Apply tools effectively and thoroughly to combat revenue loss

	Customs: Strong IT application, effective anti-revenue loss
	The Government requires strengthening inspection and prevention of tax revenue losses
	Combat against the State budget loss and revenue loss

Conducting careful inspection of counterfeit and fraudulent origin goods (officials of Cai Lan Port Customs Sub-Department, Quang Ninh Customs Department monitor imported goods). Photo: T. Trang.

According to data from the State Treasury, in August 2019, the State budget revenue of the whole Customs sector reached 28,455 billion VND. In the first 8 months, the total State budget revenue of the whole industry reached 235,041 billion VND, equaling 78.2 percent of the State budget revenue estimate, 74.5 percent of the target, up 16.6 percent over the same period of 2018.

The three main items that helped the Customs industry to increase revenue in the past 7 months were the imported complete built unit (CBU) cars, imported crude oil, and imported machinery for solar power projects, which helped increase of State budget revenues of the Customs over the same period.

In addition to the collection of State budget, the modernisation and customs supervision also achieved positive results, like coordinating with ministries and branches to prepare for the implementation of 61 new administrative procedures on the national single window in 2019. As of August 15, 2019, 13 ministries and branches participated in the connection; 174 administrative procedures were put on the National Single Window with the total number of administrative records processed on the National Single Window portal of approximately 2.34 million records and over 31,800 participating enterprises (from January 1 to August 15, 2019, nearly 608.8 thousand records of more than 5,450 participating enterprises had been processed).

As of August 15, 2019, the total C/O sent from Vietnam to ASEAN countries was 166,243 C/O (of which number of C/O sent to Indonesia was 40,864; Malaysia was 41,269; Singapore was 13,931; Thailand was 69168; Brunei was 58; Cambodia was 953). The total C/O received from ASEAN countries to Vietnam was 94,168 (of which the C/O received from Indonesia was 68,168; Malaysia was 24,650; Singapore was 747 and Cambodia was 603).

To improve the efficiency and quality of customs inspection and supervision through container screening, the General Department of Customs has proposed solutions, plans and evaluation of implementation results. As a result, in August, the whole sector carried out a total screening of 4,717 containers, detected 76 suspect containers (accounting for 1.61 percent of the total screening containers), detected violations of nine containers (accounted for 11.84 percent of the total screening containers detected suspect).

An outstanding result of the Customs sector in August was the fight against smuggling and trade fraud. The Customs service has presided, coordinated, discovered or arrested a total 1,462 cases of violation, the value of violated goods was estimated at 277 billion 859 million VND. The budget revenue reached more than 42 billion VND, Customs prosecuted five criminal cases, transferred the other agencies to petition to prosecute seven cases.

Accordingly, in eight months, the whole Customs sector chaired, coordinated, discovered, arrested a total of 11,770 violations in the Customs field, the value of violated goods was estimated at 2,037 billion; State budget revenue reached 217 billion 891 million VND; Customs authorities issued 26 decisions to prosecute and transfer other agencies to petition to prosecute 66 cases.

In the eight months, the whole sector conducted the 2,159 cases of post-clearance audit, including 890 cases at the customs declarants' offices (66 percent of the target in 2019, up 23 percent over the same period in 2018), 1,269 cases in Customs office headquarters. The total amount of tax imposition and sanctions for administrative violations was 1,205 billion VND, equal to 78 percent compared to the same period of 2018, and the actual collection amount of the State budget (including from 2018) was 1,236.7 billion VND, 85 percent over the same period in 2018.

According to the General Director Nguyen Van Can, the results of State budget collection of the Customs sector up to now are high compared to previous years due to the increase of import and export turnover, and effective application of results on anti-revenue loss solutions in the whole industry. However, with the increasingly complicated smuggling and trade fraud, strengthening customs inspection and controlling measures is necessary.

Operating the State budget collection, the Director General asked the units to continue to apply effectively and thoroughly the tools to combat revenue loss. Along with that, the units should monitors the tax refund closely, observe strictly the provisions of law.

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The General Director also asked the units to follow and implement a series of State budget collection solutions proposed by the General Department of Customs such as: strengthening the customs management in time to detect acts of smuggling and commercial fraud causing loss of State budget. In particular, focusing on price work, reviewing the list of price risk management to identify suspicious signs, conducting effective consultations and post-clearance inspection; Classification and application of tax rates should also be focused on avoiding inconsistent classification. Examining and reviewing tax exemption cases, especially tax exemption cases for investment projects due to differences in investment incentive policies…

For customs supervision, the Director General asked the post-clearance inspection forces in parallel with the anti-smuggling forces to carry out subjects of customs inspection and control for all goods, including focusing on goods stored in bonded warehouses, goods temporarily imported for re-export. In particular, localise the signs of fraud to string the issue, performing thorough inspection and carry out careful inspection of counterfeit and fraudulent goods of origin.