Enterprises propose removal of specialized inspection-related problems and trade facilitation

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	Proposal to remove obstacles on specialized inspection of aquatic products and sample goods

Many questions related to tax and customs fields answered at the conference.

Entangled in specialized inspection procedures

At the conference, many businesses reflected on the time of electronic procedures, the issuance of import permit for precursor and tax refund, in particular, some businesses said they were encountering problems related to specialized inspection procedures for import and export goods.

Mr. Dinh Van Duc, representative of Vietnam Precision Industrial Joint Stock Company said that support policies from the Customs and Tax authorities have greatly benefited the import-export activities of businesses, have significantly shortened customs clearance time for goods. However, businesses are entangled in specialized inspection procedures, including some specific items such as iron and steel imported for domestic business, production and consumption.

According to Mr. Dinh Van Duc, although the company is not a commercial business unit, this item still has to undergo specialized inspection, evaluation. This takes a long time, raising warehousing and storage costs while the company has faced many increasing difficulties in import and export activities with a 30% reduction in orders year-on-year, and suspension ad and cancellation of orders.

A representative of Cat Hai Food Joint Stock Company (Long An) said that the company is troubling with specialized inspection procedures of aquatic raw materials imported for export processing and production and repurposing. Currently, the company has not received guidance from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Therefore, the company expects the Customs agency to work with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop solutions to help the company have more business opportunities.

The conference.

Regarding questions on specialized inspection, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Customs Hoang Viet Cuong said that the Customs agency completely agrees and agrees with the proposals of businesses. Because these are problems that many businesses are facing. From 2019-2020, the Prime Minister assigned VCCI and the General Department of Customs to measure the satisfaction of the business community, including specialized inspections. At that time, the Customs sector saw seven problems in specialized inspection.

They are, the number of specialized inspection items is large; even one item must be subject to specialized inspection by many different agencies; there is no specific list of goods subject to specialized inspection with specific codes; lack of standards and regulations on specialized inspection, thereby causing difficulties for enforcement agencies; many overlapping documents on specialized inspection; and the procedures are very complicated, raising costs for businesses.

Deputy Director General Hoang Viet Cuong said that the Customs agency has worked with ministries and agencies on very specific problems. In the near future, conferences will be organized including the General Department of Customs, VCCI and associations to have recommendations to the Government. The Customs sector is assigned to develop a Decree on specialized inspection, but it has been nearly 3 years, the decree is not issued, just because the opinions of the Ministry of Finance - General Department of Customs and other ministries are not consistent.

Sharing about the concerns of AK VINA Company (Dong Nai) about the physical inspection rate, Deputy Director General Hoang Viet Cuong said that the Customs agency relies on a risk assessment system in legal compliance. This system divides 211,000 businesses into five levels (Authorized economic operators, high, medium, low compliant businesses and non-compliant businesses) and nine different classes. Thereby, goods are channelized into Green, Yellow and Red

In 2023, the Customs industry has strived to achieve the target of reducing customs procedures and reducing inspection rate. Accordingly, the Red channel rate is currently only 3.84% instead of 4.2% as in previous years. Yellow channel is 29.82% while previously it was 30-33%. Green Channel is 66.3% while previously it was about 60%.

The leader of the General Department of Customs affirmed that the Customs will continue to reduce the rate of Yellow and Red channels and increase Green channels. The Customs sector has just piloted a program to encourage businesses to voluntarily comply with the law for 127 businesses, helping increase the Green channel and reduce the Yellow channel by 4%. This pilot will be expanded in the near future. Accordingly, it is recommended that AK VINA Company register to participate in the program so that Dong Nai Customs Department and the Customs industry will create maximum conditions for customs clearance of goods.

A business representative raises questions at the conference.

Tax refund reached VND134,270 billion

Regarding tax policy, Ms. Le Anh Tuan, the representative of Vietnam Coffee Corporation, said that the company has been supported by the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department in particular and the Tax industry in general with fast VAT refund. However, during the tax refund process, the company is encountering a problem related to the coffee bean export contract, which is conditions for tax refund that is also stipulated in foreign trade contracts, which means that in export activities, the importer's payment account information must also be clearly stated. Adding these documents to the tax refund dossier is difficult because the rights and obligations in the contracts have been fulfilled and the contracts have been liquidated.

Regarding the problem raised by the Vietnam Coffee Corporation, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation Mai Son noted the opinions of the business and requested the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department and relevant units to apply the regulations to solve the problem.

In addition, at the conference, the representative of the General Department of Taxation also answered questions related to review and fairness in the application of tax policies among businesses of different business sectors. In fact, inspection in different forms causes difficulties for businesses; it is recommended that the Ministry of Finance consider extending policies on tax exemption, reduction, extension of tax and land rent payment, and exemption and reduction of fees and charges until the end of 2024; consider new methods of supporting tax refund procedures.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Finance Cao Anh Tuan said that the Ministry of Finance will continue to closely monitor the actual situation to research and propose solutions for application in 2024. To promoting efficiency of policies in practice, state management agencies in the field of tax and customs and the Ministry of Finance hope to receive positive feedback from the business community.

Through this Conference, as well as in the coming time, the Ministry of Finance hopes to continue to receive many frank and constructive contributions from the business community on tax and customs policies and administrative procedures to better reform and improve towards greater transparency and specificity, helping taxpayers implement tax policies fully, quickly and conveniently.

Although facing many difficulties in 2023, thanks to the efforts of the business community and entrepreneurs and the effective implementation of support solutions by State agencies, state budget revenue has achieved positive results. As of December 14, 2023, the country collected nearly VND1.6 million billion, equal to 98.5% of the estimate; refunded VND134,270 billion of tax. The results have a significant contribution from the business community, creating state budget revenue and promoting socio-economic development, Deputy Minister of Finance Cao Anh Tuan said.