“A Whopping $63.188 Billion in VAT Refunds: Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong Province Lead the Way”

On July 6, the General Department of Taxation (Ministry of Finance) reported that in the first half of 2024, the tax sector strengthened the management of tax refunds and tightly controlled the amount of value-added tax (VAT) refunds to ensure that tax refunds were made to the right entities and in accordance with the law.

As of the end of June 2024, the tax sector had issued 8,740 decisions on VAT refunds, with a total refund amount of VND 63.188 billion, equivalent to 37% of the VAT refund estimate for 2024 and 103% compared to the same period in 2023. Some tax departments with large refund amounts include: Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Bac Ninh, Ha Tinh, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi.

Additionally, there were 1,279 dossiers for pre-inspection VAT refund applications being processed nationwide, with a proposed refund amount of VND 20,896 billion.

Regarding tax inspection and examination, the General Department of Taxation has strengthened inspection, examination, and supervision of tax declaration by taxpayers to prevent state budget revenue losses since the beginning of the year.

The tax sector focused on tax management for gold, silver, and gem trading activities, following the direction of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance.

In addition, attention was given to tax inspection and examination of enterprises with related-party transactions and high-risk enterprises in terms of taxation and invoicing, thereby effectively preventing invoice fraud. At the same time, cases of intentional violation for dishonest gain were transferred to the police for coordination in investigation and handling in accordance with regulations.

By the end of June, the tax sector had conducted 24,076 inspections and examinations and checked 337,838 tax declaration dossiers at tax agencies. The total amount of tax money contributed to the state budget was VND 4,342 billion, equivalent to 62.8% of the increase in revenue through inspection and examination.

For e-commerce activities, in the first six months of 2024, 26 new foreign suppliers registered, declared, and paid taxes in Vietnam through the electronic information portal for foreign suppliers. The total tax amount declared and paid directly by foreign suppliers through the electronic information portal in the first six months was VND 4,039 billion, an increase of 18.5% compared to the same period in 2023.

Up to now, 383 e-commerce trading floors have provided information on the e-commerce information portal, an increase of 22 trading floors compared to the number of trading floors that provided information cumulatively up to the end of 2023.