“Tightening the Reins: Bắc Giang’s Stern Approach to Curbing Tax Arrears and Safeguarding Fiscal Revenue”

Tight Control Over Tax Arrears

In an interview with VOV Electronic Newspaper reporters, Mr. Nguyen Van Sy, Deputy Director of Bac Giang Taxation Department, said that in the first six months, through tax debt collection and enforcement measures, the department collected VND 3,976 billion. This includes VND 467 billion in debt carried over from the previous year and VND 3,509 billion in debt incurred in 2024.

According to Mr. Sy, from the beginning of the year, the Bac Giang Taxation Department proactively assigned tax collection and handling targets to its units for the sector’s revenue estimate. This included specific tasks for accurate debt classification, reviewing and handling debts, and following up on tax debts according to the established process. At the same time, they resolutely carried out enforcement measures for tax debts.

As of June 30, the entire Bac Giang Taxation Department has issued 1,325 enforcement decisions, including 818 decisions to enforce collection by withholding or freezing bank accounts and 507 decisions to suspend the use of invoices. They also notified 126 individuals, who are legal representatives of businesses subject to administrative enforcement decisions on tax management and have not fulfilled their tax obligations, of a temporary hold on their overseas travel plans. The department regularly coordinates with local authorities and sectors in propagating policies and laws on tax management.

“For large debts, especially those related to land, if the land user fails to fulfill their obligations to pay land use fees or land rent and has been subject to enforcement measures but does not comply, the tax authority will report to the Steering Committee for Budget Loss Prevention of Bac Giang province and proactively issue a document recommending that the competent authority suspend the land allocation process,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Sy.

“We also coordinate with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Land Registration Office to request a hold on the transfer of assets, land, and projects for businesses with outstanding tax debts,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to the leader of the Viet Yen-Hiep Hoa Taxation Office (Bac Giang province), their unit currently manages the tax affairs of more than 10,400 businesses and business households. The total revenue estimate assigned to them for 2024 is VND 2,389 billion, of which VND 1,886 billion is expected to come from land-related taxes.

In the first seven months of 2024, the office collected VND 1,341 billion, reaching 55% of the estimate assigned by the Provincial Taxation Department and 196% compared to the same period last year. In terms of tax and fees, they collected VND 434 billion in the first seven months, achieving 86% of the estimate and 149% compared to the same period. For land use fees, they collected VND 908 billion in the same period, reaching 47% of the estimate and 231% compared to the same period last year. The office has issued 184 enforcement decisions that are still in effect, involving a total amount of over VND 68 billion.

“The debts from winning land auctions have increased due to the payment deadline specified in Decree 126, which is calculated based on several time limits: 30 days, 90 days, and a maximum of 120 days from the date of the auction notice and the date of the auction winning decision. This leads to the amounts due at these deadlines being considered debts, and late payment fees are applied. If the winner fails to fulfill their obligations within 120 days of the auction winning decision, the decision will be canceled, and related obligations will be adjusted. This means that every month, there will be outstanding debts to be monitored and late payment fees calculated. We have coordinated to notify a temporary hold on overseas travel plans for 22 individuals,” said the leader of the Viet Yen-Hiep Hoa Taxation Office.

Preventing Budget Loss

According to the Bac Giang Taxation Department, in the past seven months, the province’s budget revenue reached nearly VND 9,700 billion, including about VND 1,200 billion in non-state budget revenue, equivalent to 69.8% of the year’s estimate and an increase of 22.3% over the same period last year.

This result is thanks to the efforts of many enterprises and business households in overcoming difficulties, focusing on production and business activities, and increasing revenue. Some enterprises actively sought and expanded product consumption markets, built additional factories, and invested in new production lines to increase capacity. Newly established enterprises this year have also stabilized their operations and complied with tax policies.

The Bac Giang Taxation Sector has also implemented synchronous solutions for effective tax management, such as actively organizing conferences to propagate new tax policies and directly dialoguing with enterprises to guide them on tax laws. Through these dialogues, many enterprises’ recommendations and difficulties have been promptly resolved.

At the beginning of the year, some enterprises were confused about installing electronic invoice software after each retail sale of gasoline and oil. The Bac Giang Taxation Department instructed specialized departments and regional tax offices to coordinate with software providers to support enterprises in installing the software in accordance with regulations. As a result, all gasoline and oil business units now issue electronic invoices after each retail sale, and tax collection is gradually being tightened.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Sy, Deputy Director of Bac Giang Taxation Department, to tightly control non-state budget revenue, the tax sector has strengthened inspection and supervision of tax declaration, timely detecting cases of untrue and inaccurate declaration, and requesting the payment of the correct and full amount of tax in accordance with regulations. At the same time, they reviewed, analyzed, and identified sources of revenue and units with low collection rates to propose solutions to increase budget revenue.

Notably, the regional tax offices closely coordinated with communes, wards, and towns to determine taxable revenue for each household and tightly managed households paying taxes under the allocation method, ensuring that 100% of business households with production and business activities were included in the tax management scope.

“The Bac Giang Taxation Department publicly announces the list of ‘stubborn’ tax debt defaulters on mass media to urge debt collection. We also hold conferences to honor organizations and individuals who comply with tax policies and actively reform administrative procedures to be simpler, more transparent, and more open to support taxpayers in fulfilling their tax obligations,” said Mr. Sy.

In recent years, the Bac Giang Taxation Sector has also supported enterprises in using the eTax online tax payment service. This service allows enterprises to regularly check and look up their payable taxes and debts to fulfill their financial obligations on time. As a result, 100% of enterprises in the province now declare and pay taxes online.