VCCI: Widespread exit ban will negatively impact production and business

DNVN - According to VCCI, if a broad exit ban is applied to individuals and businesses with tax debts, it could have a negative impact on production and business activities, cause general economic damage and reduce long-term budget revenue.

The Ministry of Finance is seeking comments on the Draft Decree detailing Clause 9, Article 6 of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Securities Law; Accounting Law; Independent Audit Law; State Budget Law; Law on Management and Use of Public Assets; Tax Management Law; Personal Income Tax Law; National Reserve Law; Law on Handling of Administrative Violations (hereinafter referred to as the Draft).

Article 1 of the Draft stipulates that the amount of tax debt to apply the exit ban measure is 10 million VND for individuals and 100 million VND for enterprises.

Citing business opinions, the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that many businesses reported that the threshold for tax debt to apply this exit ban measure is too low.

Currently, to enforce administrative decisions on tax management, tax authorities have many measures such as withdrawing money from bank accounts, notifying invoices that are no longer valid, seizing and auctioning assets, etc.

VCCI proposed raising the tax debt threshold for applying exit ban measures to 1 billion VND for businesses and 200 million VND for individuals.

"We believe that priority should be given to applying these measures, especially the measure of withdrawing money from bank accounts or other third parties, before considering measures to restrict people's right to travel," VCCI said.

According to information from the press conference of the General Department of Taxation on April 25, 2024, the tax industry is holding data on millions of taxpayers' bank accounts. With the rapid development of non-cash payments and data linkage as it is today, the measure of enforcing money withdrawal from bank accounts has become very effective and should be focused on in the coming time.

Where bank account garnishment is effective and thorough, other restrictive measures such as invalidation of invoices or travel bans should only be used in very serious or exceptionally serious cases involving large tax arrears.

VCCI analyzed that in most cases, the legal representative of the enterprise goes abroad not to avoid tax obligations but because of business transactions with partners. Such transactions can help the enterprise earn revenue so that it can continue to pay taxes to the State.

"If the exit ban measure is applied on a large scale, it could have a negative impact on production and business activities, cause general economic damage and reduce long-term revenue for the budget," VCCI emphasized, and at the same time recommended that the drafting agency consider raising the tax debt threshold for applying the exit ban measure to 1 billion VND for businesses and 200 million VND for individuals.

In addition, VCCI recommends adding regulations on lifting temporary exit suspension measures. The lack of regulations on lifting temporary exit suspension measures as in the current draft may be a legal gap causing difficulties in the application process.

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Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/chinh-sach/vcci-cam-xuat-canh-tren-dien-rong-se-tac-dong-tieu-cuc-den-san-xuat-kinh-doanh/20241212054557337