The General Department of Taxation recently held a meeting to exchange and discuss the implementation plan and propose specific solutions to combat tax revenue loss in e-commerce activities.
Speaking at the meeting, General Director Mai Xuan Thanh affirmed that with its strong impact and significant benefits, e-commerce has become an inevitable and irreversible trend worldwide.
“The rapid development and explosion of e-commerce in various forms in recent times have posed new and significant challenges for tax authorities in tax management. These challenges include managing all revenue sources comprehensively, identifying taxpayers, determining tax bases, distinguishing taxable income types, controlling business transactions to manage taxpayers effectively, and controlling cash flows. It is not an easy task,” emphasized the leader of the General Department of Taxation.
According to General Director Mai Xuan Thanh, to strengthen tax management for e-commerce and digital business activities, the Ministry of Finance has approved the project “Tax Management for E-commerce Activities in Vietnam.”
Moreover, the Ministry of Finance has issued an overall plan for implementing the solutions stated in the project, accompanying Decision No. 2146/QD-TCT dated November 12, 2021. Based on the ministry’s overall plan, the General Department of Taxation has issued a detailed implementation plan in accordance with Decision No. 1741/QD-TCT dated November 29, 2021, to deploy the project.
Accordingly, the General Department of Taxation focuses on timely building, proposing, and implementing tax management solutions in the short and long term to enhance the effectiveness of tax management for e-commerce activities.
Despite achieving certain results, there are still limitations in the current implementation, requiring tax authorities to review the actual tax management in localities and propose management solutions to strengthen tax management for e-commerce activities in the future.
During the discussion at the meeting, Deputy General Director of the General Department of Taxation, Mai Son, noted the tax management methods and ways to collect information through relevant entities involved in e-commerce business activities, such as e-commerce platform owners, foreign suppliers without a business presence in Vietnam, transportation units, intermediaries for payment… Based on that, research will be conducted to develop appropriate solutions in line with the practical development of e-commerce in the coming time.
After hearing the opinions of participating units, delivering concluding remarks at the meeting, General Director Mai Xuan Thanh proposed several key contents that need to be implemented immediately in the coming time.
First, the competent unit in charge will submit a comprehensive report on tax management for e-commerce, which assesses the results, identifies existing issues, and makes specific recommendations for managing each group of taxpayers to combat tax revenue loss in e-commerce.
Second, continue to intensify propaganda and guidance for people to fulfill their tax declaration and payment obligations for income received from e-commerce business activities, combined with publicly announcing the list of taxpayers with tax debts on public communication channels as regulated.
Third, research and apply coercive measures to collect tax debts from taxpayers who have not fulfilled their tax obligations according to the provisions of the law.
“Tax management for e-commerce is difficult. Therefore, the advisory agencies of the General Department of Taxation need to focus on in-depth research on various forms of e-commerce development. Simultaneously, they should coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to propose suitable solutions that meet development requirements and practical conditions to propose steps and solutions that aim to achieve effective management at local tax agencies,” emphasized the leader of the General Department of Taxation.
The initial tax management for e-commerce activities has yielded many positive results. By the end of 2023, tax revenue from e-commerce for domestic organizations and individuals reached VND 536.5 billion. At the same time, tax authorities have carried out tax recovery and handled violations against 179 businesses and 1,061 individuals engaged in e-commerce trading platforms, with an amount of about VND 275 billion.
In addition, foreign suppliers have proactively registered, declared, and paid taxes through the General Department of Taxation’s electronic portal with an amount of about VND 6,896 billion in the past year.
