HCM City Customs highly concentrated on revenue collection in the last quarter of 2019

Professional activities at Hiep Phuoc port Customs Branch. Photo: T.H

Domestic revenue must achieve nearly VND 1,500 billion/day

According to the Department of Financeof Ho Chi Minh City, total state revenue in Ho Chi Minh City in the first nine months of 2019 achieved VND287,173 billion, 71.95 percent of the current appropariation and increasing by 7.23 percent over the same period in 2018. In particular, domestic revenue was VND 181,841 billion, 66.77 percent of the current appropariation and increasing by 4.49 percent; revenue collected from crude oil was VND 17,483 billion, achieved by 97.13 percent of the current appropariation and increasing by 0.14 percent; revenue collected from import and export activities was VND 87,800 billion, 80.70 percent of the current appropariation and increasing by 15.16 percent.

In 2019, Ho Chi Minh City was assigned to collect VND 399,125 billion, including domestic revenue of VND 272,325 billion, revenue from crude oil VND 18,000 billion and revenue collected from import and export activities was VND 108,800 billion. To complete the target of this year, in the last four months, Ho Chi Minh City needed to collect VND 112,052 billion of tax.

According to Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, total domestic revenue in the first nine months of 2019 hit 199,324 billion VND, 68.66 percent of the current appropriation in 2019, increasing by 4.10 percent over the same period in 2018. In particular, domestic revenue (excluding from oil) in nine months was VND 181,841 billion, reached 66.77 percent of current appropariation in 2019, up 4.5 percent compared to the same period in 2018. According to the analysis of Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, besides revenue collected from land use fees which decreased by more than 19 percent, other revenues increased over the same period, but the growth rate decreased sharply.

To achieve the 2019 estimate (VND 272,325 billion), the HCMC Tax Department has to collect VND 90,484 billion. According to calculations by Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, on average, the unit has to collect nearly VND 1,500 billion each day to complete the plan.

At the meeting on implementing socio-economic tasks in the fourth quarter on October 22 and many previous thematic meetings, leaders of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee requested relevant sectors and agencies, especially the Tax and Customs authorities, to focus on state revenue collection in the peak months of the year. In particular, besides facilitating, managing and nurturing souces of revenue, these two units should focus on handling tax debt. , Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen requested Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department report and propose the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to direct solutions for enterprises owing huge amount of tax debt to recover taxes for the State budget.

Collection from import – export exceeding the assigned target

According to HCM City Customs Department, this year, revenue collected from import – export activities in HCM City area achieved positive results. As of September 30, 2019, revenue collection of Ho Chi Minh City Customs reached VND 88,404 billion, 81.25 percent of the ordinance estimate, up by 12 percent over the same period (only VND 76,232 billion was collected in the same period).

According to leaders of Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, following guidance of leaders of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Vietnam Customs, from the beginning of 2019, the HCMC Customs Department has focused on implementing the target plan of administrative reform, trade facilitation, enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises, and continued to implement solutions to complete revenue collection tasks assigned by the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Vietnam Customs. Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department has issued action plans to assign tasks to each unit, setting the criteria and deadlines for completion. In addition, each unit needs to implement solutions to achieve the best revenue collection results.

Along with creating favourable conditions and nurturing revenue sources, HCM City Customs Department has paid attention to combating the loss of state revenues. According to Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, due to synchronous implementation of measures to combat loss of revenue through price consultation and post-clearance audit, from the beginning of 2019 to October 15, the unit has increased the amount of revenues collection by more than VND 574 billion of tax. In particular, the amount of taxes increased through price consultation was VND 407 billion, up 93 percent over the same period in 2018. In term of post-clearance audit, the whole HCMC Customs Department increased the revenue by more than VND 135 billions. Revenue was mainly conducted via on-site audits by the post-clearance Audit Branch, with the revenue of more than VND 123 billion, the rest is done by the Customs Branches; increase revenue by nearly VND 40 billion from adjusting the code of import and export goods.

With synchronous solutions in the last months of the year, Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department said they would try to exceed assigned targets. According to the estimation of Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, the state revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019 reached about VND 31,000 billion. Accumulated to the end of December 31, 2019, budget revenue would be estimated at VND 119,400 billion, reaching 109.7 percent of the ordinance estimate (VND 108,800 billion), reaching 105.7 percent of the target (VND 112,900 billion), up 10.6 percent or VND 11,380 billion over the same period in 2018.