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Customs officials of Bac Ninh Customs Branch, Hanoi Customs Department at work. Photo: N.Linh

Taxable import-export turnover reduces by up to 20.4%

Head of Import-Export Tax Department (Hanoi Customs Department) Nguyen Thi Bich Lien said that every year, the budget revenue of Hanoi Customs Department is often in the top 3 local customs departments with highest result. However, in 2023, the unit's revenue is affected by the world and domestic economic situation, when import-export turnover saw a sharp decline. In addition, many products subject to tax reduction policies also affect the unit's revenue.

As of early December, the total import-export turnover of Hanoi Customs Department reduced 8.3% year-on-year to US$54.2 billion; of which taxable import-export turnover decreased by 20.4% to US$8.6 billion.

Assessing the import and export situation of goods undergoing procedures at units under the Hanoi Customs Department, the leader of the Import-Export Tax Division said that in early 2023, the import-export situation showed signs of slowing down because many businesses had no orders, so they had no need to import raw materials for production; some main import groups decreased significantly. Specifically, 10 groups had a total turnover of US$5.1billion of total US$7.3 billion, down 29.9% year-on-year, the sharpest decrease is the group of tobacco raw materials and accessories; chemicals and products; computers, electronic products and components; components, auto parts...

Besides, the number of businesses carrying out import procedures at the unit also decreased. By December 2023, the figure is 24,600, equal to 91.9% compared to the same period in 2022.

The leader of the Import-Export Tax Department added that recently, the Government has issued 17 preferential import-export tariffs to implement 17 FTAs in the period 2022-2027. Therefore, in 2023, many imported products with high tax rates will have their taxes cut. The average preferential tax rate in 2022 is 14.8%; 2023 is 10.1%; 2024 is 9.6%.

Notably, the implementation of Decree 44/2023/ND-CP of the Government on reducing VAT for some items from July 1, 2023 is also the cause of revenue reduction. In addition, the implementation of Decree 26/2023/ND-CP, some goods have reduced export tax rates such as fertilizer and charcoal; some products have reduced import tax rates such as Ethanol and unused rubber tires.

The above factors have greatly affected the unit's state budget revenue results. As of December 17, Hanoi Customs revenue reached VND28,148 billion VND or 84.9% of the assigned estimate (VND33,160 billion), equal to 85.9% over the same period in 2022. Of which, the Hanoi area collected VND22,509 billion, reaching 83.4% of the assigned estimate. The areas outside Hanoi earned VND 5,639 billion, reaching 91.5% of the assigned estimate. Hanoi Customs Department expects that by the end of 2023, budget revenue reach VND29,980 billion, reaching 90% of the assigned estimate. This is also the general difficult situation of the entire industry in the past year.

Comprehensively deploying solutions synchronously from the beginning of 2024

In 2024, the Hanoi Customs Department set the target to collect VND33,570 billion, higher than the assigned estimate in 2023 (VND33,160 billion). Determining this as a difficult task in the context of the enterprise's production and import-export situation on the way of recovery, therefore, the head of the import-export tax division said that to complete the assigned task, many solutions to facilitate businesses as well as solutions for technical operations have been offered from the beginning of the year.

One of the focuses in 2024 is for the Hanoi Customs Department to develop a program to contact and work with businesses located in the area; and guide customs branches to develop plans to work with businesses to grasp their import-export situation, remove difficulties and obstacles, and accompany businesses.

For technical operations, the unit will focus on reviewing and checking goods names, codes, and tax rates at the customs clearance and post-clearance stages to detect and handle cases of incorrect declaration of codes and name of the goods or unclear and incomplete declaration of name of the goods to apply low tax rates or enjoy special preferential tax rates; and focus on checking items on the list of import and export goods at risk of classification and tax application.

At the same time, Hanoi Customs Department will manage value of import and export goods, continue to strengthen inspection and consultation on value during customs clearance and value inspection after customs clearance for risky goods and businesses.

To closely follow the state budget revenue situation, the leader of the import-export tax division said that this is a task implemented throughout the year to evaluate the situation, review sources, and analyze increasing fluctuations of each month to propose solutions to raise revenue and prevent revenue loss.