Disclosure of tax information at the request of citizens

	Vietnam, China’s Macau ink double taxation avoidance pact
	Ministry of Finance requests to clarify information related to offences of Customs and Tax officers
	Revenue of the Tax sector reached 24.5% of the 2018 estimate

The tax agency is the unit to disclose information on taxes, charges and fees. Picture: Thuy Linh.

According to the principle of tax declaration, taxpayers shall calculate by themselves, declare, pay and take self-responsibility for tax. The Tax office shall conduct the post-audits (inspections and examination) to determine the tax declaration and payment by taxpayers according to regulations. At present, information about taxpayers, fees and charges of taxpayers (payable / already paid) is formed and updated from two main sources: Data reported by self-declaration and self-payment related to tax declarations, tax finalization, financial reports submitted to the Tax office (including updated data by taxpayers according to Law provisions); tax inspections and examination data of the Tax office and competent agencies.

According to the General Department of Taxation, the Law on Access to Information which takes effect from 1 July 2018 regulates that State agencies have the responsibility to provide information by themselves to comply with the provisions of this Law. Accordingly, the Tax authorities shall disclose information on taxes, charges and fees according to post-inspection decisions and notice of tax payment

However, the General Department of Taxation said that the inspection and examination activities were conducted under the risk management method so not all taxpayers were inspected annually. Tax inspections usually take several years, so they do not reflect in time the payable tax by the enterprises in the fiscal year. Thus, disclosure of information about tax obligations of taxpayers created by the tax authorities will not reflect the right tax liability of taxpayers in the fiscal year.

On the other hand, information on the amount of payable tax according to the declaration of taxpayers shall be disclosed in the financial statements in accordance with the Law on Accounting, the Law on Banking and Credit Institutions, and the Law on Securities Business. At the same time, the disclosure of information is also in line with the trend of intensifying and expanding international cooperation on taxation. Vietnam is increasingly involved in international taxation forums and with 77 tax treaties which have been effective, the exchange of information between taxpayers between Vietnam and other countries and international organizations on tax will be implemented frequently in the future.

The General Department of Taxation said that it was necessary to provide tax authorities with tax information for citizens according to both source (taxpayers' source and the tax agency's source). The objective of this policy is to ensure the implementation of the Law on Access to Information and Harmonization in the Code of Laws on Tax Administration and related legislation. At the same time, the publicity and transparency of taxpayers' contributions to the state budget should be strengthened and the cooperation between the countries and territories signed and the exchange of information and tax collection assistance should be facilitated.

At the proposal for the development of the amended Tax Administration Law, the Ministry of Finance proposed adding to the Law on Tax Administration which stipulates that tax offices have the right to publicize and provide information on taxes, charges and fees in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Accordingly, the provisions on disclosure of information of taxpayers should be improved, especially clarification of information on taxpayers in Article 69 (information on taxpayers), Article 73 (information security of taxpayers), Article 74 (information disclosure of tax law violations). At the same time, Article 6 (rights of taxpayers) shall be amended as follows: "Taxpayers have the right to access their electronic records files on the tax administration electronic information management system".

Customs and Taxation: Enhance the efficiency of coordination through electronic data exchange VCN- For the first time, the leaders of 34 provincial and urban Customs Departments and 63 local ...

Specifically, the Ministry of Finance proposed to amend the information confidentiality provisions in Article 73 of the Law on Tax Administration, which stipulates that tax offices have the right to disclose information on payable tax amounts of taxpayers.