E-commerce platforms may declare and pay taxes on behalf of traders

	Small, low-value items imported on e-commerce platforms should be taxed
	Complete tax policies for goods imported through e-commerce platforms

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation Dang Ngoc Minh.

The threshold of non-taxable revenue is decided by the National Assembly

According to reporters, many opinions said that the draft revised Law on VAT stipulates that the VAT taxable revenue at less than VND200 million/ year, which is not consistent with the reality. Therefore, the opinions proposed the Ministry of Finance to increase the VAT taxable revenue to VND360 million/year, aiming to reduce tax management and social costs and support the development of small and micro-sized enterprises and business households, and asked the representative of the Ministry of Finance to share the Ministry of Finance's viewpoint on this issue.

Responding to the reporter's question, Dang Ngoc Minh, Deputy Direct General of the General Department of Taxation, said that the Government has submitted to the National Assembly to revise the Law on VAT and expected to approve it at the National Assembly session in October.

Regarding the threshold for VAT non-taxable revenue, the Government submits to the National Assembly to assign the power to the Government to issue the non-taxable revenue in line with the actual situation. According to the current Law, business households with the revenue threshold of less than one hundred million VND/year are not subject to VAT.

Minh said that the Finance and Budget Committee plans to submit a plan to the National Assembly to provide a specific revenue threshold, thereby stipulating the threshold of less than VND200 million/year or less than VND300 million/year.

“All opinions will be considered and depend on the decision of the National Assembly. The Government, the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Authority will evaluate impacts based on the principle of ensuring fairness between VAT and Personal Income Tax; between business entities and employees, for the National Assembly to consider and decide”, the leader of the General Department of Taxation emphasized.

108 foreign suppliers have implemented tax declaration and pre-authorized tax payment

At the press conference, the leader of the General Department of Taxation answered reporters' questions about the proposal that logistics service providers and e-commerce platforms are responsible for declaring and paying taxes on behalf of taxpayers in the draft law amending 7 laws in the financial sector, including the Law on Tax Administration.

According to Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation Dang Ngoc Minh, this proposal is one of the solutions to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Tax authority in the context of the digital economy, especially the strong development of e-commerce business activities.

Earlier, implementing Directive 18/CT-TTg in 2023 on promoting connection and sharing of data to serve the development of e-commerce, preventing tax losses, and ensuring monetary security, the Finance sector has coordinated with relevant agencies to strengthen the management of e-commerce.

The Law on Tax Administration stipulates the responsibilities of e-commerce platforms in coordinating implementation; Decree 91/2022/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree 126/2020/ND-CP guiding the Law on Tax Administration requires platforms to provide information to tax authorities for the benefit of the State budget.

The leader of the General Department of Taxation affirmed that not only enterprises, but also state management agencies such as Banks, Police, Industry and Trade, etc. all support tax authorities in exploiting information to ensure the most effective tax management. The provision of information by e-commerce platforms of business people has been regulated and now included in the revised Law on Tax Administration is just an additional step of declaring and paying taxes on behalf of others.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Minh said that foreign suppliers without presence in Vietnam are also responsible for declaring and paying taxes on behalf of taxpayers via the Electronic Information Portal for foreign suppliers. Currently, 108 foreign suppliers such as Google, Facebook, etc. have implemented and paid taxes on behalf of the taxpayers.

“The requirement for domestic e-commerce platforms to declare and pay taxes on behalf of taxpayers is also to ensure fairness with foreign suppliers”, said by Minh.

The representative of the General Department of Taxation emphasized that when people and businesses participate in transactions, e-commerce platforms have strictly managed revenue and the number of payment transactions because it is associated with their interests. Therefore, the tax declaration and pre-authorized tax payment by e-commerce platforms may be implemented.