The personal income tax settlement nightmare.

Cumbersome, complicated, and confusing administrative procedures have led to a deadlock in personal income tax settlement, causing frustration among many due to the excessive time and effort wasted.

Seven attempts at online settlement still failed.

Mr. Xuan Cuong (Hoang Mai district, Hanoi ) said that he has two sources of irregular income subject to tax. After receiving guidance from the accounting department of his agency, he collected invoices and documents for these two sources from the paying entities. Mr. Cuong submitted his tax return online through the eTax service, thinking it would save time and allow him to quickly finalize his tax return.

However, Mr. Cuong submitted his application seven times without success. " The irony is that when I submitted the application, the system reported it as successful. But after 24 hours, the application was returned without any reason, leaving me unsure how to correct or complete my application properly. I'm very frustrated because each time I register for tax purposes, it takes a lot of time and goes through many steps. Having to go through such difficulties to fulfill my legal rights and obligations during tax settlement is truly unfair and frustrating for citizens," Mr. Cuong said.

Many people have tried filing their taxes online numerous times without success.

According to Mr. Cuong, he also went directly to the Hoang Mai District Tax Office to inquire about his case. However, after listening to the tax officer's explanation, he still didn't know where he had gone wrong because the procedure was too confusing.

"Unable to pursue the case further, I had to accept the fine for late tax payment and give up the 10 million VND tax refund that the local authorities had previously disbursed," Cường shared dejectedly.

Mr. Pham Hong Le (Hoang Mai District, Hanoi) has an occasional income of 1.2 million VND. After receiving guidance from the accounting department of his company, Mr. Le checked and found that this amount was displayed on eTax but had not yet been taxed by the paying entity. Therefore, he must finalize his tax return to receive the personal income tax refund of 12 million VND due to family allowance deductions.

Mr. Le stated that the tax authorities require invoices and supporting documents for any incidental income. Therefore, he contacted the entity paying the incidental income to obtain an invoice. However, even after the accounting department confirmed the documents were valid, Mr. Le was still unable to complete the online application process.

"I submitted my tax return five times, and every few days I received a notification from the tax authorities stating that the application was unsuccessful because the taxpayer's bank account did not exist in the tax registration. However, I asked the company's accountant to check carefully, and it's clear that my account is still active and all my income is received and disbursed from that account," Mr. Le wondered.

According to Mr. Le, simply because of an irregular income of 1.2 million VND that could not be settled, he now has to pay back 12 million VND in tax refunds due to family allowance deductions, pay personal income tax of 120,000 VND (10% of the irregular income), and pay a fine of over 200,000 VND for late tax payment.

" For every dollar collected, ten dollars are lost, and I end up feeling frustrated. In my opinion, this is due to the complexity of tax procedures, not the fault of the people, because I have been very conscientious about paying taxes and have tried every way to pay them but without success," he lamented.

Businesses are also facing difficulties.

Ms. Tran Thu Trang, an accountant at a public administrative unit, said that there are currently overlapping regulations regarding tax settlement for individuals.

"In my agency, there's an employee who earned income from another company, Unit A, for 5 months. For 4 of those months, the income was 10 million VND, and Unit A collected 10% tax on 4 million VND. However, for the remaining month, the employee only earned 1 million VND, which, according to regulations, is not subject to tax, so Unit A did not collect the tax."

"When my agency was processing the tax return for this individual, because Party A did not collect the full 10% of the total 41 million VND, the employee was not allowed to authorize us to handle the tax return; the employee had to do it themselves," she said.

For example, someone might have a regular monthly income of 1.9 million VND. According to regulations, this income is not subject to tax. However, at the end of the year, when settling taxes, the tax authorities will collect 10% of the entire year's income, which is 10% of 22.8 million VND. Clearly, this income is not subject to taxation, yet they still end up paying over 2.2 million VND in taxes.

"The regulations are contradictory. But if they don't file their tax returns, employees will have to pay fines for filing and late payments, which costs a lot of money," Ms. Trang said.

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu, a senior tax expert and lecturer at the University of Business and Technology, also commented that the tax filing procedures are now too cumbersome.

"Even I, who have worked at the tax office for decades, find it difficult to go through the procedures for filing personal income tax returns, let alone ordinary citizens who know nothing about it. I have never seen the tax sector have so many cumbersome procedures regarding tax settlement, tax collection, and tax refunds for citizens as it does now," Mr. Tú affirmed.

Tax settlement is currently difficult due to overlapping regulations. (Illustrative image)

According to Mr. Tu, the number of personal income taxpayers is continuously increasing and has reached over 10 million people, leading to difficulties in the management work of tax authorities. In addition, many people now work in multiple organizations besides their main job, such as teachers teaching at several schools or accountants working in multiple businesses, which makes tax filing and settlement increasingly complicated.

However, the main reason why people have difficulty filing their tax returns is that they do not receive clear and detailed guidance from the tax authorities. Most people have little experience with filing their own personal income tax returns, so they lack the expertise to complete the process accurately and efficiently.

Mr. Tú argued that this is also the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance , the General Department of Taxation, and other tax authorities. These units must provide clear and concise guidance on policies and mechanisms to the people, helping them understand the essence of the issue and the procedures involved.

Additionally, consideration could be given to the tax authorities automatically refunding taxes to citizens electronically, instead of requiring citizens to file complex returns and submit complicated documents to receive refunds.

"Electronic invoices and identification numbers have already been provided to the tax authorities, making it easier for the tax sector to control and process tax refunds for citizens. As for the procedures, the tax authorities must proactively handle them."

Why is it so quick to ask people to pay taxes, but why are tax refunds so complicated and cumbersome? All the tax data is already available, from income, salary, other income, deductions, provisional payments, etc. Tax refunds for income earners should be automated to reduce administrative procedures and support citizens.

"Don't let tax collection be easy, but refunds be difficult. If the tax authorities don't provide specific guidance, causing people to repeatedly make incorrect declarations, they will become discouraged and give up on tax refunds, and then the tax authorities will easily be accused of over-collection," Mr. Tú stated.

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