection target.

In 2023, anticipating the continued economic difficulties that would directly impact production and business, the General Department of Taxation proactively advised the National Assembly and the Government to issue tax support policies. Simultaneously, recognizing these as urgent and fundamental solutions, the tax sector promptly implemented these policies effectively, thereby providing timely support to help people and businesses overcome difficulties and recover and develop production and business.

The General Department of Taxation summarizes its tasks for 2023 and outlines its plans for 2024. Photo: General Department of Taxation

Regarding budget collection, the Tax sector has made efforts to overcome difficulties, proactively and flexibly deploy key groups of solutions to both contribute to "nurturing revenue sources" and determined to fulfill and exceed the assigned state budget revenue estimate. In addition to the efforts of the business community in production and business, with the proactiveness, flexibility and determination of the entire Tax sector, the total budget revenue in 2023 managed by the Tax authority as of December 20, 2023 reached VND 1,396,430 billion, reaching 101.7% of the estimate. Accordingly, the total revenue in 2023 is estimated to reach and exceed the target assigned by the National Assembly, the Government and the Ministry of Finance by about 5.5% of the estimate, nearly 96% compared to the implementation in 2022.

2. Implement tax policies to provide timely support to businesses and citizens.

The tax authorities proactively proposed and implemented policies to extend, exempt, and reduce taxes and land rent to promptly support people and businesses. Accordingly, the total scale of tax support solutions in 2023 was VND 165,026 billion, of which VND 106,946 billion was for tax and land rent extensions; VND 58,080 billion was for tax and land rent exemptions and reductions, and other packages of exemptions, reductions, and extensions. Recognizing these as urgent and fundamental solutions to support the business community and people in overcoming difficulties and recovering production and business, the tax sector promptly organized implementation, thereby providing timely support for the restoration and development of production and business, bringing benefits to the business community and people, and making a significant contribution to budget revenue, contributing to macroeconomic stability and social welfare.

The Prime Minister has signed off on the strategy for reforming the tax system until 2030. Photo: General Department of Taxation

3. Accelerate the implementation of the Tax System Reform Strategy.

Implementing the Tax System Reform Strategy to 2030 issued together with Decision No. 508/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, the General Department of Taxation has submitted to the Ministry of Finance for promulgation the Action Program to implement the Tax System Reform Strategy to 2030 and the Tax System Reform Plan to 2025. To ensure consistency, consistency and compliance with the set targets, the General Department of Taxation established a Steering Committee to implement the Tax System Reform Strategy to 2030 at the General Department of Taxation and at the Tax Departments to strengthen the advisory work for the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to coordinate and direct the implementation of tax system reform to 2030.

4. Pioneering in digital transformation.

2023 marked a significant step forward in the digital transformation of tax administration , including: the deployment of the Digital Business Map; the operation of a database analysis and electronic invoice management system based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance tax and invoice management, tightly control and prevent tax refund fraud, and quickly detect fraud cases; the digitalization of tax administration for e-commerce and digital platform businesses; and the expansion of the e-invoice program from cash registers to the use of e-invoices in the retail and petroleum business. Following two consecutive years (2021-2022), the General Department of Taxation was honored by the Ministry of Information and Communications as a leading unit in digital transformation.

Nghe An province held a dialogue with businesses after implementing electronic invoices. Photo: Nguyen Hai

5. Submit to Congress for approval a Resolution on a Global Minimum Tax Rate.

In particular, with the selection of 19 applications developed by the Tax Departments themselves, the tax sector has demonstrated that the application of IT in management is a concrete step towards achieving the goal of comprehensive digital transformation.

To ensure Vietnam's legitimate rights and interests, and to build trust among multinational corporations in continuing to expand investment in Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance assigned the General Department of Taxation to lead research on impact assessment and referencing international experience to develop a global minimum tax policy . On November 29, 2023, at the 6th session of the 15th National Assembly, it was officially approved. Resolution No. 107/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly on the application of supplementary corporate income tax under the global tax base erosion prevention provisions (global minimum tax).

This is a necessary step, and with its implementation from January 1, 2024, Vietnam affirms its position and right to tax, contributing to strengthening international integration and bringing its tax system closer to international practices.

Honoring and rewarding individuals and organizations with outstanding achievements in fulfilling their budgetary obligations in 2023. Photo: General Department of Taxation

6. Supporting and honoring taxpayers who strive to overcome difficulties and make significant contributions to the state budget.

Implementing the motto "Taxpayers are the center of service", the entire Tax sector has developed additional propaganda and support methods based on digital platforms to expand access to taxpayers. In particular, in the face of prolonged economic difficulties, the Tax sector nationwide has promptly honored and commended thousands of businesses and entrepreneurs who have made efforts to overcome difficulties, strictly comply with tax laws and have made great contributions to the State budget.

Nghe An export businesses speak at a tax dialogue forum with the Nghe An Customs Department. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Along with the announcement of the list of 1,000 enterprises paying the largest corporate income tax in Vietnam, the General Department of Taxation held a conference to commend outstanding enterprises with great contributions to the State budget in the period of 2020-2022. The timely commendation of enterprises and entrepreneurs not only shows the tax authority's respect for the contributions of the business community to the cause of budget collection, but also creates a spread, leading other enterprises to strive to improve and comply with tax laws and policies.

7. Tax collection in the field of e-commerce and digital platform businesses.

The Tax sector continues to achieve many results in tax management for e-commerce activities and foreign-invested enterprises. Statistics show that up to now, 74 foreign-invested enterprises have registered, declared and paid taxes via the Foreign-invested Enterprises Portal. The total amount of tax paid by foreign-invested enterprises is VND 8,096 billion, of which VND 6,896 billion was declared and paid directly via the Portal and VND 1,200 billion was deducted and paid on behalf of Vietnamese parties.

Regarding the E-commerce Portal, by the end of 2023, 357 e-commerce trading floors had provided information. The tax declarations of enterprises and individuals doing business on e-commerce trading floors in 2023 increased compared to the same period in 2022. In 2023, e-commerce revenue for domestic organizations and individuals reached 536.5 billion VND. At the same time, the Tax authority has collected and handled violations against 179 enterprises and 1,061 individuals doing business on e-commerce trading floors, with an amount of about 275 billion VND. To continue strengthening tax management, in 2024, the General Department of Taxation will continue to provide unified guidance on receiving and processing information from domestic e-commerce trading floors.

The tax sector has achieved initial success with e-commerce activities. Photo: General Department of Taxation.

8. Effectively utilize the Electronic Invoice System to combat invoice trading, and apply risk management to enhance the effectiveness of preventing revenue loss to the state budget.

To continue improving the effectiveness of the work of preventing State budget revenue loss, the General Department of Taxation has researched and issued regulations and procedures for tax management according to the risk mechanism. The General Department of Taxation has issued Decision No. 18/QD-TCT dated January 12, 2023 on the Procedure for applying risk management in tax management; Decision No. 86/QD-TCT dated February 8, 2023 on the Procedure for collecting and exploiting information for risk management; Decision No. 575/QD-TCT dated May 10, 2023 on the Procedure for applying risk management to assess and identify taxpayers with signs of risk in invoice management and use. With the synchronous issuance of risk management mechanisms and improving the effectiveness of preventing State budget revenue loss, the General Department of Taxation has taken a big step forward in risk management for organizations, enterprises, households and business individuals.

9. Reform administrative procedures and implement a centralized data management application for personnel management throughout the tax sector.

The Tax sector has promoted the implementation of comprehensive and effective administrative procedure reform, creating a favorable, fair and transparent production and business environment for the business community. Up to now, the number of administrative procedures has continued to be reduced from 304 to 235 procedures and has been publicly updated on the National Public Service Portal and on the Tax authority's portals/websites.

Implementing the Project on developing applications of population data, identification and electronic authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period of 2022-2025, with a vision to 2030 according to Decision No. 06/QD-TTg dated January 6, 2022 of the Prime Minister, the General Department of Taxation has promoted coordination with the Ministry of Public Security to standardize personal tax code information and population database to unify the use of personal identification codes as tax codes.

To unify the centralized data management of personnel work in the entire industry, the General Department of Taxation has deployed the application of digital records to facilitate management and unify the database serving the direction and operation of the organization, staffing, training, rotation, transfer, and change of positions of officials, civil servants, and public employees in the entire industry.

The Tax Department is determined to implement electronic invoicing for retail gasoline and diesel sales. Photo: Nguyen Hai

10. Vietnam is the 147th member of the Multilateral Agreement on Tax Administration Assistance.

On March 22, 2023 in Paris, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) held a signing ceremony for the Multilateral Agreement on Mutual Tax Administrative Assistance (MAAC) with Vietnam. MAAC was jointly developed by the OECD and the European Council (EC) in 1988 and amended by the 2010 Protocol to extend to non-OECD and non-EU member countries to sign MAAC.

This is currently the most comprehensive multilateral international legal framework, encompassing all forms of international cooperation in tax administration to address tax evasion, tax avoidance, and other forms of non-compliance, thereby enhancing international cooperation in the exchange of tax information.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/10-su-kien-noi-bat-cua-nganh-thue-viet-nam-nam-2023-post282278.html