The Vietnam Digital Finance 2024 conference and exhibition, themed “Innovating business processes and information systems in the finance sector in the digital age,” took place on the morning of September 20th in Hanoi .

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister of Finance Bui Van Khang emphasized: In recent times, the finance sector has focused on improving digital infrastructure capacity, perfecting digital data, and promoting the development of digital applications and services, contributing to shortening the time for tax, customs, treasury, and securities procedures... minimizing paperwork, time, and costs for businesses and citizens.

Dr. Nguyen Nhu Quynh, Director of the Institute of Financial Strategy and Policy, Ministry of Finance, presented a series of figures showing the tax sector's efforts in digital transformation and improving the efficiency of state budget management.

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Deputy Minister of Finance Bui Van Khang delivered the opening remarks at the event.

To date, over 99% of businesses nationwide have used electronic tax declaration and payment services. By the end of August 2024, approximately 9.6 billion electronic invoices had been received and processed by tax authorities.

In the first eight months of 2024, more than 40,000 businesses registered to use electronic invoices.

To effectively manage taxes in e-commerce activities, the General Department of Taxation has coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and commercial banks to collect information on 929 e-commerce platforms, 284 online sales applications, and 140 million accounts of organizations and individuals.

Tax revenue from organizations and individuals engaged in e-commerce business activities increased sharply from VND 83,000 billion in 2022 to VND 97,000 billion in 2023; in the first six months of 2024, revenue exceeded VND 50,000 billion.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance operates an electronic portal for foreign suppliers to support them in registering, declaring, and paying taxes in Vietnam. To date, 106 foreign suppliers have registered to pay taxes through the electronic portal, generating approximately VND 16,800 billion in revenue.

To date, cash revenue collected for the state budget accounts for only about 0.069% of total revenue. The Ministry of Finance has digitized 100% of state budget revenue collection by leveraging the network of commercial banks.

By the end of 2023, approximately 98,000 state budget-funded entities were participating in public services; 99% of state budget expenditure documents were processed through online public services.

In the field of Customs, the Ministry of Finance is connecting, integrating, and synchronizing data for 100% of administrative procedures currently implemented on the National Single Window Portal with the National Public Service Portal to facilitate citizens and businesses in carrying out import and export procedures.

The General Department of Customs' information system is connected to the population database to facilitate the verification of citizen information (citizens do not need to present household registration books or documents related to permanent or temporary residence when carrying out customs procedures and services).

However, according to the Ministry of Finance, there are still some major challenges in applying information technology and digital transformation to improve the efficiency of managing state budget revenue. For example, difficulties in infrastructure and data collection for managing electronic invoices and e-commerce.

After about a decade of implementing information technology, many systems in the finance sector need to change to bridge the technological gap.

However, funding remains the biggest challenge at present.