Tight control of value added tax refund

Accordingly, regarding the inspection work to resolve VAT refund dossiers, the General Department of Taxation requires Tax Departments to promote the exploitation and synthesis of information from the existing information technology application system of the Industry and information received from third parties (Customs, Banks,...) to conduct inspection and supervision of tax refunds in accordance with the provisions of law.

For files classified for pre-refund inspection, the Tax Department shall organize the assignment and implementation of the inspection of tax refund files immediately upon receipt of the files. During the inspection process, if there is a force majeure reason that prevents the inspection from continuing, the Head of the Inspection Team shall report to the person issuing the Inspection Decision to issue a Notice of temporary suspension of inspection.

The General Department of Taxation stated that if the tax refund settlement period has passed without a response from the competent authority, the Tax Department will issue a document urging and requesting the competent authority to comment on the reasons for not being able to provide information; to complete the inspection on time and settle the tax refund dossier according to regulations.

In case an enterprise subject to an approved inspection and examination plan at the taxpayer's headquarters has a tax refund application subject to pre-refund inspection, the Tax Department shall prioritize the inspection of the tax refund application, arrange and organize resources to implement the plan in accordance with the regulations on tax inspection and examination, regulations on tax refund settlement in the Tax Administration Law No. 38/2019/QH14 and implementing guidelines.

Regarding the post-refund inspection and examination, the General Department of Taxation requires that it must be implemented resolutely to strictly control VAT refunds to ensure compliance with policies and regulations of the law. The Tax Department assigns tasks and assigns post-refund inspection tasks specifically and clearly to each department. The tax authority conducts post-refund inspection and examination for tax refund decisions subject to pre-refund and post-inspection according to regulations.

In case of detecting enterprises violating the law on using illegal invoices or illegally using invoices, profiting from tax refunds and other violations of the law to appropriate the state budget, coordinate with competent authorities to strictly handle them according to the provisions of law.

For the tax amount that has been settled according to the pre-refund dossier for the taxpayer, but when the post-refund inspection and examination is completed at the taxpayer's headquarters, there are still no responses or verification results from the relevant agencies, the Tax authority must clearly state in the inspection record and conclusion of the inspection and examination that there is not enough basis to conclude that the tax amount is eligible for a refund.

Upon receiving the response and verification results from relevant agencies, the Tax authority determines that the refunded tax amount is not eligible for a refund, and shall issue a Decision on tax refund recovery and penalty, and late payment fee calculation (if any).

The General Department of Taxation requests tax departments to urgently resolve and completely handle pending tax refund applications from 2023, ensuring the deadline for handling tax refund applications as prescribed in Article 75 of the Tax Administration Law No. 38/2019/QH14. In case taxpayers do not agree with the decision of the Tax Authority, they have the right to make complaints and initiate lawsuits in accordance with the law on tax administration./.

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