Customs tries its best to reach the revenue target in the last months

	Customs sector collected 133.5 billion VND of tax debt
	Hai Phong Customs: 10% of revenue comes from import tariffs on automobiles
	Hai Phong Customs collected nearly 4,780 billion VND in August

Customs operations at Mong Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch, Quang Ninh Customs Department. Photo: T.Trang.

Revenue increase mainly from petroleum imports

The socio-economic situation in the first 9 months was positive, stable and the consumer price index was controlled. By the end of September 2018, the total import and export turnover reached US$ 352.33 billion, up 13.59% over the same period in 2017. Of which, export turnover was estimated at US$ 179.36 billion, up 15.7% compared to the same period last year; Import turnover reached US$ 172.97 billion, up 11.5% over the same period last year.

According to the analysis by the Import-Export Tax Department (General Department of Customs), the taxable import and export value of the first 9 months of 2018 reached US$ 79.42 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%. Of which, taxable import value was US$ 74.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15%. However, due to being strongly affected by free trade agreements, the revenue in the first 8 months of 2018 reduced about VND 17,900 billion, the import tax revenue and the special consumption tax revenue in the first 9 months tended to decrease. Thanks to a strong increase in import value (15%), the VAT increased sharply (12.53%) over the same period of 2017, which led to the increase in total state budget revenue compared to the same period of 2017.

Another reason for the significant increase in the revenue in the first 9 months of 2018 compared to the estimate and compared with the same period in 2017 is due to the increase in revenue from petroleum and crude oil imports. In the first nine months of this year, the revenue from imported petroleum was VND 25,381 billion, up VND 19.500 billion against the estimate, up VND 4,776 billion, equivalent to 23.53 % against the same period last year. The revenue from imported crude oil in the first 9 months reached VND 3,672 billion, down VND 1,348 billion against the estimate, up VND 2,677 billion, equivalent to 26.9% over the same period last year. Total revenue of these two items reached VND 29.053 billion, up VND 7,424 billion, equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 34.32%. The increased revenue from these two items was equivalent to VND 18,100 billion compared to the estimate.

In addition, revenue from other items reached VND 196,063 billion, an increase of VND 3,729 billion (equivalent to 1.93%) compared to the same period of last year (VND 192,334 billion).

Thanks to petroleum, at some local customs units, the collection also showed positive signs. Khanh Hoa customs revenue increased nearly 14 times, Quang Ngai customs increased more than 3 times, Customs Quang Ninh increased 0.3 times ... compared to the assigned estimates.

Some large customs departments also achieved the budget revenue: Ho Chi Minh City Customs reached 70.87% of target, Hai Phong Customs reached 74.99% of the target, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Customs reached 90.52% of the target, Hanoi Customs reached 67.62% of the target ...

Persist with measures for anti-revenue losses

Apart from the objective factors mentioned above, it is impossible not to mention the subjective reason is the efforts of the customs sector in striving to complete the budget revenue target in 2018. That is, right from the beginning of the year, the Director General of the General Department of Customs issued Directive No. 555 / CT-TCHQ dated January 26th, 2018, to deploy the task of state budget collection in 2018 and assign desired targets to each municipal and provincial department, and advised to issue a series of professional guidelines such as: Decision No. 866 / QD-TCHQ dated March 23rd, 2018, on the assignment of recovery and handling of overdue tax liabilities in 2018; Decision No. 1503 / QD-TCHQ dated May 18th, 2018, promulgating the management process of tax debts and other revenues for import and export goods.

The General Department of Customs has also directed the municipal and provincial customs departments to accelerate administrative reform, strengthen the coordination with banks for collection and create facilities for enterprises to participate in import-export activities in the spirit of the Decree No. 01 / NQ-CP and No. 19-2018 / NQ-CP (currently the number of banks participating in the coordination for collection has increased to 38 banks, of which 22 banks have piloted online tax payment 24/7-reporter).

In order to prevent smuggling activities and trade frauds, the General Department of Customs has instructed its units to strengthen the inspection of enterprises, enhance the inspection, determination of value and classification, goods origin, and take an initiative in inspecting cases of tax exemption, tax reduction and tax refund according to regulations.

In the last 3 months of the year, according to the Import-Export Tax Department, the revenue from petroleum will fall sharply, which means that the revenue for the state budget in the remaining months will be reduced compared to the average of the past 9 months.

Therefore, persistence with measures for anti-revenue losses set out from the beginning of the year is proposed as an important measure for the Customs to reach the assigned budget revenue. In particular, the specific measures are providing maximum support for importers and exporters; solving problems arising under the jurisdiction related to customs procedures, tax policies, tax management, accounting regime, tax refund, tax exemption; removing difficulties and creating favourable conditions for enterprises in tax payment, further accelerating reform of customs procedures and tax administration procedures.

At the same time, the units are required to collect, update, exploit and use existing databases in order to identify suspicious signs and carry out inspections during customs clearance or after customs clearance, to determine the acts of violation, recover tax and sanction in accordance with regulations, focusing on some fields such as goods classification, goods origin inspection, customs valuation and enhancement of post-clearance inspection, specialized inspection and focusing on items with high value and high tax rates.

At the same time, focusing on reviewing and grasping the situation of tax debts at attached branches; classifying the debts into groups of recoverable and irrecoverable debts, with each debt group being evaluated for each debt item according to each declaration and each debtor.

Continuing reform and simplification of Customs administrative procedures, stepping up Customs modernization and information technology application in the fields of management and supervision of import and export goods and, administrative reform, etc.

Hai Phong Customs seeks measures to ensure the revenue target of more than VND 50,000 billion VCN - Facing negative impacts on 2018 budget collection task, Hai Phong Customs Department has been taking ...

It is known that the municipal and provincial Customs departments shall depend on their own characteristics of the economic situation to introduce measures to exploit and better manage revenues, and strive to fulfil the target and avoid outstanding debts. By facilitating enterprises, strengthening the administrative reform, modernizing the management, Customs units enhance the anti-smuggling and trade frauds.