It's a shame to give up, but it's too exhausting to continue.
For over four months now, Ms. QP and her husband ( from Hanoi ) have been unable to complete the personal income tax refund procedures to receive over 10 million VND. Her husband has a registered permanent address in Ho Chi Minh City but is temporarily residing in Hanoi. All four income-paying agencies are located in Hanoi, specifically in the districts of Dong Da, Thanh Xuan, and Long Bien.
"From what I understand, you can file a tax refund application with the tax authority where you are temporarily registered or where your income is paid. However, the first time I submitted the application to the Thanh Xuan District Tax Office, where my temporary residence is registered, they said that since my permanent residence is in Ho Chi Minh City, I have to submit it there."
When I submitted my application to Ho Chi Minh City, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department returned it, citing the reason that since the income payment source is in Hanoi, the application must be submitted to the Hanoi tax authority for tax refund processing.
"We submitted the documents to the Thanh Xuan District Tax Office and were instructed to send them to the Long Bien District Tax Office – the area where my husband has a formal employment contract (at other income-paying agencies, he only has a freelance contract). Even after sending them to the Long Bien District Tax Office, they were still returned. We had to send the documents via email many times as instructed by the tax authorities, and each time the documents were rejected for a different reason," Ms. QP recounted the tax refund process with a weary voice.
According to Ms. QP, declaring taxes on the eTax Mobile system is quite simple; after just one instruction from the accountant, she can do it herself. She has processed tax refunds in previous years without any problems, and in one year received over 30 million VND in tax refunds.
However, this year, even though all four sources of income for her husband have sufficient tax payment confirmations and the data matches the tax system, the procedures have still not been completed for months.
"I'm so frustrated. If I don't go through the tax refund process, I lose money, and it's a shame because that money is the result of my hard work. If I don't fulfill my tax declaration and payment obligations, I'll be fined, but when I'm eligible for a refund, they don't give it to me, and I don't get any penalty at all," Ms. QP complained.
Similarly, Mr. TC (Hanoi) is also struggling to figure out how to get his more than 10 million VND personal income tax refund because he cannot gather enough information from the paying agencies.
“I checked the eTax system to see how many entities were issuing tax-deductible invoices to me, so I could obtain the necessary documents as required by the tax authorities. However, I discovered one entity that appeared out of nowhere, unlike any I had ever worked with. Some people said that perhaps my tax identification number had been stolen by some entity and they were using it for their own purposes,” Mr. TC shared, adding that “there is no way to trace it.”
"According to regulations, I need to obtain all the necessary documents from all the paying entities before my tax refund application can be approved. I'm looking for a service to help me, but I haven't found anyone yet. I might have to give up on the idea of receiving a tax refund because it will probably take months to complete all the paperwork. It would be less tiring to spend that time working and earning an equivalent amount," Mr. TC said with frustration.
We need to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
According to current regulations, the personal income tax refund application dossier must include: a written request for personal income tax refund; a personal income tax return; and proof of personal income tax withholding.
Therefore, when taxpayers have income from multiple sources, it takes a considerable amount of time to gather all the necessary tax deduction documents.
Ms. QP and Mr. TC are not isolated cases of individuals facing difficulties when processing personal income tax refunds.
In Ho Chi Minh City, during the first six months of 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department received 174,478 applications for personal income tax refunds, but more than 20,000 applications still lacked a final resolution, including over 10,584 applications that did not meet the eligibility criteria for a refund.
The Ministry of Finance has identified several reasons for delays in processing personal income tax refunds, including: taxpayers submitting tax returns to the wrong tax authority, under-declaring taxable income, incorrectly declaring the period for dependent deductions or declaring dependents who do not meet the eligibility criteria for deductions, and under-declaring mandatory insurance contributions... The errors are largely due to the taxpayers themselves.
Associate Professor Dr. Le Xuan Truong, Head of the Tax and Customs Department, Academy of Finance, stated: To alleviate difficulties for taxpayers when claiming personal income tax refunds, the root causes of these difficulties must be thoroughly addressed.
On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen communication to ensure taxpayers understand legal regulations, correctly determine taxable income and deductions when filing tax returns, and minimize cases of incorrect declarations.
Since 2023, the tax authorities have deployed the eTax Mobile application on mobile phones, allowing taxpayers to look up income information and the amount of tax paid. The tax authorities need to strengthen communication, guidance, and support for taxpayers in using this application for tax declaration, tax settlement, and personal income tax refunds, thereby avoiding risks when filing.
In addition, tax authorities need to strengthen the application of information technology to facilitate the electronic processing, approval of documents, and decision-making regarding tax refunds, thereby accelerating the tax refund process for taxpayers.
"In the long term, legal regulations need to be amended to reduce the number of personal income tax refund applications."
"Once the paying organization has declared and settled taxes on payments to individuals through the electronic tax declaration system, the personal income tax withholding certificate should be removed from the tax refund application dossier," Associate Professor Dr. Le Xuan Truong recommended.
TH (according to Vietnamnet)Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/gian-nan-xin-hoan-thue-thu-nhap-ca-nhan-bo-thi-mat-tien-theo-thi-qua-met-391296.html
