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Deputy Director General Nguyen Duong Thai addressed the seminar. Photo: H.D

At the seminar, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Duong Thai said implementing the decision of the Ministry of Finance on the development of legal documents in 2019, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has chaired and coordinated with units of the Ministry of Finance to review problems of Circular No.72/2014/TT-BTC and develop the draft circular amending and supplementing Circular No. 72/2014/ TT-BTC, which has been completed.

The draft circular has been posted on the Government's portal, the Ministry of Finance’s website, the General Department of Customs’ website and has been sent to the ministries, sectors and People's Committees of provinces and cities and units in the Ministry of Finance and Customs sector for comments. Based on the comments of the units, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has revised the draft circular.

According to Deputy Director General Nguyen Duong Thai, the General Department of Vietnam Customs will assign two inspection teams to survey the implementation of the Circular at Ha Noi Customs Department and Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department and some enterprises selling goods with VAT refunds for foreigners in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City after the seminar ends.

Mr. Luu Manh Tuong,Director of the Import and Export Duty Department, said that the draft has supplemented the rights and responsibilities of banks and businesses when participating, but it still ensures strict management, meets requirements as well as creates favorable conditions for foreigners. In particular, the amendment has also set up a VAT refund system, creating conditions for the Tax and Customs authorities to control VAT refunds.

Following the directions of the Deputy Director General on direct participation on contents of the draft circular. At the seminar, relevant units gave valid suggestions.

Representatives of the International Cooperation Department said that drafting agencies should learn from the experience of othercountries in the region and around the world to compare and find out advantages and disadvantages to complete the draft circular and ensure consistency withinternational practices.

In addition, units said that the draft should provide specific regulations on the time for tax refund before boarding. The General Department of Vietnam Customs proposed 30 minutes before departure, but others proposed one hour before boarding.

Representatives of the Department of Tax Declaration and Accounting under the General Department of Taxation, said that the VAT refund should be implemented by the coordination of five parties, including Tax, Customs, businesses, State Treasury and banks. Thereby, it needs to establish a close connection system. The General Department of Taxation will collaborate with the General Department of Vietnam Customs, especially instrengthening information to support taxpayers, hand out leaflets on tax refund at airports or tourist destinations.

For local customs departments, Mr. Phan Thanh Son, Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Customs Department proposed to amend some words and articles in the draft.

This department proposes to supplement the subject of passenger by sea in point 6, Clause 1, Article 1 of the draft. Specifically, this provision should be based on the information on thevalid passport or immigration papers or shore passes for passengers by sea. The reason is that the tax refund is made at both the port and the airport.

In addition, some units have emphasized the importance of the supplementation of Article 4a on the VAT refund management system for foreigners, which is considered the key content of the draft, so it needs to remove shortcomings soon.

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A representative of VietinBank suggested that there should be a commitment on Tax refund and the time for tax refund for banks.Banks must use their money to refund tax and then will be reimbursedby tax agencies. But this takes time, even up to a year. Moreover, the tax refund form should be both in Vietnamese and English to help foreigners understand and avoid confusion.

Concludingthe seminar, Mr. Luu Manh Tuong said that the General Department of Vietnam Customs will review all comments to complete the draft circular and submit it to the Ministry of Finance soon.

Tuong also suggested that banks and businesses could send detailed documents to the General Department of Vietnam Customs to receive and update them into the draft.