Dong Nai Department of Customs: Improving the compliance of enterprises through Customs post-clearance audit

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Customs operations at the Dong Nai Department of Customs.

In Dong Nai, the majority of enterprises are located in the export processing zones and industrial parks, with nearly 70% of goods on export processing zones. Also, because Dong Nai Province is quite near HCM City, the demand for domestic material consumption is very great. Therefore, the Dong Nai Department of Customs has always focused on anti-fraud activities on consumption norms of imported raw materials for export processing, against the act of consumption of imported raw for export processing. In addition, the Dong Nai Department of Customs closely inspects the tax refund activities of enterprises. The Head of the Customs Branch of Post-Clearance Audit, Mr. Cao Ngoc Tam said, from the beginning of 2016 to date, the Customs Branch has inspected 51 enterprises, with 32 enterprises completing testing procedures and 19 companies in the process of inspections. Thereby, the Customs Branch has collected more than 112 billion vnd for the State budget.

Typically, through post-clearance audit in a project management board under the Branch of X. Corporation , the Customs Branch of Post-Clearance Audit detected that the Branch of X. Corporation declared improper items for tax exemption, leading to an increase of the tax exemption amount. Therefore, the Dong Nai Department of Customs decided to issue a tax assessment of 19 billion vnd. Similarly, through inspections of Y. Vietnam Company , the post-clearance audit team of the Dong Nai Department of Customs discovered that this company undeclared some goods, and declared improper items to increase the amount of tax refund and tax exemption in the use of materials for processing and export manufacturing activities. Thus, the Dong Nai Department of Customs decided to issue a tax assessment of 12 billion vnd under current provisions. In addition, A. Vietnam Ltd. Company was also subject to a tax assessment of 10 billion vnd due to the use of actual materials different from consumption norms on tax refund dossiers. Similarly, due to the act of incorrect declarations for increasing the amount of tax refund and tax exemption in the use of materials for processing and export manufacturing activities, M. Vietnam Rubber Company was subject to a tax assessment of more than 10 billion vnd.

Speaking to a reporter of the Customs Newspaper, the Deputy Director of the Dong Nai Department of Customs, Mr. Nguyen Phuc Tho said that the activities of post-clearance audit in Dong Nai are facing some problems. Accordingly, some of the guidelines of the General Department of Vietnam Customs are inconsistent with sanctions against the cases of excess and lack of imported raw materials. Thus, the Dong Nai Department of Customs reported problems to the General Department of Vietnam Customs for consideration of tax assessment and administrative sanctions for the case of excess and lack of imported raw materials. In addition, Mr. Tho said, through post-clearance audit, the volume of work is very huge while the functional forces are quite few, leading to many difficulties. Besides, the allocation of value also makes it difficult for Customs officers to determine the level of enterprises’ violations in advance.

Regarding the level of compliance with the Customs Law of enterprises, Mr. Tho said that because most enterprises in Dong Nai province are enterprises with foreign investment capital, the understanding of the law of these enterprises is very limited. Most enterprises’ violations are errors resulting in the difference between the figures on their internal accounting system and the data of the Customs office. Therefore, Customs post-clearance audit operations of the Dong Nai Department of Customs check both the legal compliance of enterprises and publicize the provisions of Vietnamese Laws to the business community, which help enterprises understand and avoid violations in the future.

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According to the plan, from now to the end of the year, the Dong Nai Department of Customs will continue to accomplish the tasks of Customs post-clearance audit assigned by the General Department of Vietnam Customs. In particular, focusing on businesses in the field of garments and footwear and enterprises having a risk of fraud in codes and values, etc.